Celanese Corp. v. OneBeacon America Insurance

25 Mass. L. Rptr. 293
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedDecember 29, 2008
DocketNo. 061625BLS2
StatusPublished

This text of 25 Mass. L. Rptr. 293 (Celanese Corp. v. OneBeacon America Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Celanese Corp. v. OneBeacon America Insurance, 25 Mass. L. Rptr. 293 (Mass. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

Neel, Stephen E., J.

Plaintiff Celanese Corporation (Celanese) seeks money damages and declaratory judgment against defendant OneBeacon America Insurance Company (OneBeacon) under general liability policies which Celanese purchased from OneBeacon’s predecessor, Commercial Union Insurance Company. Celanese alleges that OneBeacon has failed to provide payment under the policies for defense costs and indemnification of asbestos-related and other bodily injury claims. Each party has moved for partial summary judgment with regard to OneBeacon’s duty to defend. In addition, OneBeacon had moved for partial summary judgment regarding choice of law and availability of relief under G.L.c. 93A, and Celanese has moved for partial summary judgment as to several of OneBeacon’s affirmative defenses. After hearing, and consideration of the materials presented by the parties, the Court rules as follows.

I. Duty to Defend

Celanese and OneBeacon both move for summary judgment with regard to their respective rights and obligations regarding OneBeacon’s duty to defend under the insurance policies identified in the Second Amended Complaint (the policies), in light of two subsequent defense cost sharing agreements: the February 1998 “Defense Cost Sharing Agreement Between Commercial Union and Hoechst Celanese Corporation” (1998 agreement), and the May 2001 “Defense Agreement Between Celanese and Celanese Insurers Regarding Photo Resist Claims” (2001 agreement) (the agreements).

The agreements were part of an effort to resolve, without litigation, disputes among Celanese and its several insurers, including OneBeacon, over funding of defense costs for bodily injury claims against Celan-ese arising out of its products containing asbestos or certain chemicals (1998 agreement), or out of “photo resist” chemicals used in computer parts manufacture (2001 agreement). The agreements contemplated that Celanese and its insurers, including OneBeacon, would fund the defense costs of specified claims by splitting the costs among the parties, Celanese included.

Celanese’s Second Amended Complaint asserts the following pertinent claims against OneBeacon: breach of the 1998 agreement and the 2001 agreement (Counts I and III), declaratory judgment as to each agreement (Counts II and IV), and breach of the policies as to duty to defend (Count V). Celanese moves for partial summary judgment essentially as to Count V, asking for a declaration that “OneBeacon is obligated to provide a full and complete defense to Celan-ese of any Liability Suit. ..” Motion, at 11. OneBeacon moves for partial summary judgment in its favor as to the same Count V.

OneBeacon argues that, under the terms of the agreements, it and Celanese “released Celanese’s claims for defense costs under the [underlying] OneB-eacon policies,” and that Celanese is therefore precluded from seeking recovery of defense costs under those policies. OneBeacon’s Memorandum in support of its motion, at 1. Celanese argues that OneBeacon has failed to provide “full and unlimited defense to Celanese” for the claims covered by the agreements, and instead “argues that intervening agreements . . . somehow relieve OneBeacon of its full defense obligations to Celanese.” OneBeacon’s position, argues Celanese, “cannot be reconciled with the plain language of these agreements, the insurance policies, the conduct of the parties, or the law.” Celanese’s Opposition to OneBeacon’s motion (Celanese’s Opposition), at 1-2.

The Court must therefore interpret the agreements in light of Celanese’s argument that its execution of the agreements did not cause it to lose rights to payment of full defense costs by OneBeacon under the policies, and OneBeacon’s argument that, by signing the agreements, Celanese agreed to forfeit any rights under the policies to costs of defending claims specified in the agreements.

The agreements both recite that they are to be construed in accordance with Delaware law. In The Council, Dorset Condo. Apt v. Gordon, 801 A.2d 1, 7 [295]*295(Del. 2002), the Delaware Supreme Court stated that “[a] court must interpret contractual provisions in a way that gives effect to eveiy term of the instrument, and that, if possible, reconciles all of the provisions of the instrument when read as a whole.” In Rhone-Poulenc v. American Motorists Ins., 616 A.2d 1192, 1195-96 (Del. 1992) (where the contract at issue was an insurance policy), the court set out the following additional general principles of construction:

A contract is not rendered ambiguous simply because the parties do not agree upon its proper construction. Rather, a contract is ambiguous only when the provisions in controversy are reasonably or fairly susceptible of different interpretations or may have two or more different meanings . . . Ambiguity does not exist where the court can determine the meaning of a contract “without any other guide than a knowledge of the simple facts on which, from the nature of language in general, its meaning depends.” .. . The true test is not what the parties to the contract intended it to mean, butwhat a reasonable person in position of the parties would have thought it meant.

(Citations omitted.)

Guided by the above principles, the Court analyzes the agreements as follows.

A. 1998 Agreement

The preliminary “whereas” clauses in the agreement signal the parties’ intent as to what the agreement was, and was not, to accomplish:

Whereas, a dispute currently exists between Commercial Union and HCC [i.e., Celanese] (hereinafter “the Parties”) as to their respective rights and obligations under the Alleged Insurance Policies concerning the defense and indemnification of HCC in connection with the Asbestos Bodily Injury Claims and the Chemical Exposure/Product Bodily Injury Claims; and
Whereas, this Agreement is intended to resolve only those issues relating to the defense of those Asbestos Bodily Injury Claims and Chemical Exposure/Product Bodily Injury Claims which are still pending [i.e., not settled]; and
Whereas, Commercial Union does not admit to the existence of all Alleged Insurance Policies or their applicability to the Asbestos Bodily Injury Claims and Chemical Exposure/Product Bodily Injury Claims;
Whereas, nothing in this Agreement is intended to alter, delete, change or modify any term, condition, obligation or policy exclusion of any policy issued by Commercial Union to HCC; and
Whereas, this Agreement is negotiated and freely entered into by the Parties to establish an orderly, non-litigated format for Commercial Union’s participation in and/or reimbursement of HCC’s defense with respect to claims and lawsuits arising from the Asbestos Bodily Injury Claims and Chemical Exposure/Product Bodily Injury Claims; and
Whereas, by subscribing to this Agreement, neither party relinquishes, waives, or admits the existence of coverage under any of the Alleged Insurance Policies.

1998 agreement, at 2-3.

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Bluebook (online)
25 Mass. L. Rptr. 293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/celanese-corp-v-onebeacon-america-insurance-masssuperct-2008.