Bartram, LLC v. Landmark American Insurance

864 F. Supp. 2d 1229, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44535
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Florida
DecidedMarch 30, 2012
DocketCase No. 1:10cv28-SPM/GRJ
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 864 F. Supp. 2d 1229 (Bartram, LLC v. Landmark American Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bartram, LLC v. Landmark American Insurance, 864 F. Supp. 2d 1229, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44535 (N.D. Fla. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER ON CROSS MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

STEPHAN P. MICKLE, Senior District Judge.

This case presents an insurance coverage dispute over damages that resulted from faulty workmanship in the construction of the Bartram Apartments, located in Gainesville, Florida. The insurance contracts between Plaintiff, who owns the Bartram Apartments, and the Defendant insurers provides primary coverage and three layers of excess coverage.1 They use standard builder’s all risk insurance forms. Each contract contains a coverage exclusion for faulty workmanship. Each contract also contains an ensuing loss exception that provides coverage when “an excluded cause of loss ... results in a Covered Cause of Loss.”2 Both sides agree that the faulty workmanship exclusion applies in this case. They do not agree, however, about the ensuing loss exception.

[1232]*1232The insurance contracts contain other exclusions for wear and tear or deterioration, water damage, cracking,- mold, expenses and lost rents, and failure to protect property. Defendants contend that these exclusions bar coverage for Plaintiffs claims. Defendants also contend that Plaintiff did not comply with notice and examination requirements for submitting its claim as specified in the contracts, thus forfeiting coverage. Both sides have filed motions for summary judgment.

I. Standard for Summary Judgment

Summary judgment is appropriate when “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). The interpretation of an unambiguous insurance contract presents a pure issue of law that is appropriately determined on summary judgment. Saregama India Ltd. v. Mosley, 635 F.3d 1284, 1290 (11th Cir.2011); Acosta, Inc. v. Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co., 39 So.3d 565 (Fla. 1st Dist.Ct.App.2010). Disputed factual issues may nevertheless exist about how an unambiguous contract term should be applied given the circumstances of the case, thus precluding summary judgment. Certain Interested Underwriters at Lloyd’s v. Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Ft. Lauderdale, Inc., 65 So.3d 67, 70 (Fla.3d Dist.Ct.App.2011). In interpreting the insurance contracts, the Court will apply Florida law because the Bartram Apartments are located in Florida.3 See LaFarge Corp. v. Travelers Indem. Co., 118 F.3d 1511, 1515-16 (11th Cir.1997) (in diversity action, applying choice of law provisions of Florida as forum state and substantive law of Florida as the state where insured risk was located).

II. Ensuing Loss Exception

The primary policy issued by Landmark Insurance Company (“Landmark”) and the second and third layer excess policies issued by Westchester Surplus Lines Insurance Company (“Westchester”) and Landmark contain the same ensuing loss exception. The policies state: ‘We will not pay for a loss or damage caused by or resulting from: ... [defective materials, faulty workmanship, error, omission or deficiency in designs, plans or specifications. But if loss or damage by a Covered Cause of Loss results, we will pay for that resulting loss or damage. ” Doc. 145-1 at 15 (emphasis supplied). The first layer excess policy issued by Rockhill Insurance Company (“Rockhill”) contains an analogous provision, which states: “We will not pay for a loss or damage caused by or resulting from [faulty workmanship]. But if an excluded cause of loss ... results in a Covered Cause of Loss, we will pay for the loss or damage caused by that Covered Cause of Loss.” Id. (emphasis supplied). The wording of the policies are not identical, but the parties do not argue that they differ in meaning from each other.

Under Florida law, the insured bears the burden to establish that an exception to an exclusion applies. LaFarge, 118 F.3d at 1516; Fla. Windstorm Underwriting v. Gajwani 934 So.2d 501, 506 (Fla.3d Dist.Ct.App.2005). So here, the burden is upon Plaintiff to establish that coverage is provided through the ensuing loss exception.

The principle Florida case interpreting the ensuing loss exception, which both parties cite to, is Swire Pacific Holdings, Inc. v. Zurich Ins. Co., 845 So.2d 161 (Fla. 2003). Swire involved design defects to a [1233]*1233condominium project, requiring the insured to spend approximately $4.5 million to alter the plans and correct structural deficiencies to bring the building in compliance with codes. Id. at 163. The builders all-risk policy in Swire contained a design defect exclusion with an ensuing loss exception. The policy language stated that this exclusion applies to:

Loss or damage caused by fault, defect, error or omission in design, plan or specification, but this exclusion shall not apply to physical loss or damage resulting from such fault, defect, error or omission in design, plan or specification.

Id. at 165. To fix the design defect, the insured was required to damage other portions of the property and the insured sought coverage for those damages. Id. at 164. In construing the policy language, the Swire court found that “loss or damage” as used in the first part of the exclusion “means loss caused directly by the design defect.” Id. at 166. The court found that “physical loss or damage” in the ensuing loss exception in the second part of the provision means “damage that occurs subsequent to, and as a result of, a design defect.” Id. The Swire court held that the insured could not recover under the policy because “[n]o loss separate from, or as a result of, the design defect occurred.” Id. at 168. The insured’s sole claim was to recover expenses incurred in repairing a design defect, and thus “[n]o ensuing loss resulted to invoke the exception to the [design defect] exclusionary provision.” Id. at 167.

In this case, Plaintiff contends that it has suffered losses that are separate from and the result of the faulty workmanship, thus triggering the ensuing loss exception. Specifically, water intrusion that occurred because of the faulty workmanship caused damage to the buildings’ exterior and interior finishes, wood sheathing, framing, balcony systems, drywall ceilings, and stuccoed walls. These damages are separate from the work needed to simply fix the faulty workmanship, and Plaintiff contends that while the policy excludes coverage for fixing the faulty workmanship, the ensuing losses that resulted from water intrusion are covered. Plaintiffs position is consistent with the Florida Supreme Court’s holding in Swire. The loss Plaintiff is seeking coverage for resulted from water intrusion, which is separate from repair of the faulty construction.

Defendants, however, argue for a different reading of the exclusion and the ensuing loss exception. Citing to language from a Florida appellate court, Defendants contend that “an ensuing loss exception is not applicable if the ensuing loss is directly related to the original excluded risk.” Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. v. Texpak Group N.V., 906 So.2d 300, 302 (Fla.3d Dist.Ct.App.2005).4

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864 F. Supp. 2d 1229, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44535, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bartram-llc-v-landmark-american-insurance-flnd-2012.