Gustafson v. American Family Mutual Insurance

901 F. Supp. 2d 1289, 2012 WL 4755357, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144494
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedOctober 5, 2012
DocketCivil Action No. 11-cv-01303-PAB-MEH
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 901 F. Supp. 2d 1289 (Gustafson v. American Family Mutual Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gustafson v. American Family Mutual Insurance, 901 F. Supp. 2d 1289, 2012 WL 4755357, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144494 (D. Colo. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER

PHILIP A. BRIMMER, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on the Motion for Summary Judgment [Docket No. 34] filed by defendant American Family Mutual Insurance Co. (“American Family”) and the Motion for Summary Judgment — Breach of Contract and Estoppel— Liability Only [Docket No. 36] filed by plaintiff Barry G. Gustafson. The motions are fully briefed and ripe for disposition. The issues raised in their motions arise from American Family’s unsuccessful suit against plaintiff, a former American Family insurance agent, and whether American Family had a duty to defend plaintiff against American Family’s own lawsuit.

I. BACKGROUND1

Mr. Gustafson worked for American Family as an insurance agent for approximately twenty-six years before he voluntarily resigned on July 21, 2008. While working as an agent for American Family, Mr. Gustafson initially operated his insurance agency out of an office located at 1442 N. Taft Ave., Loveland, Colorado. In December 2006, Mr. Gustafson moved his American Family insurance agency to a building located at 4308 N. Garfield Avenue, Loveland Colorado (the “Garfield Office”). Docket No. 36-5 at 2, ¶¶ 6-7. At the time, Mr. Gustafson and his wife, Lynn Gustafson, used the Garfield Office as a rental dwelling and it was insured under an American Family Businessowners Policy (“BOP”). Docket No. 37-5 at 14 (CD R. RFPD 0752).

[1294]*1294Shortly after relocating to the Garfield Office, Mr. Gustafson completed an application with American Family to modify the BOP to reflect that the primary use of the Garfield Office had changed from a rental dwelling to an insurance agency. See Docket No. 36-12 at 1. American Family processed Mr. Gustafson’s request and issued a BOP, which reflected that the Garfield Office would be used as an insurance agency. See Docket No. 36-13 at 1. The change in the coverage was effective as of May 1, 2007. See id. According to Wilfrido A. David, the Rule 30(b)(6) representative for American Family, changing the primary use of the Garfield Office did not alter the coverage provided by the BOP because the same policy can insure rental properties and insurance agencies. Docket No. 36-10 at 12 (Rule 30(b)(6) Dep. 47:7-11).

The BOP for the Garfield Office provided coverage, in pertinent part, for the following:

A. Coverages
1. Business Liability
a. [American Family] will pay those sums that the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of “bodily injury,” “property damage” or “personal and advertising injury” to which this insurance applies. [American Family] will have the right and duty to defend the insured against any “suit” seeking those damages. However, [American Family] will have no duty to defend the insured against any “suit” seeking damages for “bodily injury,” “property damage” or “personal and advertising injury,” to which this insurance does not apply.
b. This insurance applies: ...
(2) To “personal and advertising injury” caused by an offense arising out of your business, but only if the offense was committed in the “coverage territory” during the policy period.

Docket No. 37-2 at 14 (CD R. RFPD 0689). The BOP defined “advertisement” and “personal and advertising injury” as:

1. “Advertisement” means a notice that is broadcast or published to the general public or specific market segments about your goods, products or services for the purpose of attracting customers or supporters ...
14. “Personal and advertising injury” means injury, including consequential “bodily injury” arising out of one or more of the following offenses: ... f. The use of another’s advertising idea in your “advertisement” ...

Docket No. 37-3 at 2-3 (CD R. RFPD 0698-0699). Exclusions to the BOP coverage included:

B. Exclusions
1. Applicable to Business Liability Coverage:
This insurance does not apply to
p. “Personal and Advertising Injury”:
(1) Caused by or at the direction of the insured with the knowledge that the act would violate the rights of another and would inflict “personal and advertising injury”;
(2) Arising out of oral or written public publication of material, if done by or at the direction of the insured with knowledge of its falsity

Docket No. 37-2 at 16, 19 (CD R. RFPD 0691, 0694). The BOP coverage extended to the following:

C. Who is an Insured
[1295]*12951. If you are designated in the Declarations as:
a. An individual, you and your spouse are insureds, but only with respect to the conduct of a business of which you are the sole owner.
b. A partnership or joint venture, you are an insured. Your members, your partners and their spouses are also insureds, but only with respect to the conduct of your business.

Id. at 21 (CD R. RFPD 0696).

In addition to the BOP for the Garfield Office, Mr. Gustafson kept a general umbrella policy which insured approximately twenty other business ventures. Docket No. 36-10 at 8 (Rule 30(b)(6) Dep. 31:14-17). Sometime after May 2007, Mr. Gustafson asked American Family to consolidate his separate BOPs under one general umbrella policy. As Mr. David testified in his Rule 30(b)(6) deposition, in order to align the BOP for the Garfield Office with the general umbrella policy, American Family had to change the BOP number for the Garfield Office policy. Id. (Rule 30(b)(6) Dep. 31:17-25). Pursuant to Mr. Gustafson’s request, on September 7, 2007, American Family changed the BOP number for the Garfield Office policy from 05X34673-07 to 05X34673-09. Compare Docket No. 36-13 at 1 with Docket No. 36-14 at 1. Mr. David testified that the change in the policy numbers should have had no substantive effect on the coverage afforded by the BOP. Docket No. 36-10 at 9 (Rule 30(b)(6) Dep. 33:20-22).

On September 10, 2007, American Family wrote Mr. Gustafson a letter advising him of the change in policy numbers. Docket No. 36-15. The letter from American Family indicated that the new policy number would be “05-X3467309” but otherwise did not mention a change in policy coverage. Id. However, the act of conforming Mr. Gustafson’s insurance policies did in fact result in a change to the Garfield Office BOP. Docket No. 36-10 at 10 (Rule 30(b)(6) Dep. 39:9-22). As Mr. David Testified in his Rule 30(b)(6) deposition, American Family made a clerical error when it performed Mr. Gustafson’s request and issued a new policy to Mr. Gustafson on September 7, 2007. Instead of describing the Garfield office as an “Insurance Agent/Broker Office,” it used the previous description of a “Rental Dwelling.” The clerical error voided Mr. Gustafson’s change request of May 1, 2007 and arguably cancelled coverage for insurance activities conducted at the Garfield Office. See also Docket No. 36-14 at 1. American Family did not alert Mr. Gustafson to this change and he was otherwise unaware of any change in coverage.

In his deposition, Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
901 F. Supp. 2d 1289, 2012 WL 4755357, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144494, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gustafson-v-american-family-mutual-insurance-cod-2012.