Certain Underwriters of Lloyd's v. Southern Natural Gas Co.

41 So. 3d 56, 2009 Ala. LEXIS 300, 2009 WL 5173509
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedDecember 30, 2009
Docket1071770 and 1080816
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 41 So. 3d 56 (Certain Underwriters of Lloyd's v. Southern Natural Gas Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Certain Underwriters of Lloyd's v. Southern Natural Gas Co., 41 So. 3d 56, 2009 Ala. LEXIS 300, 2009 WL 5173509 (Ala. 2009).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London, and Certain London Marketing Insurance Companies (collectively “the Insurers”) appeal from an order of the Jefferson Circuit Court in favor of the plaintiff, Southern Natural Gas Company (“Sonat”), certified under Rule 54(b), Ala. R. Civ. P., as a final judgment. We dismiss the appeals.

Facts and Procedural History

This is the second time the underlying action has come before this Court. See Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London v. Southern Natural Gas Co., 939 So.2d 21 (AIa.2006) (“Lloyd’s /”). As this Court noted in Lloyd’s I:

“Sonat operates approximately 14,000 miles of pipeline in the southeastern United States for the purpose of transporting natural gas to markets in a seven-state area. As Sonat explains in the complaint it filed to institute the underlying litigation, its ‘integrated pipeline operations’ include, among other operational features, numerous ‘compressor stations,’ including 11 located in Alabama, and numerous ‘mercury-metering stations,’ including 131 located in Alabama. The Insurers provide a balanced summary of the circumstances giving rise to the action in their principal brief to this Court:
“ ‘From 1957 to 1972, Sonat used a PCB-based synthetic lubricant at many of its compressor stations.
“ ‘In 1991 Sonat put [the Insurers] on notice that it had discovered contamination at 13 of its compressor stations and that it had taken action to contain and remediate the contamination. In November 1995, counsel for [the Insurers] sent Sonat a reservation of rights letter with respect to the claim made by Sonat. In 1996 Sonat advised [the Insurers] that the cleanup had been completed and that [the Insurers] should close their files on the claim.’

“(The Insurers’ brief, pp. 6-7.)

“In the action it subsequently filed against the Insurers, Sonat asserted that the Environmental Protection Agency, ‘other governmental agencies and departments and/or private parties,’ including Alabama residents, ‘have brought or asserted lawsuits, claims, and demands against Sonat alleging property damage, personal injury, bodily injury, and other damage[ ] and causes of action, including, without limitation, nuisance, trespass, negligence and strict liability, allegedly as a result of Sonat’s operations and ownership’ of the pipeline system. Sonat asserted that it had ‘paid substantial amounts under legal obligation for the remediation of damage in, at, and around the vicinity of compressor stations, and for mercury damage arising from mercury meters.’ Sonat went on to explain that the contamination experienced at the compressor stations involved principally the presence of PCBs and the contamination at the mercury-metering stations involved principally ‘the presence of mercury in the ground water, surface water, air and general environment in, at, around, and in the vicinity of the mercury-metering stations.’

“Sonat stated in its complaint that the Insurers had issued various policies of liability insurance, covering successive policy periods commencing on November 30, 1949, and concluding on December 1, 1987, which entitled Sonat to coverage ‘for all sums, including costs of investigation and defense and legal liabilities, arising out of environmental and tort actions.... ’ In paragraph 32 of the complaint (captioned ‘Environmental and Tort Action Concerning Reform, Alabama[,] Compressor Station’), Sonat alleged:

“‘Claims, demands and suits have been asserted against Sonat concerning property damage and other damages arising out of Sonat’s operation of the Reform, Alabama[,] compressor station. The claimants in the environmental actions, allege, inter alia, damage and other injury based on purported damage including the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls and other substances of concern in the environment in, at, around, and in the vicinity of the Reform, Alabama!,] compressor station. Claimants seek damages for past and future response costs for alleged property damage which is continuous and progressive, beginning in or before 1949 and extending until at least 1986. The monies spent and to be spent in response to demands of a governmental agency, or a private party are “damages” under the Liability Insurance Policies.2 Alabama [59]*59Plating Co. v. United States Fidelity and Guar. Co., 690 So.2d 331 (Ala. 1996). As such, the Liability Insurance Policies respond to and are required to pay for all damage because of propei’ty damage, bodily injury or personal injury (or a combination thereof) which Sonat is or becomes legally obligated to pay as respects the Reform, Alabama[,] compressor station. Sonat has paid, and is likely to continue to become legally obligated to pay, damages arising from the Reform, Alabama[,] compressor station.’

“By means of the next four paragraphs of its complaint, introduced by identical captions except for the name of the location of the compressor station, and making identical averments, Sonat made precisely parallel allegations concerning the compressor stations located at Elmore, Gallion, McConnells, and Tarrant, Alabama.

“Thereafter, Sonat undertook in its complaint to delineate five separately captioned claims for relief. The claims respectively asserted that although the Insurers were obligated to pay in full Sonat’s legal liabilities arising out of or in connection with the previously described ‘environmental and tort actions,’ the Insurers had ‘failed, or threatened to fail, to fulfill, or acknowledge completely their insuring obligations to pay in full Sonat’s legal liabilities’; that there was an actual and justiciable controversy as to the Insurers’ obligations in that regard (first claim for relief); that the Insurers had breached their insuring obligations to Sonat and were obligated to pay Sonat ‘all direct, indirect, consequential, incidental, special, compensatory and other damages resulting from’ the breaches of contract (second claim for relief); that the conduct of the Insurers effected a waiver of their right ‘to enforce any contractual obligation, limitation, exclusion, or other provisions running in [their] favor’ and Sonat was entitled to a judicial declaration to that effect (third claim for relief); that the Insurers had breached their contracts of insurance by ‘disclosing confidences of Sonat and confidential settlement communications of Sonat in violation of their contractual duties to act with good faith and with reasonable care and prudence with regard to their insured,’ thereby waiving the Insurers’ ‘ability to enforce any contractual obligation, limitation, exclusion, or other provision running in [their] favor,’ entitling Sonat to a judicial declaration to that effect (fourth claim for relief); and that the conduct of the Insurers represented an anticipatory breach of contract entitling Sonat to recover damages (fifth claim for relief).

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Related

Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, London v. Southern Natural Gas Co.
142 So. 3d 436 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2013)

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Bluebook (online)
41 So. 3d 56, 2009 Ala. LEXIS 300, 2009 WL 5173509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/certain-underwriters-of-lloyds-v-southern-natural-gas-co-ala-2009.