Continental Insurance v. Catholic Bishop (In Re Catholic Bishop)

414 B.R. 552, 2009 Bankr. LEXIS 4255, 2009 WL 2972385
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Alaska
DecidedSeptember 11, 2009
Docket19-00030
StatusPublished

This text of 414 B.R. 552 (Continental Insurance v. Catholic Bishop (In Re Catholic Bishop)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Continental Insurance v. Catholic Bishop (In Re Catholic Bishop), 414 B.R. 552, 2009 Bankr. LEXIS 4255, 2009 WL 2972385 (Alaska 2009).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM ON CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

DONALD MacDONALD IV, Bankruptcy Judge.

This memorandum decides cross summary judgment motions. The major issue presented in both motions is whether the existence of missing liability insurance policies has been established by secondary evidence. The Catholic Bishop of Northern Alaska (“CBNA”) moved for summary judgment to establish the existence of lost or missing liability insurance policies it contends were issued by Continental Insurance Company (“CIC”) for periods in the 1970’s. 1 CBNA seeks to establish this insurance coverage because of recent claims which have been asserted against it for sexual abuse committed by church personnel who worked for CBNA during the 1970’s. CBNA has not been able to locate the originals or copies of the insurance policies it says were issued by CIC. It has provided secondary evidence which it contends shows that CIC provided it with liability coverage for periods in the 1970’s on terms identical to those in contemporaneous liability insurance policies which have been located for CBNA’s sister diocese in Anchorage.

CIC’s cross-motion for summary judgment seeks a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify CBNA because the existence and terms of the lost or missing policies cannot be established by sufficient, admissible secondary evidence. 2

Giving CBNA the benefit of all reasonable inferences, I conclude it has not produced sufficient evidence of the existence, terms and conditions of liability coverage *554 to carry its burden of persuasion. The testimony and documentary evidence provided by CBNA fails to establish directly or create a reasonable inference that CIC ever issued liability insurance which would cover the abuse claims. Accordingly, CBNA’s motion for summary judgment will be denied, and CIC’s cross-motion will be granted.

Factual and Procedural Background

Starting in 2003, a number of individuals filed suit against CBNA alleging claims of sexual abuse by clergy or church volunteers who worked for CBNA. Several of these abuse claims arose during the period from October 14, 1973, to April 15, 1979. CBNA tendered defense of these claims to CIC, based on its belief that CIC had issued it liability insurance coverage for this period. However, CBNA could not locate any of the original policies or copies of the policies it alleges provide for its defense and indemnity. CBNA’s research did produce some records which led it to believe there might have been CIC liability coverage for the occurrences. When tendering its defense, CBNA provided CIC with copies of these records, which included documents referencing CIC insurance policy numbers, insurance related forms, and certain accounting information.

CIC provided for CBNA’s defense in some of the abuse suits under a reservation of rights. To free itself of continued defense obligations and the possibility of indemnity for the abuse claims, on January 19, 2006, CIC filed a declaratory judgment action against CBNA in United States District Court for the District of Alaska. 3 CIC alleged CBNA could not meet its burden of proof to establish the existence of the alleged policies, or their effective dates, terms, exclusions or limits. CIC requested a declaration that it had no duty to defend or indemnify CBNA with respect to the abuse claims.

CBNA unsuccessfully moved to dismiss CIC’s suit. The summary judgment motions which are the subject of this memorandum decision were filed in the district court case and were scheduled for oral argument in that court on April 10, 2008. This hearing date was vacated by the district court after CBNA filed for chapter 11 relief on March 1, 2008. CIC obtained relief from stay from the bankruptcy court for the limited purpose of permitting the district court to hear oral argument and render a decision on the cross-motions. 4 However, the district court ultimately referred CIC’s declaratory judgment action to this bankruptcy court, finding that this court had jurisdiction to determine the dispute. 5 This court heard oral argument on the cross-motions for summary judgment on June 30, 2009.

CBNA’s summary judgment motion asks the court to find that the Diocese had liability coverage for the applicable period, October 14, 1973, to April 15, 1979, identical to the coverage CIC provided in substantially contemporaneous policies insuring the Archdiocese of Anchorage. The policies for the Archdiocese of Anchorage physically exist, and CBNA contends that its insurance mirrored the insurance purchased by this sister diocese diming the 1970’s. The policies issued to the Archdiocese of Anchorage included a duty to defend, and had the following limits for bodily injury liability:

*555 — $100,000 for each person
•— $300,000 for each occurrence
— $300,000 aggregate. 6

CBNA has identified several CIC policy numbers which it says point to the existence of such policies. They are policy numbers SMP 2390621 for the earlier period from 1973 to 1975, and SMP 2397996 covering the latter period of 1975 to 1978. The designation “SMP” stands for “special multiperil policy.” 7

Three key depositions in this case are relied upon by CBNA to support its summary judgment motion. These depositions are also relied upon by CIC to refute CBNA’s analysis. These are:

—■ the deposition of Juanita Brown, an employee of LaBow Haynes, the insurance broker at the time for the Fairbanks Diocese, as well as the Archdiocese of Anchorage and the Juneau Diocese;
— the deposition of Julian Robb, a CIC underwriter at the time; and
— the deposition of George Bowder, a financial officer of CBNA from 1978 to the present.

There are a dozen or so pieces of documentary evidence as well. CBNA argues it has sufficiently established the existence and terms of defense and indemnity liability coverage by secondary evidence to bind CIC, despite the fact that it cannot locate the actual policies themselves. 8 CBNA contends that the terms of its policies can be inferred to be “identical” to the terms of the liability coverage CIC extended to the Archdiocese of Anchorage during the same time frame. CIC refutes these contentions. It argues that the deposition testimony is inconclusive and most of the documents are inadmissible or, if admissible, do not support a reasonable inference that liability insurance coverage actually existed. 9

Secondary Evidence

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
414 B.R. 552, 2009 Bankr. LEXIS 4255, 2009 WL 2972385, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/continental-insurance-v-catholic-bishop-in-re-catholic-bishop-akb-2009.