Burks v. XL Specialty Insurance Co.

534 S.W.3d 458
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 10, 2015
DocketNO. 14-14-00740-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 534 S.W.3d 458 (Burks v. XL Specialty Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burks v. XL Specialty Insurance Co., 534 S.W.3d 458 (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

SUBSTITUTE OPINION

Sharon McCally, Justice

We overrule the motion for rehearing, withdraw our opinion dated September 15, 2015, and issue the following substitute opinion.

Appellant Roger D. Burks was the chief financial officer of Superior Offshore Inter-nationalj Inc., which had obtained a directors and officers (D & O) insurance [460]*460policy from appellee XL Specialty Insurance Company. Superior Offshore ultimately reorganized through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the plan agent sought to recover property that the company transferred to Burks and to avoid future obligations owed to him. After XL denied Burks’s request for defense expenses and coverage under the D & 0 policy, Burks settled the plan agent’s claim.

In this case, Burks sued XL for breach of the D & 0 contract, seeking damages for his defense expenses and the amount of his settlement with the plan agent. XL moved for summary judgment on these grounds: (1) the plan agent’s claim was brought outside of the policy period for this claims-made policy, and the claim was not interrelated with other prior shareholder derivative actions; (2) XL had no duty to advance defense expenses because there was no possibility of coverage for the plan agent’s claim, which sought disgorgement and was therefore not covered by the policy’s definition of “loss”; and (3) XL similarly had no duty to indemnify Burks because the plan agent sought disgorgement, which was not covered under the policy’s definition of “loss.” The trial court signed a final summary judgment in XL’s favor without specifying the grounds, and Burks appealed.1

First, we review the standards for summary judgment and principles of insurance contract interpretation. Then, we address each of the grounds XL urged for summary judgment. Ultimately, we hold that XL has not shown that it is entitled to summary judgment on Burks’s breach of contract claim.

We affirm the trial court’s judgment in part, reverse the judgment as to Burks’s breach of contract claim, and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.2

I.

Standards for Summary Judgment and Principles for Insurance Contracts

We review summary judgments de novo, and when, as here, the trial court grants the judgment without specifying the grounds, we will affirm if any of the grounds presented are meritorious. FM Props. Operating Co. v. City of Austin, 22 S.W.3d 868, 872 (Tex.2000). The movant for a traditional summary judgment must show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Tex. R. Civ. P. 166a(c); Mann Frankfort Stein & Lipp Advisors, Inc. v. Fielding, 289 S.W.3d 844, 848 (Tex.2009). A defendant is entitled to summary judgment if the defendant negates at least one essential element of the plaintiffs cause of action. See Sci. Spectrum, Inc. v. Martinez, 941 S.W.2d 910, 911 (Tex.1997). Once the defendant establishes its right to summary judgment as a matter of law, the burden shifts to the [461]*461plaintiff to present evidence raising a genuine issue of material fact. Walker v. Harris, 924 S.W.2d 375, 377 (Tex.1996). We review the summary judgment evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmovant, crediting evidence favorable to the nonmovant if reasonable fact finders could, and disregarding contrary evidence unless reasonable fact finders could not. Mann Frankfort, 289 S.W.3d at 848; see also Joe v. Two Thirty Nine Joint Venture, 145 S.W.3d. 150, 156 (Tex.2004).

When interpreting an insurance policy, we follow the “general rules of contract construction to ascertain. the parties’ intent.” Gilbert Tex. Constr., L.P. v. Underwriters at Lloyd’s London, 327 S.W.3d 118, 126 (Tex.2010). We look to the language of the policy because we presume the parties intend what the words of their contract say. Id. “Terms in insurance policies that are.subject to more than one reasonable construction are interpreted in favor of coverage.” Id. at 133.

II.

Interrelated Claims .

The parties agree that the D & 0 policy was a claims-made policy, and the plan agent’s claim was asserted after the policy period expired. But'Burks contends that the trial court erred by granting a summary judgment to XL on this ground because the plan agent’s claim was “deemed to have been made during the policy period” under the “interrelated claims”- provision of the policy. XL urged in its motion for summary judgment that the plan agent’s claim was not interrelated with prior shareholder derivative actions,' so there was no possibility of coverage. XL also urged that the court could not consider the complaints in the derivative action under the eight-corners rule.

First, we review the relevant policy terms. Then, we hold that the eight-corners rule does not prevent, consideration of the derivative action complaints to determine whether the plan agent asserted an interrelated claim. Next, we review the evidence submitted by the parties: complaints from the derivative actions and the bankruptcy proceeding. Finally, we hold that Burks raised a genuine issue of material fact on the interrelatedness of the claims. Thus, XL was not entitled to summary judgment on this ground.

A. Relevant Policy Terms

A claims-made policy, like the D & 0 policy here, only covers claims first asserted against the insured during the policy period. See Prodigy Commc’ns Corp. v. Agric. Excess & Surplus Ins. Co., 288 S.W.3d 374, 378 (Tex.2009). The parties agree that the plan agent’s claim against Burks in the bankruptcy proceeding was not, facially, made during the policy period.

The parties dispute, however, whether the plan agent’s claim should be covered under the interrelated-claims provision, which provides as follows: “All. Claims arising from. the same Interrelated Wrongful Acts shall be deemed to constitute a single Claim and shall be deemed to have been made at the earliest time at which the earliest such Claim is made or deemed to have, been made pursuant to [the notice conditions],”3

The parties disagree about whether the plan agent’s claim arose from the same interrelated wrongful acts alleged in shareholder derivative actions against Burks that were brought during the policy period. The policy defines “interrelated wrongful acts” as “any Wrongful Act [462]*462based on, arising' out of, directly or indirectly resulting from, in consequence of, or in' any way involving any of the same or related, or series of related, facts, circumstances, situations, transactions, or events.’’

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
534 S.W.3d 458, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burks-v-xl-specialty-insurance-co-texapp-2015.