Fair Grounds Corp. v. Travelers Indemnity Co.

742 So. 2d 1069, 99 La.App. 5 Cir. 301, 1999 La. App. LEXIS 2650
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 28, 1999
DocketNo. 99-CA-301
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 742 So. 2d 1069 (Fair Grounds Corp. v. Travelers Indemnity Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fair Grounds Corp. v. Travelers Indemnity Co., 742 So. 2d 1069, 99 La.App. 5 Cir. 301, 1999 La. App. LEXIS 2650 (La. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

JjDUFRESNE, Judge.

This case involves interpretation of an insurance policy covering the loss of the New Orleans Fair Grounds grandstand and adjoining buildings by fire on December 17, 1993. Because we agree with the trial judge that the policy was for scheduled, rather than blanket, coverage, we affirm that portion of the judgment limiting coverage as per the schedule of values on file with the insurer. However, because we find that liability for loss of business income was also limited to the 1.5 million dollars previously paid by the insurer, we vacate that portion of the judgment awarding the Fair Grounds an additional 2.4 million dollars over this amount for this item of claimed damages.

[1071]*1071At the time of the fire, the Fair Grounds had in effect insurance totaling some thirty-four million dollars. The first five million was provided by Allianz Underwriters Insurance Company, the second five million by Royal Insurance Company of America, and the excess twenty-four million by Travelers Indemnity Company of Illinois. It was stipulated at trial that |gthe damage to the grandstand, furnishings, art work, loss of business, and other miscellaneous expenses totaled over thirty-four million dollars. Allianz and Royal each tendered the five million limits of their policies.

Travelers, for its part, contended that the insured value of the grandstand appearing on a schedule of values provided by the Fair Grounds was $16,617,273.00. Taking a credit for the underlying ten million dollar coverage paid by Allianz and Royal, it tendered $6,617,273.00 as its liability on the grandstand loss. It also paid an additional 2.85 million dollars for business loss, damage to art work and other miscellaneous property, and debris removal.

The Fair Grounds asserted instead that the policy was not limited by the schedule of values for the. individual items of property insured, but was rather a blanket policy which covered the total value of the loss, no matter which particular portions of the insured property were damaged. In effect, the Fair Grounds took the position that Travelers was liable to it for its whole twenty-four million dollar policy limit above the ten million paid by Allianz and Royal because .the actual damage caused by the fire exceeded thirty-four million dollars. Implicit in this argument is of course an admission by the Fair Grounds that the 16 million dollar stated value for the grandstand provided by it to Travelers was a gross underestimation of its actual replacement cost of over 30 million dollars.

There is no question here as to how the issue of scheduled versus blanket coverage arose. The evidence showed that the Fan-Grounds employed Powell Insurance Agency, Inc. to handle its insurance needs. Powell in turn dealt with Cooney, Rikard & Curtin, Inc. (CRC), an insurance broker, which in turn placed the coverage with the various insurers. The |scontract of insurance in effect from November 7, 1992, to November 7, 1993, the policy year prior to the one at issue here, was negotiated by Kathy Gambino of Powell through CRC, and provided 1.5 million of primary coverage by Allianz and 32.6 million in excess coverage by Travelers.

In the application for this prior policy Gambino listed values for 66 pieces of property, the first of which was 15.1 million for the grandstand. At the end of that list was a loss of earnings value at the grandstand itself of 1.5 million dollars. An additional page showed the insured values for the four off track betting parlors owned by the Fair Grounds, and the loss of business income values for each of them, which latter amounts totaled 4.7 million dollars, thus making a listed grand total of 6.7 million for all items of lost income. The application also contained a list of art work values and a list of equipment values. These listed values were submitted to Travelers and became a part of their file for the policy.

The underlying Allianz policy for this previous year contained an occurrence limit of liability endorsement which stated:

2. The premium for this policy is based upon the statement of values on file with the company or attached to this policy. In the event of loss hereunder, liability for the company shall be limited to the least of the following:
(B) The total stated value for the property involved as shown on the latest statement of values on file with the company, less applicable deductable(s).

The Travelers excess policy contained a similar loss payment clause which stated:

Liability under our policy for our share of the “Ultimate Net Loss” shall not attach until the underlying insurer(s) have paid, admitted liability for, or have [1072]*1072been held legally liable for the full amount of their respective participations of the “Ultimate Net Loss.” But, in no event, shall the “Ultimate Net Loss” exceed the lesser of the following:
kb. Total Stated Value for the property lost or damaged, as shown on the latest statement of values on file with us.

It is undisputed here that the above references to “statements of values on file with us” mean that these were scheduled, rather than blanket, policies. That is, in the event of loss of a listed property, the insurers would only pay the value stated for that item on the file list, even if the item were actually worth more than its listed value.

Several months after these policies were in effect, Travelers had the grandstand inspected and became concerned that the listed value for the building was too low. Initially, it indicated that it would cancel the policy unless an appraisal were done by the Fair Grounds to establish the actual value of the building. For reasons not clear in the record, it eventually took the position that it would keep the policy in effect until its expiration date of November 7,1993, but would not renew it without certain changes.

During the above discussions, Loti Woods of CRC was handling the file and had made Powell aware of the possibility that Travelers might not agree to a renewal, although she hoped she could convince them to do so. As the expiration date approached, Gambino of the Powell agency prepared another list of property values for submission with a renewal application. This document consisted of a cover sheet and a three page statement of values which was basically a retyped list of the 66 properties, beginning with the grandstand, that had been submitted with the previous year’s application, but with each of the stated values raised by 10%. The new value given for the grandstand was $16,-617,273.00. The itemized loss of business income for each of the off track betting parlors (totaling 4.7 million and numbered 67-70 on this new list) also appeared on the three |5page list, but the 1.5 million figure for loss of business income at the grandstand did not. Instead that latter amount appeared on the cover sheet, which bore the caption “Fair Grounds Corporation, Blanket Building and Contents.”

Documents at CRC indicated that by the fall of 1993, Travelers was still uncertain as to whether it would renew the excess coverage policy. On October 13, 1993, Woods sent a renewal proposal to Travelers which listed the values to be insured. Buildings and contents were listed on the proposal at 27 million, fine arts and equipment at about Hl million each, and business interruption at 6.2 million.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
742 So. 2d 1069, 99 La.App. 5 Cir. 301, 1999 La. App. LEXIS 2650, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fair-grounds-corp-v-travelers-indemnity-co-lactapp-1999.