C&W Industries, Inc. v. Sentry Insurance A Mutual Co.

3 Mass. L. Rptr. 306
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedFebruary 23, 1995
DocketNo. CA936993
StatusPublished

This text of 3 Mass. L. Rptr. 306 (C&W Industries, Inc. v. Sentry Insurance A Mutual Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
C&W Industries, Inc. v. Sentry Insurance A Mutual Co., 3 Mass. L. Rptr. 306 (Mass. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

O’Toole, J.

The plaintiff C&W Industries, Inc. (“C&W”) brought this action against the defendant Sentry Insurance A Mutual Company (“Sentry”) to recover under an insurance policy and for alleged violation of G.L. c. 93A (Counts I and II, respectively). Sentry denies that the loss suffered by C&W is covered under the insurance policy and further says that its denial of C&Ws claim, even .if erroneous, did not [307]*307violate G.L. c. 93A. Sentry has moved for summary judgment in its favor under both counts of the complaint. C&W has moved for partial summary judgment as to liability under Count I only. For the following reasons, C&Ws motion as to liability on Count I is allowed and Sentry’s motion on Count I is correspondingly denied. Sentry’s motion as to Count II is allowed.

BACKGROUND

The undisputed material facts as established by the affidavits are as follows. C&W is in the business of re-manufacturing automotive disc brake calipers. From 1983 until February, 1992, C&W had been located at 399 Ferry Street in Everett (the “Everett premises”). After moving its place of business to 36 Charles Street, Malden, (the “Maldenpremises”), C&W continued to maintain its Everett premises for storage.

Sentry first issued a commercial insurance policy to C&W in 1988 when the company was located exclusively in Everett. C&W renewed the policy annually with revisions.

On March 8, 1993, a fire occurred at C&Ws Malden premises. After the fire, C&W promptly notified Sentry of the loss. Sentry disclaimed coverage on March 25, 1993.

Count I: Breach of Contract

What is at issue here is the proper interpretation of the policy in effect for the period from January 1, 1993 to January 1, 1994. Specifically, the question is whether the policy covers losses to “Business Personal Property” located at the Malden premises. As is not unusual, the policy consists of a Declarations section and various “endorsements,” each described in the Declarations by reference to an identifying number. The task lies in construing the various separate provisions harmoniously.

It is clear that the policy does cover C&Ws “Business Personal Property” located at its Everett facility, the “premises” listed in the policy. The Declarations show an insurance limit of $21,000 for that coverage. The Declaration also provide a “limit of insurance” of $500,000 for “covered property that is not at premises listed in the description of premises,” but rather “at Any Location.”

The endorsement providing insurance for “Business Personal Property” (Endorsement CP 00 10 10 90), applicable to the Everett premises, reads as follows:

A. Coverage. We will pay for direct physical loss of or damage to Covered Property at the premises described in the Declarations caused by or resulting from any Covered Cause of Loss. [Emphasis supplied.]

However, another applicable endorsement, titled “Metal Workers Broadened Property Coverage” (Endorsement CP 80 07 09 91), amended that language so that instead it provides:

A. Coverage. We will pay for direct physical loss of or damage to Covered Property anywhere in the Covered Territory caused by or resulting from any Covered Cause of Loss. [Emphasis supplied.]

“Covered Property” is defined in Endorsement 00 10 10 90 to include:

Your Business Personal Property located in or on the building described in the Declarations or within 100 feet of the described premises, consisting of the following unless otherwise specified in the Declarations or on the Your Business Personal Property— Separation of Coverage form:
(1) Furniture and fixtures;
(2) Machinery and equipment;
(3) Stock;
(4) All other personal property owned by you and used in your business . . . [Emphasis supplied.]

The “Metal Workers Broadened Property Coverage” endorsement does not amend this definition of “Covered Property.”

The “Business Personal Property” endorsement also permits some “extensions” of coverage; one is for “Newly Acquired or Constructed Property.” (CP 00 10 10 90, Section A.5.a.) As described in that endorsement, without amendment, the insured could extend the insurance provided to buildings that might be acquired at locations “other than the described premises.” Thus, in this case, the described premises were in Everett; the Malden premises would qualify as “newly acquired.” In its unamended version, this extension applied not only to newly acquired buildings, but also to personal property located there. Both extensions, however, were limited to a period of thirty days following the acquisition of the new property. See Endorsement CP 00 10 10 90, Section A.5.a.

The “Metal Workers Broadened Property Coverage” endorsement changes this language in three ways. First, it changes the amount of insurance available for a loss to a newly acquired building, a provision not germane here. Second, it deletes entirely the language permitting extension of insurance to cover business personal property at a newly acquired location. The deletion is accompanied by a note that “Business Personal Property at newly acquired premises is included in the coverage for property at premises not listed in the policy.” Finally, the Metal Workers endorsement changes the governing time limit from thirty to ninety days after acquisition of the new premises.

The second of these changes is significant because it supports the idea that the policy provides coverage for business personal property without the need for a specific “extension.” This suggestion is consistent with (i) the amendment to the “Coverage” preamble in the Business Personal Property endorsement to make the coverage applicable “anywhere in the Covered Terri[308]*308tory” and (ii) the language in the Declarations setting a limit of $500,000 for “covered property that is not at premises listed in the description of premises.” When these provisions are considered with the advisory note in Section F. 1 .b. of Part I of the Metal Workers endorsement, the implication is strong that the policy does cover business personal property at the Malden location to a limit of $500,000, as C&W contends.

Even this construction is not without its difficulty, however, because the clauses from the Declarations and from the amended “Coverage” section of CP 00 10 10 90 both refer to “covered property,” which is a term defined to mean property at the listed premises. Sentry insists that property at the Malden location is not “covered property” under this definition, so that no additional coverage is created. The problem with this interpretation is that it leads to the conclusion that the clauses in the Declarations and the preamble to the Business Personal Property endorsement are utterly meaningless. If “covered property” is by definition only located at the premises listed, then there cannot be any covered property “that is not at premises listed” as the Declarations clause provides.

The only way out of this conundrum is to ignore one or the other of the horns of the dilemma. Sentry argues that the solution is to pay attention to the “covered property” term and to ignore the balance of the clauses.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

International Fidelity Insurance v. Wilson
443 N.E.2d 1308 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1983)
August A. Busch & Co. of Massachusetts, Inc. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance
158 N.E.2d 351 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1959)
Polaroid Corp. v. the Travelers Indemnity Co.
610 N.E.2d 912 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1993)
MacArthur v. Massachusetts Hospital Service, Inc.
180 N.E.2d 449 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1962)
Gulezian v. Lincoln Insurance
506 N.E.2d 123 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1987)
Transamerica Insurance Group v. Turner Construction Co.
601 N.E.2d 473 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1992)
Levings v. Forbes & Wallace, Inc.
396 N.E.2d 149 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1979)
Koshland v. Columbia Insurance
130 N.E. 41 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1921)
Woogmaster v. Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance
45 N.E.2d 394 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1942)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
3 Mass. L. Rptr. 306, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cw-industries-inc-v-sentry-insurance-a-mutual-co-masssuperct-1995.