Auto-Owners Insurance v. Madison at Park West Property Owners Ass'n

834 F. Supp. 2d 437, 2011 WL 2669665, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73461
CourtDistrict Court, D. South Carolina
DecidedJuly 6, 2011
DocketC/A No. 2:09-CV-00802-MBS
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 834 F. Supp. 2d 437 (Auto-Owners Insurance v. Madison at Park West Property Owners Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Auto-Owners Insurance v. Madison at Park West Property Owners Ass'n, 834 F. Supp. 2d 437, 2011 WL 2669665, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73461 (D.S.C. 2011).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT & CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

MARGARET B. SEYMOUR, District Judge.

I. BACKGROUND

The insurance coverage issues in this declaratory judgment suit arise from a class action filed in South Carolina State Court (the “State Action”) by Defendants Elizabeth O’Donnell, Mary Ann Neaton and John Buiel (the “Homeowners” or “Homeowner Defendants”), on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated. Compl. ¶21, ECF No. 1; see also State Ct. Am. Compl., ECF No. 1^4 at 2. The Homeowner Defendants own individual condominium units in the Madison at Park West condominium complex in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (the “Property”). The Property was an apartment complex until on or about November 10, 2005, when Defendant Madison at Park West Tarragon, LLC (“Tarragon”) purchased it for the purpose of converting it into condominiums. See Stipulations of Fact ¶¶ 1, 8, ECF No. 70. Tarragon owned the Property (and several individual condominium units at the Property) until on or about December 28, 2007, when Tarragon was purchased by Northland Fund II, L.P. (the “Northland Fund”), an affiliate of Defendant Northland Investment Corporation. Id. at ¶¶ 11-12.

Defendant Madison at Park West Property Owners Association, Inc. (the “POA”), a corporation registered in South Carolina, was formed in 2006 pursuant to South Carolina’s Horizontal Property Act, S.C.Code Ann. § 27-31-10 et seq.1 The POA’s Master Deed, which was recorded on September 7, 2006 in the Register Mesne Conveyance Office for the County of Charleston, South Carolina, provides that, “[ejxcept as specifically provided to the contrary herein, the [POA] will maintain the Common Elements in first class condition in accordance with proper maintenance procedures ... and will enforce all warranties with respect to the Common [441]*441Elements ... the [POA] will [also] repair or replace all parts of the Common Elements as necessary.” Master Deed § 7.1, ECF No. 40-3; see also Stipulations of Fact ¶ 5, ECF No. 70. In total, there are 244 individual condominium units within the Property; the individual owners of the units own the Property’s common elements “as tenants-in-eommon” in varying percentages appurtenant to each unit as set forth in the Master Deed. See Master Deed § 3.4 & Ex. B, ECF No. 40-3.

At issue in the instant action is a series of commercial general liability (“CGL”) insurance policies (the “Policies”) that Plaintiff Auto-Owners Insurance Company (“Auto-Owners”) issued to the POA, pursuant to which Auto-Owners agreed to “pay all sums that the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of ... ‘property damage’ ” that is “caused by an ‘occurrence’ that takes place in the ‘coverage territory.’ ” CGL Policy § I, 1(a) & (b), ECF No. 1-1 at 17.2 The Policies also include several provisions setting forth specific circumstances under which coverage is expressly excluded; the relevant exclusions are discussed in greater detail infra. The Policies provided coverage for terms of one year each, together running from August 31, 2006 until August 31, 2009. Stipulations of Fact ¶¶ 2, 4, ECF No. 70. The first two Policies were issued in the name of “Madison at Park West POA, Inc. C/O Tarragon Corp.” with an associated address in Orlando, Florida. 1st Policy Declarations, ECF No. 1-1 at 1; 2d Policy Declarations, ECF No. 1-2 at 1. The third and last Policy was issued in the name of “Madison at Park West POA, Inc. C/O Community Management Group,” with an associated address in Charleston, South Carolina.3d Policy Declarations, ECF No. 1-3 at 1. Tarragon is also separately listed as an “additional insured” in an endorsement attached to the First and Third Policies. See 1st Policy Add’l Insured Endorsement, ECF No. 1-1 at 4; 3d Policy Add’l Insured Endorsement, ECF No. 1-3 at 4.

Through the State Action, the Homeowners seek damages from Northland Madison at Park West LLC (“Northland Madison”), Northland Properties Management, LLC, and Northland Investment Corporation (together, the “Northland Defendants”), Tarragon, and the POA for injuries arising out of alleged “negligence, gross negligence, recklessness, wilfulness, bad faith, breach of warranties, negligent misrepresentations, [and] unfair trade practices” all related to the development, sale, and maintenance of the Property. State Ct. Am. Compl. ¶ 13, ECF No. 1-4 at 5-6. In their complaint, the Homeowners allege, inter alia, that “design and construction defects have resulted in repeated water intrusion into the [Homeowners’] residences, failure of the components of the exterior envelope, failure of the structural system(s), and other consequential damages to the common elements of the [POA] and to the interior of the units.” Id. at ¶ 18. The POA timely notified Auto-Owners of the State Action and Auto-Owners agreed to defend the POA, pursuant to a reservation of rights. Compl. ¶¶ 11,12, ECF No. 1.

Auto-Owners filed this declaratory judgment action on March 30, 2009, seeking a ruling that the Policies do not provide liability insurance coverage in the State Action. The POA filed a counterclaim [442]*442against Auto-Owners on May 15, 2009 asserting that, if this Court finds that the Policies do not cover the damages alleged in the State Action, the POA is “entitled to reformation of the [P]olicies to cover such damage.” Answer & Countercl. ¶ 28, ECF No. 15. On October 23, 2009 Auto-Owners filed a motion for summary judgment and, on November 3, 2009, the Homeowner Defendants filed a cross-motion for summary judgment. PL’s Summ J. Mot., ECF No. 40; Homeowner Defs.’ Cross-Mot. For Summ. J., ECF No. 43. The Court denied the parties’ summary judgment motions on April 23, 2010, finding that “material issues of fact remain! ] as to whether, and to what extent, Plaintiff is entitled to provide coverage to Defendants under the CGL policies.” Text Order, ECF No. 64. The parties were later able to reach agreement on several of these issues and, on June 18, 2010, jointly filed stipulations of fact to this effect. See Stipulations of Fact, ECF No. 70. The Court then held an evidentiary hearing at which it heard testimony regarding any remaining issues of material fact, as well as the parties’ summations. Most recently, on March 21, 2011, the Court granted Auto-Owners’ motion for leave to file post-trial briefing in light of recent developments in South Carolina insurance law. Text Order, ECF No. 89.

This matter is now fully briefed and ripe for decision. Having carefully considered the record in this case, including the papers submitted by the parties and the evidence presented and arguments made at the hearing referenced above, the Court hereby finds and rules as follows.

II. APPLICABLE LAW

The Court retains “wide discretion” in deciding whether to issue a declaration regarding the rights and obligations of parties to insurance agreements in an action brought pursuant to the federal Declaratory Judgment Act. Centennial Life Ins. Co. v. Poston, 88 F.3d 255, 256 (4th Cir.1996); see also 28 U.S.C. § 2201(a) (“[A]ny court of the United States, upon the filing of an appropriate pleading, may declare the rights and other legal relations of any interested party seeking such declaration .... ”).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
834 F. Supp. 2d 437, 2011 WL 2669665, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73461, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/auto-owners-insurance-v-madison-at-park-west-property-owners-assn-scd-2011.