Federated Mutual Insurance Company v. Peterson's Oil Service, Inc.

Court of Appeals for the First Circuit·Decided September 8, 2025·No. 24-1660·Published

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit

No. 24-1660 FEDERATED MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff, Appellant,

v.

PETERSON'S OIL SERVICE, INC.; HOWARD WOOD PETERSON, JR.; KRISTEN PETERSON HALUS; SHEENA MARANDINO; SEAN MARANDINO; NANCY CARRIGAN; CLAIRE FREDA; KELLEY FREDA; ALICE HART; ROBERT F.

HART; TORRE MASTROIANNI; and CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL OF WORCESTER,

Defendants, Appellees.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

[Hon. Denise J. Casper, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Montecalvo and Aframe, Circuit Judges, and Vélez-Rivé,* District Judge.

Charles E. Spevacek, with whom Alexander V. Tibor, Meagher & Geer, P.L.L.P., Eric B. Hermanson, Austin D. Moody, and White and Williams LLP, were on brief, for appellant.

Louis M. Ciavarra, with whom AiVi Nguyen, Jared A. Fiore, Brian J. Edmonds, and Prince Lobel Tye LLP, were on brief, for appellees Peterson's Oil Service, Inc., Howard Wood Peterson, Jr.,

* Of the District of Puerto Rico, sitting by designation.

and Kristen Peterson Halus.

Jeffrey S. Strom, with whom John Regan, Regan Strom, P.C., Edward Foye, and Arrowood LLP, were on brief, for appellees Sheena Marandino, Sean Marandino, Nancy Carrigan, Claire Freda, Kelley Freda, Alice Hart, Robert F. Hart, Torre Mastroianni, and Congregation Beth Israel of Worcester.

September 8, 2025

MONTECALVO, Circuit Judge. Plaintiff-appellant Federated Mutual Insurance Company ("Federated") appeals the district court's adverse summary judgment rulings in this declaratory judgment suit. Federated had sought a declaratory judgment saying that it had no duty to defend or indemnify its insured, defendant-appellee Peterson's Oil Service, Inc. ("Peterson's"), in an ongoing Massachusetts state court class action brought by aggrieved Peterson's customers. Federated asserted that coverage was foreclosed under the terms of Peterson's insurance policy because Peterson's knew about the underlying state court suit before coverage commenced. The district court disagreed and denied summary judgment for Federated regarding its duty to defend, then granted partial summary judgment to Peterson's on the issue. It determined that, because Peterson's did not know about all of the damage alleged in the state case before the coverage period began, basic principles of insurance law required Federated to defend the entire suit. We agree that Federated has a duty to defend and, therefore, we affirm.

I. Factual and Procedural Background This case arises from an ongoing Massachusetts state class action. See Marandino v. Peterson’s Oil Serv., Inc., No. 1985-CV-0792 (Mass. Super. Ct.). In March 2019, customers of Peterson's served the company with a demand letter and complaint alleging that, beginning in 2012, Peterson's had added biodiesel

fuel to the home heating oil it sold them in proportions that exceeded industry standards and harmed their heating equipment. The state plaintiffs alleged that Peterson's knew about the harm caused by the high biodiesel content because the company's service department had received multiple customer complaints about the biodiesel-enriched oil and, in February 2019, Howard Peterson, Jr. (Peterson's owner) had been confronted with allegations about the defective oil on a local TV news program. The state court eventually certified a class comprised of two subclasses: one of customers who received heating oil containing more than five percent biodiesel from 2012 to February 2019, and another of customers who received such heating oil from March 2019 to the "present."

Federated had not insured Peterson's in March 2019 when Peterson's first received notice of the suit. Rather, Federated first insured Peterson's under policies that went into effect on July 5, 2019. The insurance policies relevant to this dispute include a Commercial General Liability ("CGL") policy and an umbrella policy. The CGL policy imposes on Federated a "duty to defend the insured against any 'suit' seeking" "damages because of . . . 'property damage' to which this insurance applies." However, the policy only covers "property damage" that "occurs during the policy period" if, "[p]rior to the policy period, no insured . . . knew that the . . . 'property damage' had occurred,

in whole or in part" (the "known loss" provision). "Property damage" under the policy is caused by an "occurrence," which is defined as "an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions." If the insured "knew, prior to the policy period, that the . . . 'property damage' occurred, then any continuation, change or resumption of such . . . 'property damage' during or after the policy period will be deemed to have been known prior to the policy period" (the "loss-in-progress" provision). In addition, the insured is "deemed" to know that property damage occurred when the insured "[r]eceives a written or verbal demand or claim for damages because of the . . . 'property damage'" or "[b]ecomes aware by any other means that . . . 'property damage' has occurred or has begun to occur" (the "deemer" clause). The umbrella policy, for its part, provides additional insurance limits for property damage that is covered by the CGL policy.

In September 2021, Peterson's asked Federated to defend it in the state class action. Federated refused, citing the known loss and loss-in-progress provisions and the "deemer" clause. Federated interpreted those provisions to relieve it of its obligation to provide Peterson's with a defense because Peterson's knew about the state case before coverage commenced.

In April 2022, Federated initiated this diversity action in the federal district court in Massachusetts seeking a

declaration that it had no duty to defend or indemnify Peterson's in the state case. Federated also named some of the state plaintiffs as defendants: Sheena Marandino; Sean Marandino; Nancy Carrigan; Claire Freda; Kelley Freda; Alice Hart; Robert F. Hart; Torre Mastroianni; and Congregation Beth Israel of Worcester (collectively, "claimants").1 In November 2022, claimants filed a counterclaim in the district court seeking a declaratory judgment "that [Federated] is obligated to pay for all damages [claimants] and the Class are awarded in the [state court action]," treble damages under Massachusetts consumer protection law, and attorney's fees.

Federated moved for summary judgment. On September 21, 2023, the district court partially granted and partially denied the motion. It determined that the plain language of the known loss and loss-in-progress provisions meant that "if [Peterson's] w[as] aware of property damage that began prior to July 5, 2019 . . . , there is no coverage for any continuation of that damage during the policy period." It determined that Peterson's was aware of damage suffered by the class of customers who received heating oil prior to July 5, 2019 (the start of the policy period) by virtue of the demand letter, class action complaint, and media

1 Howard Peterson, Jr. and Kristen Peterson Halus, who are principals of Peterson's, are also named as defendants in this action.

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