Eyeblaster, Inc. v. Federal Insurance Company

613 F.3d 797, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 15152, 2010 WL 2869547
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJuly 23, 2010
Docket08-3640
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 613 F.3d 797 (Eyeblaster, Inc. v. Federal Insurance Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eyeblaster, Inc. v. Federal Insurance Company, 613 F.3d 797, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 15152, 2010 WL 2869547 (8th Cir. 2010).

Opinions

JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

Eyeblaster, Inc. (“Eyeblaster”) appeals from an adverse entry of summary judgment in its action against Federal Insurance Company (“Federal”) arising out of Federal’s denial of coverage under two insurance policies. A computer user sued Eyeblaster, alleging that Eyeblaster injured his computer, software, and data after he visited an Eyeblaster website. Eyeblaster tendered the defense of the lawsuit to Federal, seeking coverage under a General Liability policy and an Information and Network Technology Errors or Omissions Liability policy. Federal denied that it had a duty to defend Eyeblaster, and Eyeblaster brought this action seeking a declaration that Federal owed such a duty. The district court entered summary judgment in favor of Federal, and Eyeblaster appeals. We reverse.

Eyeblaster is a worldwide online marketing campaign management company that advertisers, advertising agencies, and publishers use to run campaigns across the Internet and other digital channels. Its primary product assists in the creation, delivery, and management of on-line interactive advertising. The company was established in 1999 and has fourteen offices worldwide, with six employees located in North America. In 2007, Eyeblaster delivered online marketing campaigns for nearly 7000 brand advertisers and served ads across more than 2700 global web publishers.

The industry in which Eyeblaster provides services is known as rich media advertising. Rich media allows customers to create interactive ads in a wide range of formats, and to track and manage the performance of the advertising campaigns. Eyeblaster has the capacity to deliver ads simultaneously to billions of users globally and to constantly monitor its systems with network and system technicians and engineers. Its service uses cookies, which are typically used in the advertising industry to measure and enhance the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. It also uses JavaScript and Flash technology, which enliven web pages and increase the Internet’s utility. Eyeblaster does not use spy-ware or introduce malicious contact such as spam, viruses, or malware.

Eyeblaster purchased General Liability and Information and Network Technology Errors or Omissions insurance policies from Federal for the period from December 5, 2005 to December 5, 2007. Subject to the policies’ terms, Federal had a duty to defend Eyeblaster against lawsuits, even if such suits were false, fraudulent, or groundless.

David Sefton filed a lawsuit against Eye-blaster in Harris County, Texas in October 2006. Eyeblaster removed the action to federal court, where Sefton filed his First Amended Complaint the following month. Eyeblaster provided notice of and tendered defense of the First Amended Complaint to Federal in December 2006. On March 12, 2007, Federal sent Eyeblaster a letter denying all coverage. When Sefton amended his complaint a second time, Eyeblaster once again tendered defense of the suit to Federal, and again Federal denied coverage. Federal’s position was that it owed no coverage under the General Liability policy because Sefton did not assert claims for bodily injury caused by an occurrence, as defined by the policy. In addition, to the extent that Sefton alleged property damage, he did not allege that the property damage was caused by an accident or occurrence as the policy required. Federal also noted three exclu[800]*800sions but offered no explanation as to why they would apply.

With respect to the Information and Network Technology Errors or Omissions coverage, Federal acknowledged that Sefton had complied with the requirement of claiming financial injury during the policy period. However, Federal claimed that Sefton had not alleged that Eyeblaster committed a wrongful act (as defined by the policy) in connection with a product failure or in performing or failing to perform its service. Federal also pointed to general exclusionary language in the policy and to three specific exclusions.

In his Second Amended Complaint, Sefton alleges that his computer was infected with a spyware program from Eyeblaster on July 14, 2006, which caused his computer to immediately freeze up. He further alleges that he lost all data on a tax return on which he was working and that he incurred many thousands of dollars of loss. Sefton hired a computer technician to repair the damage. Although he alleges that no repair was possible, he stated that his computer became operational again. Sefton asserted that he has experienced the following: numerous pop-up ads; a hijacked browser that communicates with websites other than those directed by the operator; random error messages; slowed computer performance that sometimes results in crashes; and ads oriented toward his past web viewing habits.

Sefton alleged violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1030, and the Texas Business and Commercial Code §§ 48.052 and 48.101, a deceptive trade practice under Texas law, prima facie tort under Texas law, trespass, conversion, fraud, nuisance, invasion of privacy, intrusion upon seclusion, and conspiracy. In stating these alleged violations, Sefton accused Eyeblaster of intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization, knowingly committing deceptive trade practice violations, intending to deceive Sefton, and intentionally installing unwanted spyware onto a user’s computer.1

Eyeblaster asserts that Federal knew of its business because Eyeblaster completed an application to obtain professional liability insurance. Eyeblaster disclosed to Federal that its core business activity is the technology used for interactive advertising content delivery and management, and any allegation that Eyeblaster intentionally served an ad would have been in the ordinary course of its business. Eye-blaster points out that it reasonably expected to be covered by Federal’s policies at issue, and to suggest otherwise would reduce Federal’s coverage to the point where it had no commercial justification.

The parties brought cross-motions for summary judgment. The district court granted Federal’s motion and denied Eye-blaster’s, thus concluding the case in Federal’s favor. The district court determined that Federal owed no duty to defend under either policy and, having made that decision, did not reach any of the exclusions.

Eyeblaster asserts on appeal that the district court erred in failing to address coverage under the General Liability policy for “loss of use of tangible property that is not physically injured,” and in failing to recognize that the Sefton complaint alleged “physical injury to tangible property.” Eyeblaster also asserts that the district court erred in determining that the Sefton complaint did not accuse Eyeblaster of committing a “wrongful act” and that [801]*801Federal therefore owed no duty to defend under the Errors or Omissions policy.

I.

We review the district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, viewing the facts in the light most favorable to Eyeblaster, the non-movant. See Northland Cas. Co. v. Meeks, 540 F.3d 869, 872 (8th Cir.2008). We apply the same de novo review to the district court’s interpretation of the insurance contracts at issue, id., which is an issue of state law, Meister v. W. Nat’l Mut. Ins. Co.,

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Bluebook (online)
613 F.3d 797, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 15152, 2010 WL 2869547, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eyeblaster-inc-v-federal-insurance-company-ca8-2010.