Bachman v. AMCO Insurance

897 F. Supp. 2d 780, 2012 WL 4322746, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134660
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedSeptember 20, 2012
DocketCase No. 3:10-CV-461 JD
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 897 F. Supp. 2d 780 (Bachman v. AMCO Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bachman v. AMCO Insurance, 897 F. Supp. 2d 780, 2012 WL 4322746, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134660 (N.D. Ind. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JON E. DEGUILIO, District Judge.

This action arises from a breach of contract dispute between Plaintiffs Jeremy and Debra Bachman (the Bachmans) and their insurer, AMCO Insurance Company (AMCO). The issue is whether AMCO properly limited the recovery for collector sports cards stolen during a burglary of the Bachmans’ home under the business property coverage limitation contained in the Bachmans’ homeowners insurance policy. AMCO’s motion for summary judgment [DE 20, 21] is ripe since a response [DE 25, 26] and reply [DE 27] were filed. For the following reasons, AMCO’s motion for summary judgment is DENIED.

I. BACKGROUND

Mr. Bachman started attending sports card shows in 1990 and during college he opened a sports memorabilia business named Spectator Sportscards, Inc., with the Bachmans serving as the only shareholders [DE 20-1 & 26-1 at 8-9, 21, 25-271]. Originally the business operated at two physical retail locations in Elkhart and Nappanee, Indiana, but in the late 1990’s ebay® became popular and Mr. Bachman operated the business solely out of his home while still regularly attending card shows. Id. at 25-27, 33. Mr. Bachman admitted that he did not keep records because he accumulated his inventory over twenty years, it just never really occurred to him to maintain records for his personal sports memorabilia collection, and he did his best to keep some records of his business inventory but it was difficult to keep track of the inventory he acquired, traded, and sold because he often paid or received cash for a collection. Id. at 34, 36, 38-41. Mr. Bachman testified that he uses the revenue from the business to buy more cards, make his mortgage payment, and pay for meals. Id. at 76. Although Mr. Bachman stores his business inventory and his personal collection of sports memorabilia in essentially the same location — his home office, garage, and other locations in his home, Mr. Bachman testified that the difference between his business inventory [783]*783and his personal collection is that he “wouldn’t sell [his] personal stuff’ because “they’re investments” and he was keeping his personal collection for “down the road” for retirement or helping his son with college [DE 20-1 & 26-1 at 27, 36-38, 44, 115-16; DE 20-2 at 25-28]. Mr. Bachman admitted that his personal collection (or “investments”) was purchased with assets from Spectator Sportscards, Inc. and would some day be sold through his company when he was ready to retire [DE 20-1 & 26-1 at 114-15],

On November 27 or 28, 2009, the Bach-mans’ home was burglarized and they filed a residential burglary report with the Elk-hart Sheriffs Department [DE 1 at 1-2, Exb. 2 at 46-76]. At the time, the Bach-mans were insured by an AMCO homeowners policy, No. HA13008460, which covered the term of May 27, 2009 to May 27, 20102 [DE 1 at 1, Exb. 1 at 6-96; DE 8 at 1; DE 8-1]. AMCO admits that the coverage limit for the loss of personal property was $176,400 with a special limit of liability with regard to business property of $10,000 [DE 8 at 1-2, 4], After the Bachmans filed a claim with AMCO and submitted a list of losses, AMCO issued payment for some items stolen but characterized certain sports memorabilia as business property limited by the business property coverage limitation [DE 1 at 2^4, Exb. 3 at 78-96].

At the center of the dispute, are sports cards which were stolen during the burglary including four unopened wax boxes of 1986-1987 Fleer basketball cards and one unopened box consisting of a twelve box case of 1986-1987 Fleer basketball cards [DE 1 at 86; DE 20-1 & 26-1 at 45-46; DE 20-3 at 4, Plfs’ Resp. to Defs Interrog. No. 5]. Mr. Bachman indicated that the individual boxes are each worth $20,000 retail, or $80,000 total retail (with the wholesale value equaling about half of the retail value), and that he originally bought them at a card show and paid $5,000 cash for each box using money from Spectator Sportscards, Inc. [DE 20-1 & 26-1 at 47-51, 60]. The twelve box case is worth roughly $150,000 and was also purchased with money from Spectator Sportscards, Inc. [DE 20-1 & 26-1 at 60; Plfs’ Resp. to Defs Interrog. No. 5]. These items were not listed for sale as part of the business operated by Mr. Bachman [DE 20-1 & 26-1 at 79, 114-16; Plfs’ Resp. to Defs Interrog. No. 5], and Mr. Bachman considered them personal investments which were not going to be sold through his company until sometime in the distant future [DE 20-1 & 26-1 at 114-16; DE 26-2 at 25]. In fact, at some point prior to the burglary, Mr. Bachman had previously rejected an offer to sell the 1986 Fleer basketball cards as it was part of his personal collection [DE 26-4 at 2],

Mr. Bachman testified that he also had approximately $150,000 to $250,000 (book value) worth of cards located in his garage [DE 20-1 & 26-1 at 82] and that he had a separate business policy through General Casualty Insurance Company to provide coverage for the business related items located in his garage and home [DE 20-3 at 4, Plfs’ Resp. to Defs Interrog. No. 5]. However his business policy through General Casualty only covered $50,000 worth [784]*784of loss [DE 20-1 & 26-1 at 85], and he confirmed that he did not submit a claim to General Casualty for the loss of his personal property, including his personal investments at issue in this case [DE 20-1 & 26-1 at 114], The Bachmans’ insurance agent negotiated a payment from General Casualty for less than the policy limits for the theft of Spectator Sportscards, Inc.’s documented business inventory and equipment [DE 20-1 & 26-1 at 78-85].

Relative to the claim filed with AMCO, the Bachmans received a letter from AMCO explaining its decision to pay a total of $35,728.25 in actual cash value for losses sustained and noting that certain policy limits applied [DE 1 at 2-3, Exb. 3 at 79, 85-93; DE 8 at 3-4]. In particular, the business property limitation of the Bachmans’ homeowners policy applied, see id., which provided in relevant part as follows:

HOMEOWNERS 3 SPECIAL FORM
* * í¡í
DEFINITIONS
* * *
B. In addition, certain words and phrases are defined as follows:
* * *
3. “Business” means:
a. A trade, profession or occupation engaged in on a full-time, part-time or occasional basis; or
b. Any other activity engaged in for money or other compensation3

SECTION I PROPERTY COVERAGES

C. Coverage C-Personal Property
3. Special Limits of Liability
These special limits of liability do not increase the Coverage C limit of liability. The special limit for each category below is the total limit for each loss for all property in that category.
(h) $10,000 on property, on the “residence premises”, used mainly for “business” purposes.

[DE 1, Exb. 1 at 8, 11; DE 8-1 at 9, 19; DE 26-6 at 16, 26] (emphasis added).

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Bluebook (online)
897 F. Supp. 2d 780, 2012 WL 4322746, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134660, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bachman-v-amco-insurance-innd-2012.