Certified Multi-Media Solutions, Ltd. V. Preferred Contractors Insurance Co. Risk Retention Group

674 F. App'x 45
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJanuary 3, 2017
Docket16-140-cv
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 674 F. App'x 45 (Certified Multi-Media Solutions, Ltd. V. Preferred Contractors Insurance Co. Risk Retention Group) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Certified Multi-Media Solutions, Ltd. V. Preferred Contractors Insurance Co. Risk Retention Group, 674 F. App'x 45 (2d Cir. 2017).

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

Defendant-appellant Preferred Contractors Insurance Company Risk Retention Group, LLC (“PCIC”) appeals the district court’s judgment, entered January 29, 2016, resolving the underlying insurance action in favor of plaintiff-appellee Certified Multi-Media Solutions, Ltd. (“Certified”) and intervenor-plaintiff-appellee St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company, Travelers (“Travelers”) (together, “plaintiffs”). The parties dispute the scope of certain contractual provisions that purportedly limit the amount of insurance coverage provided by PCIC to $10,000. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts, procedural history, and issues on appeal.

In 2008, non-party Getronics USA Inc. (“Getronics”) hired Certified, an electrical contracting company, to provide electrical services at a shopping mall in the Bronx, New York. Getronics was insured under a commercial general liability policy issued by Travelers.

On March 14, 2009, PCIC issued to Certified an insurance policy (the “Policy”) consisting of (1) a commercial general liability policy containing a standard set of provisions and (2) a specific set of provisions known as the Manuscript Policy Provisions, which included Endorsement 28.

On March 19, 2009, non-party Anthony Balzano, an employee of Certified, was injured while performing electrical work at the shopping mall. In New York state court he sued the mall owner, the lessee of the premises, and the general contractor. The lessee filed a third-party complaint for, inter alia, breach of contract against Certified and sought indemnification and contribution. The general contractor filed a third-party complaint for breach of contract and negligence against Getronics which, in turn, filed a third-party complaint against Certified for breach of contract and negligence and sought indemnification. Certified sought coverage under the Policy for its defense and directed Travelers, which was defending Getronics in litigation, to seek indemnification from PCIC as well. PCIC informed Certified in January 2012 that, pursuant to Endorsement 23 in the Policy, it would provide only up to $10,000 of coverage, rather than the full coverage of $1 million, for the claims arising from Balzano’s injuries.

Certified filed this diversity action against PCIC in September 2014 seeking a declaratory judgment that the Policy pro[47]*47vides up to $1 million in coverage and that PCIC is required to defend and indemnify it in the state court litigation. Travelers intervened and sought a declaratory judgment requiring PCIC also to pay its defense and indemnity costs in the state court litigation. In December 2015, the district court awarded summary judgment in favor of Certified, holding that, based on the unambiguous and plain meaning of the Policy, the $10,000 cap on insurance coverage in Endorsement 23 does not apply to the claims arising from Balzano’s injuries. The court entered judgments for Certified and Travelers shortly thereafter.

We review an award of summary judgment de novo and will affirm only if the record, viewed in the light most favorable to the party against whom judgment was entered, shows that there are no genuine issues of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Barfield v. N.Y.C. Health & Hosps. Corp., 587 F.3d 132, 140 (2d Cir. 2008).

In New York, “insurance policies are interpreted according to general rules of contract interpretation.” Olin Corp. v. Am. Home Assurance Co., 704 F.3d 89, 98 (2d Cir. 2012). “[T]he initial question for the court on a motion for summary judgment with respect to a contract claim is whether the contract is unambiguous with respect to the question disputed by the parties.” Law Debenture Tr. Co. of N.Y. v. Maverick Tube Corp., 595 F.3d 458, 465 (2d Cir. 2010) (internal quotation marks omitted). “Language whose meaning is otherwise plain does not become ambiguous merely because the parties urge different interpretations in the litigation.” Olin, 704 F.3d at 99 (quoting Hunt Ltd. v. Lifschultz Fast Freight, Inc., 889 F.2d 1274, 1277 (2d Cir. 1989)). The court is to give the words and phrases in a contract their plain meaning, construe the contract to give full meaning and effect to all its provisions, and avoid contract interpretations that render a clause superfluous or meaningless. Id.

If the disputed language in the contract is ambiguous in that it is objectively and reasonably capable of more than one meaning in the context of the entire agreement, the court may use extrinsic evidence to discern the parties’ intent at contract formation and interpret the disputed language accordingly. Id. If the court still cannot ascertain the parties’ intent, it may then apply other rules of contract interpretation such as the New York rule resolving contractual ambiguity in favor of the insured. Id.

In this case, the disputed language is contained in the coverage-limiting provisions in Endorsement 23, which is entitled “Action Over”:

Notwithstanding the’ limit of coverage shown in the Declarations and/or Section III ..., $10,000 only is the most we will pay as damages for any and all claims, including any claim for contractual indemnification, arising from or related to any “bodily injury”, “property damage” or “personal injury” sustained by an employee of an insured while injured, harmed or damaged in the scope of such employment.
In any action brought by such employee, if you are impleaded into said action, or if any third party action over is commenced against you, irrespective of the claims or theories set forth therein, the $10,000 limit of coverage as provided in this endorsement shall apply when:
1. The injury sustained by the employee is a “grave injury” as defined by Section 11 of the New York State Workers’ Compensation Law, as follows: [list of qualifying injuries]; and
2. You are required by contract, regulation or law to be insured under a workers’ compensation policy provid[48]*48ing liability coverage for claims arising from injuries to employees.
3. The words “we” and “our” refer to the company providing this insurance.
4. The words “you” and “your” refer to the Named Insured shown in the Declarations, and any other person or organization qualifying as a Named Insured under this policy.

J. App. at 97-98. Footnote 5 defines “you” to mean the “Named Insured shown in the Declarations,” and “Named Insured” is defined in the Manuscript Policy Provisions as “the Member identified on the Declarations of the Policy.” J. App. at 31, 97. The “Common Policy Declarations” page identifies the “Member” as Certified. J. App. at 23.

Although the parties agree that the second paragraph in Endorsement 23 does not apply in this action because Balzano did not suffer a “grave injury,” they dispute whether the first paragraph, read in tandem with the second, imposes a $10,000 cap on damages for claims arising from Balzano’s bodily injuries.

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674 F. App'x 45, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/certified-multi-media-solutions-ltd-v-preferred-contractors-insurance-ca2-2017.