General Insurance v. International Sales Corp.

566 P.2d 966, 18 Wash. App. 180, 1977 Wash. App. LEXIS 1983
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJuly 18, 1977
Docket3497-1
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 566 P.2d 966 (General Insurance v. International Sales Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
General Insurance v. International Sales Corp., 566 P.2d 966, 18 Wash. App. 180, 1977 Wash. App. LEXIS 1983 (Wash. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinions

Swanson, J.

General Insurance Company of America (General Insurance) brought this action against International Sales Corporation (International Sales) and Ameron, Incorporated (Ameron), seeking a declaratory judgment for the purpose of avoiding liability coverage of a claim asserted by Ameron against International Sales. In its answer to the complaint, International Sales pleaded affirmatively that General Insurance had a duty to defend the action and pay any damages awarded Ameron. The action was tried to the court without a jury, and resulted in findings of fact, conclusions of law, and judgment declaring no coverage. International Sales appeals; we affirm.

The facts are these: In June 1969, International Sales, a corporation engaged in the sale and distribution of marine and industrial supplies, purchased a "special multi-peril policy" from General Insurance which included "blanket liability insurance." In February 1973, Ameron filed a complaint in the United States District Court for Oregon against International Sales claiming $267,000 for damage to the interior coating of some pipe. The material paragraphs of Ameron's complaint are:

[182]*182On or about February 26, 1969, defendant International Sales Corporation began delivery to plaintiff in Portland, Oregon of certain quantities of Tarset C200 epoxy coating to be used by plaintiff as interior coating on metal pipe in connection with the construction project in Centraba, Washington.
The coating above referred to was applied by plaintiff at its facility in Portland, Oregon, in accordance with instructions supplied by defendants, and following its introduction into service, the coating delaminated and failed on or about November 22, 1971.
The delamination and failure referred to above were the direct and proximate results of the negligence and breaches of warranty of defendants in the sale of said coating and the supplying of instructions therewith.
As a proximate result of the failure and delamination referred to above, plaintiff was required to effect repairs to the interior of said pipe, all to its damage in the sum of $267,000.00.

International Sales tendered the defense to General Insurance, which rejected it and brought this action. The trial court, after noting the sale of the epoxy and its use by Ameron as an internal coating on metal pipe, found that the delamination or failure of the coating was evidenced by peeling or chipping inside the pipe and that Ameron was required to make repairs by overcoating or rebning the interior of the pipe with a cement mortar.

The pertinent coverage with the exclusions is as follows:

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 company shall have the right and duty to defend any suit against the insured seeking damages on account of such bodily injury or property damage, even if any of the allegations of the suit are groundless, false or fraudulent, and may make such investigation and settlement of any claim or suit as it deems expedient. The company shall not be obligated to pay any claim or judgment or to defend any suit after the applicable limit of the company's liability has been exhausted by payment of judgments or settlements.

[183]*183Exclusions

This insurance does not apply:

(a) to bodily injury or property damage included within the war hazard with respect to liability assumed by the insured under any contract or agreement or expenses for first aid under the Supplementary Payments provision;
(b) to any obligation for which the insured or any carrier as his insurer may be held liable under any workmen's compensation, unemployment compensation or disability benefits law, or under any similar law;
(c) to bodily injury to any employee of the insured arising out of and in the course of his employment by the insured; but this exclusion does not apply to (1) any domestic employee, or (2) liability assumed by the insured under any contract;
(d) to property damage: (1) to property owned or transported by the insured; (2) to property occupied by or rented to the insured, except damage to a rented residence or private garage caused by a private passenger automobile; (3) to property under bailment to the insured (except injury to or destruction of such property arising out of the use of elevators or escalators or to liability assumed under sidetrack agreements); (4) to that particular part of any property (a) upon which operations are being performed by or on behalf of the insured, or (b) out of which such injury or destruction arises; (5) to premises alienated by the named insured arising out of such premises or any part thereof; (6) to the named insured's products arising out of such products or any part of such products; (7) to work performed by or on behalf of the named insured arising out of the work or any portion thereof, or out of materials, parts or equipment furnished in connection therewith;
But parts (2) and (3) of this exclusion do not apply under Coverage L to property damage included within the fire hazard;
(e) to bodily injury or property damage resulting from the failure of the named insured's products or work completed by or for the named insured to perform the function or serve the purpose intended by the named insured, if such failure is due to a mistake or deficiency in any design, formula, plan, specifications, advertising material or printed instructions prepared or developed by any [184]*184insured; but this exclusion does not apply to bodily injury or property damage resulting from the active malfunctioning of such products or work;
(f) to damages, because of property damage, due:
(1) to the cost of repairing or replacing any defective goods or products manufactured, sold, handled or distributed by the named insured or defective work completed by or for the named insured;
(2) to the loss of use of any such defective goods or products or completed work or to damages resulting from the loss of use of such defective goods or products or completed work;
(g) to damages claimed for the withdrawal, inspection, repair, replacement, or loss of use of the named insured's products or work completed by or for the named insured or of any property of which such products or work form a part, if such products, work or property are withdrawn from the market or from use because of any known or suspected defect or deficiency therein;

International Sales assigned error to most of the trial court's findings of fact and conclusions of law. However, the gravamen of International's argument on appeal is that the Ameron complaint in the federal court action sufficiently alleged property damage so as to invoke the coverage clause of the policy under discussion. Once having satisfied itself that the policy indeed applies, International Sales then argues that none of the exclusionary provisions in the policy applies to the present factual situation.

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Bluebook (online)
566 P.2d 966, 18 Wash. App. 180, 1977 Wash. App. LEXIS 1983, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/general-insurance-v-international-sales-corp-washctapp-1977.