Bituminous Casualty Corp. v. RPS Co.

915 F. Supp. 882
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedJanuary 4, 1996
DocketCivil A. 3:94CV-340-S
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 915 F. Supp. 882 (Bituminous Casualty Corp. v. RPS Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bituminous Casualty Corp. v. RPS Co., 915 F. Supp. 882 (W.D. Ky. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

SIMPSON, Chief Judge.

This matter is before the court on the motions of the plaintiff, Bituminous Casualty Corporation (Bituminous) for summary judgment and of the defendant RPS Company (RPS) for partial summary judgment.

The matter was filed in this court by Bituminous invoking our diversity jurisdiction and seeking declaratory relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2201. RPS filed counterclaims seeking declaratory relief and asserting claims for breach of contract and bad faith.

FACTS

The relevant facts are not in dispute. Bituminous is an Illinois corporation, authorized to do business in Kentucky. Bituminous is an insurance provider. RPS is a Kentucky corporation with its principal place of business in Lexington, Kentucky. RPS services ammonia refrigeration systems throughout Kentucky.

RPS purchased a “Commercial Lines Policy” of insurance from Bituminous which was *883 effective during the times pertinent to this lawsuit. On January 28, 1994, RPS was servicing the ammonia refrigeration system of Fischer Packing Company (Fischer) in Louisville, Kentucky. Due to a mishap, allegedly precipitated by an RPS employee, ammonia was released within the Fischer plant. The plant was evacuated by health and emergency officials for about 3)6 hours, a few Fischer employees required medical treatment, and many hog carcasses were condemned by the United States Department of Agriculture. RPS demanded that Bituminous pay the claims asserted against RPS by Fischer for the damages it suffered during this incident. Bituminous has refused to pay, citing the pollution exclusion found within the policy, which reads in pertinent part as,, follows:

(On a red and white “sticker” affixed to the cover of the policy)
THIS POLICY DOES NOT PROVIDE POLLUTION LIABILITY COVERAGE
(Attached as an endorsement to the policy)
POLLUTION EXCLUSION
It is agreed that the exclusion relating to the actual, alleged or threatened discharge, dispersal, release or escape of pollutants is replaced by the following:
(1) Bodily injury or property damage arising out of the actual, alleged or threatened discharge, dispersal, release or escape of pollutants.
(2) Any loss, cost or....
Pollutants means any solid, liquid, gaseous or thermal irritant or contaminant, including smoke, vapor, soot, fumes, acids, alkal-is, chemicals and waste. Waste includes materials to be recycled, reconditioned or reclaimed.

L1749b (4-86)

(Exhibit A to Bituminous’ Memorandum, emphasis in exhibit).

RPS claims that the exclusion is ambiguous and must be interpreted in its favor. It asserts that the policy provides coverage for the incident involved in this matter. Furthermore, RPS contends that the doctrine of reasonable expectations requires that coverage be provided it under the policy.

A party moving for summary judgment has the burden of showing that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). “[T]here is no issue for trial unless there is sufficient evidence favoring the nonmoving party for a jury to return a verdict for that party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (citations omitted).

Once a motion for summary judgment has been made and supported, summary judgment is appropriate unless the nonmoving party establishes a genuine issue as to a material fact. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 333, 106 S.Ct. at 2552, 2558. Although the disputed issue need not be resolved conclusively in favor of the nonmoving party, that party is required to present some significant probative evidence which makes it necessary to resolve the parties’ differing versions of the dispute at trial. First National Bank of Arizona v. Cities Service Co., 391 U.S. 253, 288-89, 88 S.Ct. 1575, 1592-93, 20 L.Ed.2d 569 (1968). The evidence must be construed in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Bohn Aluminum & Brass Corp. v. Storm King Corp., 303 F.2d 425 (6th Cir.1962).

II

“Kentucky law governs the construction of the insurance policy in this diversity action.” Foster v. Kentucky Housing Corp., 850 F.Supp. 558, 560 (E.D.Ky.1994). The Kentucky Supreme Court explained many of the truisms of Kentucky insurance law in its response to questions certified to it by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Powell-Walton-Milward, 870 S.W.2d 223 (Ky.1994). An insurance policy is to be liberally construed in favor of the insured, if the language is ambiguous, and the policy is susceptible to more than one reasonable interpretation. Id. Exclusions are strictly construed, and an exclusion must be clearly stated in order to apprise the insured of the limitation. Id. However, these rules do not contravene the *884 fact that the policy must receive a reasonable interpretation consistent with the parties’ intent. Id. “Neither should a nonexistent ambiguity be utilized to resolve a policy against the company.” Id. at 226. “[C]ourts should not rewrite an insurance contract to enlarge the risk to the insurer.” Id. at 226-27.

RPS goes to great lengths to find ambiguity in the language of this exclusion. “Since there are no relevant factual disputes, the interpretation and construction of the insurance policy is a matter of law for the court.” Foster, 850 F.Supp. at 560-61. The “terms of an insurance policy are to be enforced as drawn[.]” Id. at 561 (citations omitted). The courts of various jurisdictions have addressed matters similar to that presented in this case and come up with different opinions as to the effect of the pollution exclusion at issue. However, no controlling case has addressed the precise issue. We examined the terms of the exclusion and the policy and found no ambiguity. The policy exclusion is what it purports to be, an exclusion for liability based upon, inter alia, the release of pollutants. Bituminous has presented evidence that ammonia is a pollutant, in that it is an expected and actual, liquid or gaseous, irritant or contaminant.

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Bluebook (online)
915 F. Supp. 882, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bituminous-casualty-corp-v-rps-co-kywd-1996.