Cachet Financial Solutions, Inc. v. Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.

162 F. Supp. 3d 858, 2016 WL 471317
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedFebruary 5, 2016
DocketCase No. 14-CV-4851 (PJS/HB), Case No. 15-CV-0116 (PJS/HB)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 162 F. Supp. 3d 858 (Cachet Financial Solutions, Inc. v. Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cachet Financial Solutions, Inc. v. Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., 162 F. Supp. 3d 858, 2016 WL 471317 (mnd 2016).

Opinion

ORDER

Patrick J. Schütz, United States District Judge

Plaintiffs Cachet Financial Solutions, Inc. (“Cachet”) and A Better Wireless, NISP, LLC (“ABW”) were insured by companies affiliated with defendant The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (collectively “Hartford”). Both Cachet and ABW were sued for using another company’s intellectual property in their advertisements. Both tendered the defense of those lawsuits to Hartford. In both cases, Hartford declined to defend or indemnify.

Cachet and ABW brought these coverage actions against Hartford, alleging that Hartford breached the terms of the insurance policies when it refused to defend or indemnify its insureds in connection with the underlying actions. Hartford has moved to dismiss Cachet’s and ABW’s complaints, arguing that the insurance policies are clear and that, under the clear terms of the policies, Hartford has no duty to defend or indemnify either Cachet or ABW. After carefully examining the policies, the Court concludes that they are ambiguous, that those ambiguities must be construed in favor of Cachet and ABW, and that Hartford’s motion must therefore be denied.

[860]*860I. BACKGROUND

A. The Underlying Litigation

Cachet is a Minnesota corporation that develops and sells technology that allows the owners of smart phones and other mobile devices to use those devices to engage in financial transactions. Cachet1 ECF No. 38 (Compl.) ¶ 2; About, Cachet Financial Solutions, http://www.cachet finaneial.com/about (last visited Feb. ' 5, 2016). ABW is a Minnesota corporation that offers high-speed broadband internet service in rural areas. ABW ECF No. 23 (Compl.) ¶ 1; About Us, A Better Wireless, http://www.abetterwireless.com/about_us. html (last visited Feb. 5, 2016).

Cachet was sued for trademark infringement, passing off, and unfair competition after it used another company’s intellectual property in its advertisements. Cachet Compl. ¶¶ 41-44. ABW was sued for trademark infringement, trade-dress infringement, and defamation after it used another company’s intellectual property in its advertisements and on its website. ABW Compl. ¶¶ 44-49.

Cachet and ABW were each insured under business-liability and umbrella policies issued by Hartford. Cachet Compl. ¶ 40; ABW Compl. ¶ 43. Cachet and ABW asked Hartford to defend the lawsuits against them. Cachet Compl. ¶ 47; ABW Compl. ¶ 50. Hartford refused to defend or indemnify either Cachet or ABW. Cachet Compl. ¶¶ 48-50; ABW Compl. ¶¶ 51-52. In response, Cachet and ABW brought these coverage actions.

B. The Policies

The two business-liability policies involved in these coverage actions are materially identical, as are the two umbrella policies. Those policies and the amendments to those policies contain a rather perplexing series of grants of coverage, exclusions from coverage, and exceptions to exclusions from coverage. The coverage afforded to “personal and advertising injury” is particularly difficult to discern.

1. The Business-Liability Policy

The business-liability policy begins with a grant of coverage, which includes broad coverage for personal and advertising injury:

We will pay those sums that the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of ... “personal and advertising injury” to which this insurance applies. We will have the right and duty to defend the insured against any “suit” seeking those damages.

Policy2 at 97, § A.l.a.

In the grant of coverage — and throughout the business-liability policy — the phrase “personal and advertising injury” appears in quotation marks. The business-liability policy explains that “words and phrases that appear in quotation marks”— such as the phrase “personal and advertising injury” — “have special meaning,” and that the reader can find that “special meaning” in the “Definitions” section of the policy. Id. at 97. (The umbrella policy contains a similar provision. See id. at 21.) Turning to the “Definitions” section, the reader finds that “personal and advertising injury” is defined to include (among other things) false arrest, detention, or imprisonment; malicious prosecution; wrongful eviction or entry; “[ejopying, in your ‘advertisement’, a person’s or organization’s ‘advertising idea’ or style of ‘advertisement’ ”; and “[ijnfringement of copyright, slogan, or title of any literary or [861]*861artistic work, in your ‘advertisement.’ ” Id. at 118-19, § G.17.

The business-liability policy then cuts back on the initially broad grant of coverage for personal and advertising injury. Specifically, the business-liability policy provides that coverage for personal and advertising injury does not include coverage of -claims “[ajrising out of any violation of any intellectual property rights such as ... patent [or] trademark” rights. Id. at 104, § B.l.p(7). An important endorsement to the business-liability policy (the “SS50501201 Endorsement”) further restricts coverage for personal and advertising injury. This endorsement — the first of two provisions whose meaning is disputed by the parties — provides:

PERSONAL AND ADVERTISING INJURY EXCLUSION-LIMITED
This insurance does not apply to “personal and advertising injury” and none of the references to “personal and advertising injury” in the policy apply.
This exclusion does- not apply to “personal and advertising injury” arising out of the following offenses:
a. False arrest, detention or imprisonment;
b. Malicious prosecution; or
c. The wrongful eviction from, wrongful entry into, or invasion of the right of private occupancy of a room, dwelling or premises that the person occupies

Id. at 177.

2. The Umbrella Policy

The umbrella policy incorporates the definitions provided in the business-liability policy, id. at 32, § VII, including the definition of “personal and advertising injury” (a phrase that appears in quotations throughout the umbrella policy). The umbrella policy initially provides that Hartford will defend suits for personal and advertising injuries “[f]or which no coverage is provided under any ‘underlying insurance’; or [f]or which the underlying limits of any ‘underlying insurance’ policy have been exhausted solely by payments of ‘damages’ _” Id. at 25-26, § II.A. But then the umbrella policy limits that coverage through “Exclusion B.4,” the second of the two provisions whose meaning is disputed by the parties.

Exclusion B.4 initially provides a broad exclusion — it says that the umbrella policy does not provide any coverage for “[personal and advertising injury” — and then provides an exception to that exclusion. Specifically, Exclusion B.4 provides:

B. Exclusions
This policy does not apply to:
4. Personal and Advertising Injury
“Personal and advertising injury”.
EXCEPTION

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
162 F. Supp. 3d 858, 2016 WL 471317, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cachet-financial-solutions-inc-v-hartford-financial-services-group-inc-mnd-2016.