City of Evansville v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co.

965 N.E.2d 92, 2012 WL 982773, 2012 Ind. App. LEXIS 123
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 23, 2012
Docket49A02-1104-PL-375
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 965 N.E.2d 92 (City of Evansville v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Evansville v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 965 N.E.2d 92, 2012 WL 982773, 2012 Ind. App. LEXIS 123 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

BARNES, Judge.

Case Summary

The City of Evansville (“the City”) appeals the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company (“USF & G”), Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Company, Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Underwriters, Inc., St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company (“St.Paul”), Princeton Excess & Surplus Lines Insurance Company, Hartford Casualty Insurance Company (“Hartford”), Twin City Fire Insurance Company, Zurich American Insurance Company, American Guarantee and Liability Insurance Company, Arrowood Surplus Lines Insurance Company (“Arrowood”), and Landmark American Insurance Company (“Landmark”) (collectively, “Insurers”). We affirm. 1

Issues

The City raises several issues, which we consolidate and restate as whether the trial court properly determined that the Insurers were entitled to summary judgment because the City was seeking coverage for *94 projects to prevent future discharges of combined-sewer overflows rather than to remediate past discharges.

Facts

Insurers sold primary and excess-layer general liability insurance policies to the City at various times. The policies, except for the Arrowood and Landmark policies, allegedly contain provisions regarding coverage for “ ‘damages’ that arise from ‘bodily injury or ‘property damage’ caused by an ‘occurrence’ during the policy period” and “ ‘damages’ that result from ‘personal injury’ during the policy period” subject to all the other definitions, terms, conditions, and exclusions in the policies. App. pp. 152-53, 698. 2 The Insurers, with the exception of Arrowood and Landmark, did not designate the relevant insurance policies. In their motion for summary judgment, the Insurers stated that, for purposes of the summary judgment motion, the policies at issue contained this language. Id. at 152-53. The City does not argue that the policies do not contain this language. However, because the Insurers did not actually designate the policies, we have not been provided with the contractual definitions of the relevant terms. 3

The Arrowood and Landmark policies were designated and contained coverage for “ultimate net loss” because of “bodily injury,” “property damage,” “personal injury” or “advertising injury” caused by an “occurrence” during the policy period. Id. at 235, 279. The Arrowood and Landmark policies define “occurrence” with respect to “bodily injury” and “property damage” as “an accidental happening, including continuous and repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions which results in ‘bodily injury’ or ‘property damage.’ ” Id. at 217, 261. The term “ultimate net loss” is defined as:

the total sum which an insured becomes obligated to pay through either adjudication or compromise by reason of “bodily injury,” “property damage,” “personal injury,” or “advertising injury,” arising out of the insured’s activities .... “Ultimate net loss” also includes:
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b. Legal expenses, premiums to release attachments or appeal bonds, expenses for lawyers and investigators and other persons for defense, settlement or investigation of “claims” and “suits” which are paid under Coverage Parts II or III.

Id. at 219, 263.

The City’s original sewer system was constructed approximately a century ago. The sewer system is a combined system, whereby “certain lines that transport sewage away from homes and businesses mix with stormwater collected by the City’s storm drains.” Id. at 437. Such combined sewer systems are - designed such that, during periods of heavy rain, a combined sewer overflow (“CSO”) will occur, and the overfill “exits the combined system through designated ‘outfalls’ and enters local streams, lakes, and rivers.” Id. at *95 437-38. Thus, the City’s system is designed to discharge diluted, but untreated sewage at certain times.

One of the City’s outfalls is Bee Slough, which discharges into the Ohio River. Bee Slough consists of three sections. The first section of Bee Slough is enclosed and transitions into a concrete-lined section, which is approximately one mile long. Bee Slough then transitions back into an enclosed section. When the Ohio River is at a high water level, a levee gate is closed, and CSO discharges fill Bee Slough. The combined sewage “that is allowed to stand in the slough for days essentially undergoes the primary treatment process of gravity separation.” Id. at 720. When the river recedes, the levee gate is opened, and “the liquid portion of the contained area drains to the river.” Id. However, solid materials that have settled to the bottom of the concrete channel remain. The City uses a front-end loader and dump truck to remove the solids and clean the concrete channel annually.

The City has been issued National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permits, which “set specific requirements and limitations on CSO discharges during wet weather conditions and prohibit CSO discharges during dry weather.” Id. at 438. However, stricter requirements regarding CSO’s have been enacted since the 1990’s. The City, like other CSO communities, is required to develop a Long-Term Control Plan (“LTCP”) to coordinate long-term sewer improvement projects, and the City submitted a LTCP in 2002, but it was not approved. In 2005, the City sought reis-suance of its NPDES permits, and the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) became involved in the negotiations. The EPA, Indiana Department of Environmental Management (“IDEM”), and the City entered into negotiations over a consent decree and the City’s LTCP, but they could not agree on terms.

In June 2007, the City filed a complaint for declaratory judgment against some of the Insurers. In June 2009 and April 2010, the City filed motions for leave to amend its complaint to add additional insurer defendants, which the trial court granted. The City alleged that it had liability insurance policies with the Insurers for the relevant time periods that provided coverage for “the City’s cost of remedial measures required by government to correct past harm caused by combined sewer overflows and to prevent further harm.” 4 Id. at 698. The City sought “an award of its past and future Defense Costs and its past and future Indemnity Costs, up to policy limits, resulting from liability claims by government that overflows from the City’s combined sewer overflow systems have harmed the environment.” Id. at 699.

In June 2009, the United States and the State of Indiana, on behalf of the EPA and IDEM, filed a complaint against the City in federal district court, and they amended the complaint in December 2009. The Government alleged that the City had “unauthorized and illegal discharges of pollutants and other violations” of the Clean Water Act and its NPDES permits. Id. at 665.

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965 N.E.2d 92, 2012 WL 982773, 2012 Ind. App. LEXIS 123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-evansville-v-united-states-fidelity-guaranty-co-indctapp-2012.