Bernalillo County Deputy Sheriffs Ass'n v. County of Bernalillo

845 P.2d 789, 114 N.M. 695
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 18, 1992
Docket20322
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 845 P.2d 789 (Bernalillo County Deputy Sheriffs Ass'n v. County of Bernalillo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bernalillo County Deputy Sheriffs Ass'n v. County of Bernalillo, 845 P.2d 789, 114 N.M. 695 (N.M. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

FRANCHINI, Justice.

Defendant Bernalillo County appeals from a judgment of the district court sustaining the motion for summary judgment of Colonial Penn Insurance Company (Colonial Penn) and Compass Insurance Company (Compass), Plaintiffs-in-Intervention in a declaratory judgment action. The underlying litigation involved a lawsuit by the Bernalillo County Deputy Sheriffs Association (Association) on behalf of their members over certain employment practices. The Association claimed that the practice of not paying its members for on-call meal periods violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 201-19 (Supp.1992) (FLSA), and breached their contract of employment. In the declaratory judgment action, the district court determined that the Plaintiffs-in-Intervention had no duty to defend or indemnify the County in a suit against it. The district court ruled that Compass did not owe a duty to defend or indemnify the County because the alleged acts were not committed within the policy period. The district court further ruled that Colonial Penn did not owe a duty to defend or indemnify the County because the claims alleged were not covered by the errors or omissions endorsement of its policy. We affirm.

I.

Summary judgment is proper if there are no genuine issues of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Koenig v. Perez, 104 N.M. 664, 665, 726 P.2d 341, 342 (1986). The relevant portion of the Compass policy states:

The company will pay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay on account of any claim for breach of duty made against the insured by reason of any negligent act, error or omission of the insured if such negligent act, error or omission is committed during the policy period and discovered during the policy period or within twenty-four months after termination of the policy * * * *

We construe unambiguous insurance contracts in their usual and ordinary sense unless the language of the policy requires something different. Western Commerce Bank v. Reliance Ins. Co., 105 N.M. 346, 348, 732 P.2d 873, 875 (1987). We see no ambiguity in this policy on the issue of when coverage existed. By its terms, coverage existed only if the alleged “negligent act, error or omission is committed during the policy period.” The Compass policy expired June 28, 1984.

An insurer’s duty to defend arises out of the nature of the allegations in the complaint. Foundation Reserve Ins. Co. v. Mullenix, 97 N.M. 618, 619, 642 P.2d 604, 605 (1982). It is undisputed that the acts alleged by the Association were committed by the County on or after August 12, 1985. Therefore, the acts alleged occurred after the expiration of the Compass policy. The twenty-four month period applied to the discovery of the acts, not to the commission of the acts. Discovery of the acts within twenty-four months was the second requirement for coverage. The conjunctive wording of the policy language requires both. See Stevenson v. Louis Dreyfus Corp., 112 N.M. 97, 100, 811 P.2d 1308, 1311 (1991) (interpreting conjunctive wording of statute).

Having resolved the issue of coverage on the unambiguous language of the Compass policy, we need not address the issue of notice except to point out that timely notice was irrelevant because there was no coverage under the policy.

II.

The County claims that acts were committed which invoked coverage under the errors or omissions portion of the Colonial Penn policy, and that Colonial Penn owed the County a duty to defend and indemnify. The relevant section of the policy provides:

The company will pay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay on account of any claim for breach of duty made against the insured by reason of any negligent act, error or omission of the insured if such negligent act, error or omission of the insured is committed during the policy period and discovered during the policy period or within twenty-four months after termination of the pOliCy * * H> *
Exclusions
This insurance does not apply to any dishonest, fraudulent, criminal or malicious act, or to such insurance as is provided for under Coverage A, B, C, D, or E.
The exclusions applicable to Comprehensive General Liability Insurance also apply to this insurance.

Errors or omissions policies are a hybrid form of insurance coverage that guard against losses arising to the insured as well as liability arising on the part of the insured by reason of errors or omissions. 9 John A. Appleman, Insurance Law & Practice § 5256 (1981). Here, the Colonial Penn policy covered any negligent acts, errors or omissions of the County.

In deciding whether an insurer is obligated to defend the insured, we must determine whether the injured party’s complaint states facts that bring the case within the coverage of the policy. Insurance Co. of N. Am. v. Wylie Corp., 105 N.M. 406, 409, 733 P.2d 854, 857 (1987). If the allegations of the complaint clearly fall outside the provisions of the policy, neither defense nor indemnity is required. See id. at 409, 733 P.2d at 857. Therefore, we look to see whether the complaint filed by the Association against the County contained allegations or stated facts that would bring the County within the coverage of the Colonial Penn policy.

A.

The Association in Count I of their underlying Amended Complaint alleged that the County willfully violated the FLSA. In United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., 896 F.2d 200, 203 (6th Cir.1990), the court interpreted a similar errors or omissions policy to not cover intentional acts. The Fireman’s Fund policy did not specifically exclude intentional acts of the insured. The exclusions in that policy, like the exclusions here, were for dishonest, fraudulent, criminal or malicious acts. The court concluded that the only reasonable construction was that the insurance company “contracted to provide coverage for negligent — not intentional acts ****’’ Id. A willful violation of the FLSA does not constitute a “negligent act or omission.” Cf. City of Fort Pierre v. United Fire & Casualty Co., 463 N.W.2d 845, 848 (S.D. 1990) (holding negligent act, error or omissions policy did not cover city’s intentional decision to ignore federal government permit requirements).

Also, the FLSA is a federal statute that prescribes criminal penalties for its violation. 29 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
845 P.2d 789, 114 N.M. 695, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bernalillo-county-deputy-sheriffs-assn-v-county-of-bernalillo-nm-1992.