Haugan v. Home Indemnity Company

197 N.W.2d 18, 86 S.D. 406, 1972 S.D. LEXIS 126
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMay 3, 1972
Docket10940-r
StatusPublished
Cited by88 cases

This text of 197 N.W.2d 18 (Haugan v. Home Indemnity Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haugan v. Home Indemnity Company, 197 N.W.2d 18, 86 S.D. 406, 1972 S.D. LEXIS 126 (S.D. 1972).

Opinions

HANSON, Presiding Judge.

This declaratory judgment action involves the construction of liability insurance policies issued by the Home Indemnity and the Iowa National Insurance companies to the insured, Gil Haugan d/b/a Haugan Construction Company, to determine whether any of the policies afford coverage to Haugan for a property damage claim asserted against him by Business Aviation, Inc., in a prior pending action. Home and Iowa Mutual appeal from a judgment declaring coverage extends to the Business Aviation claim and the insurers are obligated to defend Haugan in the principal action.

The facts are not in dispute. In June 1967 Haugan entered into a contract with Business Aviation, Inc. for the construction of an aircraft hangar and office building at the Joe Foss Field in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. To assure the prompt and faithful performance of the contract Haugan furnished Business Aviation with a performance bond in the amount of $155,000 with the defendant State Automobile and Casualty Underwriters, as surety. The application or effect of the performance bond is not involved in this declaratory action.

Haugan completed construction of the building in January 1968 and Business Aviation took possession on January 24, 1968. Sometime after taking possession Business Aviation brought action against Haugan for alleged damages to the building. Its complaint charges:

[409]*409"I.
That on or about June 19, 1967, Plaintiff entered into a contract with the Defendant, Gil Haugan, d/b/a Gil Haugan Construction Company (hereinafter called Haugan) for the construction of an aircraft hangar and office building located at Foss Field, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which structure was to be designed and constructed in a proper and workman-like manner.
III.
That under the terms of said contract the Defendant, Haugan, designed said building and provided all of the plans and specifications therefor and performed all of the work, without any directions or supervision from the Plaintiff.
IV.
That in the design of the said building and the performance of said work, the Defendant failed to perform the same in a workman-like manner in that he failed to provide proper footings and other foundations and as a result thereof, the weight bearing portions of the structure have sunk in the ground and separated from the rest of the foundation and flooring of the 'structure, and as a result thereof the whole structure, including windows, doors, floors and all other portions thereof have become out of line, cracked and broken, and the whole general appearance and function of the building has deteriorated substantially.
V.
That the fair and reasonable cost of repairing such damages as resulted from the failure of the Defendant, Haugan, to design and construct 'said building in a proper and workman-like manner in the sum of $65,000.00.
[410]*410Plaintiff further pleading for a separate affirmative cause of action, states and alleges:
I.
Realleges all of the matters alleged in the first cause of action the same as though set out here in full.
II.
That the Defendant, Haugan, performed such work in a careless and negligent manner and as the proximate result of such negligence the said building was damaged as aforesaid and the costs of repairing the same would be the sum of $65,000.00."

Haugan tendered defense of the action to the Home and Iowa National Insurance companies which was refused on the grounds their policies did not afford coverage of the claim.

In connection with his construction business Haugan had procured various policies of liability insurance from the Home and Iowa National Insurance companies. These policies were introduced in evidence as Exhibits 4 to 10 inclusive. Exhibit 6 is a Commercial Umbrella Excess Liability Policy issued by Iowa National. Exhibits 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are general liability policies issued by either Home or Iowa National covering different policy periods. Such policies afford Comprehensive General Liability coverage and Contractual Liability coverage in accordance with identical coverage and exclusionary provisions.

With reference to Comprehensive General Liability each of the policies provides:

"The Company will pay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of
A. bodily injury, or
B. property damage
[411]*411to which this insurance applies, caused by an occurrence, and 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, but 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."

Considered alone the broad insuring clause would seemingly provide coverage to Haugan for legal liability of the claim alleged in the complaint filed against him by Business Aviation. The insuring clause cannot be considered in isolation however as the exclusionary provisions are an integral part of the policy and must be considered and construed along with the insuring clauses. In this respect each of the policies provides:

"This insurance does not apply:
(a) to liability assumed by the insured under any contract or agreement except an incidental contract; but this exclusion does not apply to a warranty of fitness or quality of the named insured's products or a warranty that work performed by or on behalf of the named insured will be done in a workmanlike manner;
(k) 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 insured; but this exclusion does [412]*412not apply to bodily injury or property damage resulting from the active malfunctioning of such products or work;
(m) to property damage 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;".

According to the allegations of the complaint in the principal action the completed hangar building, in its entirety, constituted Haugan's work product. He designed and constructed it. The damages sought by Business Aviation relate ¡solely to Haugan's work product or to work performed by him in the construction of the building. There are no other damages claimed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
197 N.W.2d 18, 86 S.D. 406, 1972 S.D. LEXIS 126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haugan-v-home-indemnity-company-sd-1972.