Diamond State Insurance v. Chester-Jensen Co.

611 N.E.2d 1083, 243 Ill. App. 3d 471, 183 Ill. Dec. 435, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 151
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 11, 1993
Docket1-90-1760
StatusPublished
Cited by76 cases

This text of 611 N.E.2d 1083 (Diamond State Insurance v. Chester-Jensen Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Diamond State Insurance v. Chester-Jensen Co., 611 N.E.2d 1083, 243 Ill. App. 3d 471, 183 Ill. Dec. 435, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 151 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE GORDON

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff insurance companies brought this action for declaratory judgment seeking a determination that there was no duty to defend their insured, appellant Chester-Jensen Company, Inc. (Chester-Jensen), in a breach of contract and warranty action filed against Chester-Jensen by the State of Illinois. The State’s complaint in the underlying litigation seeks damages from certain defendants, including Chester-Jensen, resulting from the failure of the air conditioning system installed in the State of Illinois Center to adequately cool the building during the summers of 1985 and 1986. Plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment, contending that the insurance policies involved did not cover this potential liability. The trial court granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and Chester-Jensen appeals, contending that Illinois law requires that the policies be interpreted to provide coverage. In the alternative, Chester-Jensen contends that the trial court erred in applying Illinois law and that, under Pennsylvania law, plaintiffs would be required to defend it in the underlying litigation.

Facts

Chester-Jensen is a Pennsylvania corporation which maintains its principal place of business in that State. It is engaged in the manufacture of refrigeration and other heat-exchange equipment. In 1982, Chester-Jensen furnished 100,000-pound ice builders (thermal energy storage units) and ancillary equipment to be incorporated into the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (ETVAC) system of the State of Illinois Center located in Chicago, Illinois. These thermal banks were installed in the building by two subcontractors.

After the air conditioning system failed to perform as expected, the State of Illinois brought suit in People of the State of Illinois ex rel. George Peters v. Murphy-Knight (Cir. Ct. Cook Co.), No. 87 — L — 7496, joining as defendants 14 entities, including Chester-Jensen. The State’s complaint alleged that in the summers of 1985 and 1986 the building experienced extremely high indoor temperatures of over 90 degrees Fahrenheit on a regular basis and that temperatures of over 110 degrees Fahrenheit were present in some cases. According to the allegations of the State’s complaint, these temperatures made the building “virtually uninhabitable” as the temperatures were so high that ordinary office work and retail operations were “impossible.”

The complaint alleged that the cause of these excessive temperatures was “an inadequately designed and defectively installed and constructed air conditioning system.” Specifically, with respect to Chester-Jensen, the State alleged in count VIII of its complaint that Chester-Jensen had breached its contract to provide thermal banks and ancillary equipment in conformance with the contract specifications. In count IX of its complaint, the State alleged that Chester-Jensen breached its express warranties that the thermal banks would “produce the capacities and meet the specifications” required by the contract and as published by Chester-Jensen. Count X of the complaint charged fraud against Chester-Jensen, alleging that it knowingly misrepresented the output capability of the thermal banks. Chester-Jensen does not contend that the policies cover the allegations contained in the fraud count and it is therefore not a part of this appeal.

According to the complaint, the State “will expend at least $10,000,000 on modification and repairs to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in order to have a habitable state office building in Chicago.” The complaint stated that in “addition to economic damages” it suffered other damages, including:

“a. lost rent from commercial tenants who refused to pay their rent because of extreme heat in the building;
b. lost work days from State employees who became ill and had to go either to a hospital or home because of the heat;
c. lost productivity from State employees who remained at work but who were unable to perform their duties sufficiently because of the heat in the building;
d. excess electrical consumption caused by the widespread use of portable electric fans in the building by employees and by commercial tenants.”

During the period of time at issue, Chester-Jensen was covered by two separate insurance policies. Plaintiff Diamond State, a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Pennsylvania, issued Chester-Jensen a general liability insurance policy for the period between October 18, 1984, through October 5, 1985. Transco Insurance Services was listed as Diamond State’s authorized representative under a Chicago address on the first policy. The second policy was issued by Illinois Insurance Exchange Transco Syndicate No. 1 also under a Chicago address. This policy covered the period of October 5, 1985, to October 5, 1986. These policies provided that “the company will pay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of *** bodily injury or *** property damage to which this insurance applies, caused by an occurrence.”

The policies contain the following definitions among others:

“ ‘Bodily injury’ means injury, sickness or disease sustained by any person which occurs during the policy period, including death at any time resulting therefrom;
‘occurrence’ means an accident including continuous or repeated exposure to conditions, which results in bodily injury or property damage neither expected nor intended from the standpoint of the insured;
‘property damage’ means (1) physical injury to or destruction of tangible property which occurs during the policy period, including the loss of use thereof at any time resulting therefrom, or (2) loss of use of tangible property which has not been physically injured or destroyed provided such loss of use is caused by an occurrence during the policy period ***.”

The policies also contained a number of explicit exclusions from coverage which included exclusion (e) (hereinafter insured’s product exclusion). This exclusion provides that the insurance does not apply:

“to loss of use of tangible property which has not been physically injured or destroyed resulting from
(1) a delay in or lack of performance by or on behalf of the named insured of any contract or agreement, or
(2) the failure of the named insured’s products or work performed by or on behalf of the named insured to meet the level of performance, quality, fitness or durability warranted or represented by the named insured ***.”

Additionally, each policy provided that “[it] shall not be valid unless completed by the attachment hereto of a declarations page *** and countersigned on the aforesaid declarations page by a duly authorized representative of the company.”

Chester-Jensen demanded that plaintiffs defend and indemnify it in the underlying litigation pursuant to its insurance policies.

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Bluebook (online)
611 N.E.2d 1083, 243 Ill. App. 3d 471, 183 Ill. Dec. 435, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 151, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/diamond-state-insurance-v-chester-jensen-co-illappct-1993.