Custom Controls Co. v. Ranger Insurance

652 S.W.2d 449, 36 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 801, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 5022
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 17, 1983
Docket01-82-0487-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 652 S.W.2d 449 (Custom Controls Co. v. Ranger Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Custom Controls Co. v. Ranger Insurance, 652 S.W.2d 449, 36 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 801, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 5022 (Tex. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION

DOYLE, Justice.

This is an appeal from a trial court’s ruling granting the appellees’ motion for summary judgment and denying the appellant’s motion for summary judgment.

The parties filed stipulations of fact in the trial court and agreed that the sole issue for consideration was a determination of the valuation of loss under Clause 10 of their insurance policy. Both parties moved for summary judgment.

On November 20, 1976, the parties entered into an insurance contract whereby the appellees would insure the appellant’s personal properties from November 20, 1976, to November 20, 1979. The appellant is in the business of contract manufacturing *451 of process control systems, principally in connection with the petrochemical business.

Custom Controls Company (Custom) received an amended purchase order from National Iranian Gas Company (National) for 12 wellhead control panels that were to be specifically designed for and constructed to meet the particular needs of National. The panels would not be readily marketable or saleable to anyone other than National. The contract between National and Custom required that all completed control panels be inspected and accepted by Davy Power-gas (Powergas), an agent for National. Upon completion and inspection by Power-gas, Custom had to crate the completed panels for export packaging and deliver them to the forwarding agent.

Custom began manufacturing the 12 wellhead control panels for National, had completed four through the shop checkout stage and had begun manufacturing the remaining eight panels by July 15. On July 16, Custom sustained a fire loss which destroyed the four completed panels and other property, but did not damage the eight panels that were in the process of completion.

Custom submitted a claim to Ranger which included a description of the panels, claiming the amount of the loss for the four panels to be $79,536.30. Custom also submitted a revised claim for loss of the panels to be $237,248 but Ranger included in its total payment only the $79,536.30 claim, the cost of re-manufacturing the panels.

Custom completed all 12 panels, which were inspected by a representative of National, who prepared a certificate indicating approval and acceptance of them.

In its first of two points of error, the appellant alleges that according to clause 10(f) of the insurance contract, the proper valuation for the destroyed wellhead control panels is the actual cash value of the panels in the marketplace at the time of their loss, not the cost of re-manufacturing the four destroyed panels.

The appellant argues that the provisions of clause 10(f), which deals with words of limitation in the insurance contract, are ambiguous and, therefore, this court should interpret the clause liberally in favor of the insured. Ramsay v. Maryland General Insurance Company, 533 S.W.2d 344 (Tex.1976). Clause 10(f) states:

(f) All other property — The actual cash value of the property at the time any loss or damage occurs and the loss or damage shall be ascertained or estimated according to such actual cash value with proper deduction for depreciation, however caused, and shall in no event exceed what it would then cost to repair or replace the same with material of like kind and quality, (emphasis added)

The appellant contends that the contract contains no language that would limit recovery to its cost for re-manufacturing the control panels and that because the panels were destroyed, they could not be repaired. Therefore, the cost of replacing the panels with “material of like kind and quality” should be determined. The appellant cites two eases to support its position that the cost of replacement should be determined by the fair market value of the destroyed goods. However, those cases are distinguishable from the instant case. Wright v. Gernandt, 559 S.W.2d 864 (Tex.Civ.App.— Corpus Christi 1977, no writ), did not involve goods manufactured by the insured and did not construe a contract provision relating to value. In City of Houston v. Church, 554 S.W.2d 242 (Tex.Civ.App.— Houston [1st Dist.] 1977, writ ref’d n.r.e.), the insured’s warehouse was destroyed by flood and the proper damages of the destroyed chattel was the market value of the chattel. However, the chattel consisted of damaged cardboard cartons that were not manufactured by the insured but were stored in his warehouse.

The appellee contends that clause lOf is not ambiguous and that the contract provides that the insured is entitled to recover the actual cash value at the time of the loss but, its recovery cannot exceed the “cost to repair or replace the damaged property with material of like kind and quantity.” *452 It contends that the “repair or replace” clause is a limitation to the insurer’s liability, Imperial Ins. Co. v. National Homes Acceptance Corp., 626 S.W.2d 327 (Tex.Civ.App.—Tyler 1981, no writ); that “cost to repair or replace with material of like kind and quality” is not ambiguous; and that it means one must restore the property to substantially its same condition as it was immediately prior to being damaged or destroyed. Northwestern National Ins. Co. v. Cope, 448 S.W.2d 717 (Tex.Civ.App.—Corpus Christi 1969, no writ). In Imperial, supra, a similar provision was in issue. It stated:

Liability hereunder shall not exceed the actual cash value of the property at the time of loss, ascertained with proper deduction for depreciation; nor shall it exceed the amount it would cost to repair or replace the property with material of like kind and quality within a reasonable time after the loss, without allowance for any increased cost of repair or reconstruction . ..; nor shall it exceed the interest of the insured, or the specific amounts shown under “Amount of Insurance.” (emphasis added)

The Court held that the clause was a limitation upon the insurer’s liability and that courts allow recovery based upon the cost to repair or replace, rather than the common law measure of damages, which is the market value immediately before and immediately after the loss. Id. at 329, 330.

We conclude that clause lOf is not ambiguous and that the proper measure of damages according to it is the cost to the insured of re-manufacturing the 4 wellhead control panels rather than the fair market value of such panels. Appellant’s first point of error is overruled.

In point of error two, the appellant contends that the trial court erred in its judgment because the wellhead control panels constituted “sold property” under clause 10(a) of the insurance contract.

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Bluebook (online)
652 S.W.2d 449, 36 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 801, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 5022, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/custom-controls-co-v-ranger-insurance-texapp-1983.