Baker v. Sears, Roebuck & Co.

753 So. 2d 1011, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 354, 2000 WL 235520
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 3, 2000
DocketNos. 32,651-CW, 32,767-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 753 So. 2d 1011 (Baker v. Sears, Roebuck & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baker v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 753 So. 2d 1011, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 354, 2000 WL 235520 (La. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

' |,GASKINS, J.

In this tort action arising from injuries sustained by a subcontractor’s employee during a store remodeling project, defendant Sears, Roebuck and Company appeals from a judgment granting a motion for summary judgment in favor of defendant Clarendon National Insurance Company and seeks writs from the denial of its motion for summary judgment. For the following reasons, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and grant the writ application.

FACTS

On January 9,1996, Sears entered into a construction contract with Spearman Construction Company, Inc., to remodel Sears’ store at Pecanland Mall in Monroe, Louisiana. The contract between Sears and Spearman provided, in part, that:

Contractor shall, in addition to any other obligation to indemnify Sears, and to the fullest extent permitted by law, protect, defend, indemnify and hold harmless Sears, its Consultant(s), their agents and employees from and against all claims, actions, liabilities, losses (including economic losses), costs, expenses and liens, including but not limited to attorneys’ fees, arising out of any actual or alleged: a) bodily injury, sickness, disease or death, or injury to or destruction of tangible property including the loss of use resulting therefrom, or any other damage or loss arising out of or resulting or claimed to have resulted in whole or in part from any actual or alleged act or omission of the Contractor, any subcontractor, anyone directly or indirectly [1013]*1013employed by any of them, or anyone for whose acts any of them may be liable in the performance of the Work....

The contract further states that the “Work” consisted of “all general contractor responsibilities to complete the remerchan-dise project as described in scope of work, general conditions, and bid proposal attached.”

To satisfy this contractual obligation, Spearman added Sears as an insured under Spearman’s commercial general liability (CGL) policy with Clarendon which included an additional insured endorsement. The endorsement provides in pertinent part:

It is understood and agreed that the following is added as an additional insured hereunder but only as respects liability arising ¿out of the operations of the named insured, and that the inclusion of such additional insured shall not serve to increase the company’s limit of liability as specified in the declarations of this policy. This endorsement applies to additional insureds added, as required by written contract, prior to the occurrence of any losses. [Emphasis added.]

Clarendon issued certificates of insurance for the CGL policy periods of 5/29/95 to 5/29/96 and of 5/29/96 to 5/29/97 which specified that:

Sears, Roebuck <& Co. is hereby named as an additional insured under the General Liability....

The certificate for 5/29/96 to 5/29/97 also gave the following description of “operations/locations/vehicles/special items”:

Sears Store # 1116, Interior renovations to Sears Store located Pecanland Mall, 4800 Milhaven Rd., Monroe, La. 71203.

On August 21, 1996, plaintiff Charles Baker, Jr. was working for McNeer Electric Company installing telephone jacks at the Monroe Sears store. McNeer was a subcontractor on Spearman’s contract to renovate the store, and Baker’s work was part of the renovation project. As Baker was working, a Sears employee was nearby setting up a mannequin as part of a retail display. As the Sears employee put the mannequin on a shelf above Baker, the mannequin fell and struck Baker on the lower back, allegedly causing Baker personal injuries. Although a McNeer employee speculated that the mannequin fell because the Sears employee placed it on a shelf where some of the contractor’s tools might have been located, the cause of the mannequin’s fall was uncertain, and the McNeer employee said that the Sears employee might simply have placed the mannequin too close to the edge of the shelf.

On July 18, 1997, Baker filed suit against Sears and its insurers, and later amended his petition to add Clarendon as a defendant. Clarendon answered the lawsuit, admitting that it provided coverage for Spearman, but denying coverage for Sears or its employees under the facts presented. On October 16, 1998, Sears | ¡¡brought a cross-claim against Clarendon, seeking coverage and a defense from the insurer.

In December 1998, Sears filed a motion for summary judgment seeking a judgment declaring that Clarendon provided coverage for Sears and that Clarendon owed Sears a defense to Baker’s action. On January 5, 1999, Clarendon filed a motion for summary judgment seeking a judgment declaring that it owed no coverage or defense to Sears. In mid-January 1999, the trial court initially granted Clarendon’s motion; however, it gave counsel for Sears the opportunity to produce “additional evidence, if any exists,” and ordered further argument as to whether its decision should be reversed. Thereafter, the court held that its prior ruling should be maintained. In March 1999, the court signed a judgment denying Sears’ motion and granting Clarendon’s motion. The court certified the partial judgment as suitable for immediate appeal, and Sears brought an appeal and a writ application to challenge the lower court ruling. On June [1014]*101417, 1999, this court consolidated these two matters for decision.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

The summary judgment procedure is designed to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action allowed by law. Traweek v. Jackson, 30,248 (La.App.2d Cir.2/25/98), 709 So.2d 867. Summary judgments are reviewed on appeal de novo under the same criteria that govern the trial court’s consideration of whether summary judgment is' appropriate. Schroeder v. Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University, 591 So.2d 342 (La.1991); Traweek, supra.

Summary judgment declaring a lack of coverage under an insurance policy may not be rendered unless there is no reasonable interpretation of the policy, when applied to the undisputed material facts shown by the evidence supporting |4the motion, under which coverage could be afforded. Reynolds v. Select Properties, Ltd., 93-1480 (La.4/11/94), 634 So.2d 1180.

DISCUSSION

The dispute centers on the application of the endorsement phrase “only as respects liability arising out of the operations of the named insured” to the circumstances of this case. La. R.S. 22:654 provides:

Every insurance contract shall be construed according to the entirety of its terms and conditions as set forth in the policy, and as amplified, extended, or modified by any rider, endorsement, or application attached to or made a part of the policy.

In Citgo Petroleum v. Yeargin, Inc., 95-1574 (La.App. 3rd Cir.2/19/97), 690 So.2d 154, writs denied, 97-1223, 97-1245 (La.9/19/97), 701 So.2d 169, 170, the third circuit was confronted with a similar question of policy construction. After an explosion caused by Citgo personnel at a Citgo refinery led to numerous tort claims by employees of a subcontractor on-site at the refinery, Citgo sought indemnity and defense from the subcontractor’s insurer. The subcontractor had arranged for Citgo to be covered under the subcontractor’s CGL policy by a certificate of insurance.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Plaia v. Stewart Enterprises, Inc.
229 So. 3d 480 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)
Jones v. Capitol Enterprises, Inc.
89 So. 3d 474 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012)
Batiste v. City of New Orleans
85 So. 3d 800 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012)
Roundtree v. New Orleans Aviation Bd.
896 So. 2d 1078 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
753 So. 2d 1011, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 354, 2000 WL 235520, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baker-v-sears-roebuck-co-lactapp-2000.