Crown Central Petroleum Corp. v. Rust Scaffold Builders, Inc.

951 F. Supp. 630
District Court, S.D. Texas·Decided October 10, 1996·No. Civil Action No. H-95-3595·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ATLAS, District Judge.

Pending before the Court is Defendant Continental Casualty Company’s (“Continental” or “Defendant”) Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. # 25]. For the reasons discussed below, Defendant’s Motion is GRANTED.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Continental issued a comprehensive general liability policy to the Brand Companies, including Scaffold Builder’s, Inc. (“SBI”), on or about March 1, 1989. On March 6, 1990, SBI entered into a construction/maintenance/service contract with Crown Central Petroleum Corporation (“Crown” or “Plaintiff’), pursuant to which, SBI agreed (i) to erect and dismantle scaffolding at Crown’s Pasadena refinery; (ii) to defend, indemnify and hold Crown harmless from all claims arising out of SBI’s work at the refinery;1 [638] and (iii) to make Crown an additional insured on certain of SBI’s insurance policies, including the policy made the basis of this lawsuit.

In 1992, two SBI employees filed independent lawsuits against Crown, claiming injuries from exposure to airborne hydrofluoric acid in a battery unit2 at Crown’s Pasadena refinery on August 31, 1990. Crown settled these lawsuits and subsequently sued Continental, claiming that, under Crown’s 1990 contract with SBI, Continental owes Crown a duty to pay for the defense costs and to indemnify Crown for the resulting settlement amounts. Continental disagrees, arguing that an “absolute pollution exclusion” endorsement in SBI’s policy relieves it of any duty to defend or indemnify Crown.3

II. SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

In deciding a motion for summary judgment, the Court must determine whether “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 817, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552-53, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Little v. Liquid Air Corp., 37 F.3d 1069, 1075 (5th Cir.1994) (en banc); Boze v. Branstetter, 912 F.2d 801, 804 (5th Cir.1990). The facts are to be reviewed with all inferences drawn in favor of the party opposing the motion. Boze, 912 F.2d at 804 (citing Reid v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 784 F.2d 577, 578 (5th Cir.1986)). However, factual controversies are resolved in favor of the non-movant “only when there is an actual controversy, that is, when both parties have submitted evidence of contradictory facts.” McCallum Highlands, Ltd. v. Washington Capital Dus, Inc., 66 F.3d 89, 92 (5th Cir.), revised on other grounds upon denial of reh’g, 70 F.3d 26 (1995).

The party moving for summary judgment has the initial burden of demonstrating the absence of a material fact issue with respect to those issues on which the movant bears the burden of proof at trial. For any matter on which the non-movant carries the burden of proof at trial, however, the movant may, by merely pointing to the absence of evi[639] dence supporting the essential elements of the non-movant’s case, shift to the non-mov-ant the burden of demonstrating by competent summary judgment proof that there is an issue of material fact' so as to warrant a trial. Transamerica Ins. Co. v. Avenell, 66 F.3d 715, 718-19 (5th Cir.1995); Forsyth v. Barr, 19 F.3d 1527, 1533 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 871, 115 S.Ct. 195, 130 L.Ed.2d 127 (1994).

The non-movant’s burden may not be satisfied by conelusory allegations, unsubstantiated assertions, metaphysical doubt as to the facts, or a scintilla of evidence. Little, 37 F.3d at 1075. In the absence of any proof, the Court will not assume that the non-movant could or would prove the necessary facts. McCallum Highlands, 66 F.3d at 92; Little, 37 F.3d at 1075 (citing Lujan v. National Wildlife Fed’n, 497 U.S. 871, 888, 110 S.Ct. 3177, 3188, 111 L.Ed.2d 695 (1990)). Rule 56 mandates the entry of summary judgment, after adequate time for discovery and upon motion, against a party who fails to make a sufficient showing of the existence of an element essential to the party’s ease, and on which that party will bear the burden at trial. Little, 37 F.3d at 1075 (citing Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. at 2552).

III. DISCUSSION

In determining whether an insurer has a duty to defend its insured, Texas courts generally look only to the allegations of the plaintiffs complaint and the terms of the insurance contract. Lafarge Corp. v. Hartford Cas. Ins. Co., 61 F.3d 389, 393 (5th Cir.1995). Under this so-called “eight corners rule” or “complaint allegation rule,” the allegations of the complaint are taken as true, and the duty to defend arises if the complaint thus construed asserts a claim facially within the coverage of the policy. Id. The insurer is not required to defend if the complaint only alleges facts excluded by the policy. Id. Unlike the duty to indemnify, which is based upon the underlying facts that result in the insured’s liability, the duty to defend is not affected by the facts of the case ascertained before, during, or after the suit. Cluett v. Medical Protective Co., 829 S.W.2d 822, 829 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1992, writ denied).

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Crown Central Petroleum Corp. v. Rust Scaffold Builders, Inc., 951 F. Supp. 630 (S.D. Tex. 1996).

951 F. Supp. 630 (Crown Central Petroleum Corp. v. Rust Scaffold Builders, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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