Gentry MacHine Works, Inc. v. Harleysville Mutual Insurance

621 F. Supp. 2d 1288, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49896, 2008 WL 2690998
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Georgia
DecidedJune 30, 2008
Docket5:06-mj-00105
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 621 F. Supp. 2d 1288 (Gentry MacHine Works, Inc. v. Harleysville Mutual Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gentry MacHine Works, Inc. v. Harleysville Mutual Insurance, 621 F. Supp. 2d 1288, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49896, 2008 WL 2690998 (M.D. Ga. 2008).

Opinion

ORDER

CLAY D. LAND, District Judge.

In this action, Plaintiff Gentry Machine Works, Inc. (“GMW”) seeks damages from Defendants (collectively “Harleysville”) based upon Harleysville’s denial of GMW’s claim for liability insurance coverage. Although GMW had commercial general lia *1290 bility (“CGL”) insurance coverage through Harleysville, Harleysville denied GMW’s claims for liability coverage based upon several exclusions in the GMW insurance policy (the “Policy”).

GMW’s customer, Cleaver-Brooks, Inc., made claims against GMW for property damages related to a defective product GMW manufactured for Cleaver-Brooks (the “underlying claims”). GMW contends that the Policy requires Harleysville to reimburse GMW for paying Cleaver-Brooks to resolve the underlying claims because the underlying claims constitute “property damage” covered under the Policy. Harleysville contends that as a matter of law, the “property damage” suffered by GMW’s customer is not covered under the Policy, and hence GMW is not entitled to recover its losses. Both GMW and Harleysville have filed motions for summary judgment. For the following reasons, the Court finds that the Policy does not apply to some of the “property damage” for which GMW seeks reimbursement, and therefore, summary judgment should be granted in favor of Harleysville as to some of GMW’s claims for insurance coverage. The Court also finds that genuine issues of material fact exist as to whether other types of “property damage” are covered under the Policy, and therefore, summary judgment is not appropriate as to those claims. Accordingly, as more specifically described below, Defendant’s motion for summary judgment (Doc. 27) is granted in part and denied in part and Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment (Doc. 16) is denied. 1

BACKGROUND

I. The Pedestal Situation

This dispute arises from machine and metal fabrication work that GMW performed for its client Cleaver-Brooks, Inc., a company that constructs commercial boilers. GMW fabricated parts for Cleaver-Brooks’ boilers, including a part known as a “pedestal.” These pedestals are welded to the top of the boiler and serve as the main rear hinge for the rear boiler doors. The pedestal also secures to the boiler a part known as a “davit arm,” which allows the rear boiler door to swing open so the boilers can be routinely cleaned, maintained, and inspected.

In July 2004, Cleaver-Brooks advised GMW that a weld on one of the pedestals fabricated by GMW had broken. GMW investigated the incident and realized that one of its employees had missed an internal weld while fabricating the pedestal. This missing internal weld caused the external weld of the pedestal seam to crack. To date, the external welds on fourteen boilers have failed due to a missed internal *1291 weld. In addition to making the boilers inoperable, the failure of these welds also creates safety concerns because a weakened pedestal cannot support the weight of the rear boiler door. On at least one occasion, a boiler door separated from the boiler itself and fell to the floor. The failure of the welds also prevents the boiler doors from sealing properly, thus allowing potentially harmful gases to escape from the boilers.

Cleaver-Brooks inspected 723 boilers that contained GMW-fabricated pedestals; 236 of these boilers required repair due to a completely missing internal weld on the pedestal. Cleaver-Brooks invoiced GMW for its inspection and repair costs, and GMW paid each of these invoices. 2

GMW notified its liability insurance carrier, Harleysville, of the underlying claims and its resulting claim for insurance coverage in July 2004. Harleysville acknowledged GMW’s claim on July 27, 2004 in a reservation of rights letter which also expressed Harleysville’s “concerns about coverage.” (Ex. A to Summers Aff., Oct. 12, 2007.) On September 29, 2004, Harleysville concluded its investigation of the underlying claims and denied coverage. (Ex. 3 to Young Dep., May 18, 2007.)

Between December of 2004 and March of 2005, GMW’s attorney and Harleysville exchanged communications regarding whether the underlying claims resulted in “property damage” within the meaning of the Policy. In November of 2005, GMW made a written demand for $36,386.24 on Harleysville in accordance with O.C.G.A. § 33^1-6. This sum represented the expenses incurred by Cleaver-Brooks to repair the pedestals and boilers through that date. 3 On April 26, 2006, GMW again made a written demand pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 33-4-6, this time for $241,030.45, representing the amount of damages incurred through that date. Harleysville again denied coverage, and GMW filed the instant action in July 2006.

Harleysville asserts that it has no duty to reimburse GMW for the damages it paid to Cleaver-Brooks because those losses are specifically excluded under the following Policy exclusions: (1) the “your work” exclusion; (2) the “your product” exclusion; (3) the “impaired property” exclusion; and (4) the “recall” exclusion. GMW responds that these exclusions do not apply to the circumstances of this case.

II. The Policy and Its Exclusions

The Policy provides that Harleysville “will pay those sums that the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of ... ‘property damage’ to which this insurance applies.” (Ex. 1 to Mem. in Supp. of Defs.’ Mot. for Summ. J. at 1 [hereinafter, “Policy”].) “Property damage” is defined as “[p]hysical injury to tangible property, including all resulting loss of use of that property” as well as “Moss of use of tangible property that is not physically injured.” (Id. at 15.) The Policy only applies to “property damage” that “is caused by an ‘occurrence,’ ” which is defined as “an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions.” 4 (Id. at 1,14.)

*1292 The Policy contains several exclusions upon which Harleysville relies in its denial of coverage. First, the Policy contains “your work” and “your property” exclusions, which in relevant part exclude from coverage “ ‘[property damage’ to ‘your product’ arising out of it or any part of it” and “ ‘[pjroperty damage’ to ‘your work’ arising out of it or any part of it.” (Policy at 5.) The Policy also contains an “impaired property” exclusion, which excludes from coverage “ ‘[pjroperty damage’ to ‘impaired property’ or property that has not been physically injured, arising out of ... [a] defect, deficiency, inadequacy or dangerous condition in ‘your product’ or ‘your work’[.]” (Id.)

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621 F. Supp. 2d 1288, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49896, 2008 WL 2690998, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gentry-machine-works-inc-v-harleysville-mutual-insurance-gamd-2008.