Heartland Co-Op v. Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Company

Court of Appeals of Iowa·Decided June 5, 2024·No. 23-0156·Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA

No. 23-0156

Filed June 5, 2024

HEARTLAND CO-OP, Plaintiff-Appellant,

vs.

NATIONWIDE AGRIBUSINESS INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeffrey D. Bert, Judge.

Heartland Co-op appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Company. AFFIRMED.

John F. Lorentzen of Nyemaster Goode, PC, Des Moines, for appellant.

Sean M. O’Brien of Bradshaw, Fowler, Proctor & Fairgrave, P.C., Des Moines, for appellee.

Heard by Schumacher, P.J., and Ahlers and Langholz, JJ.

AHLERS, Judge.

Heartland Co-op (Heartland) is an agricultural cooperative with many business locations throughout Iowa and other states. In 2020, a derecho damaged several of Heartland’s properties in Iowa. As Heartland was insured under a policy issued by Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Company (Nationwide), Heartland made a claim under the policy. Among other coverages, the policy provided earnings-and-extra-expense coverage. In simplified terms, this coverage pays for loss of net income resulting from damage to insured properties from a covered peril and extra expenses that would not have been incurred but for the damage caused by the peril, such as relocation costs and costs to outfit and operate at a replacement or temporary location. The insurance policy limited the amount Nationwide would pay for this coverage to $3,000,000 for “any one loss.”

After submitting its claim for the lost earnings and extra expenses caused by the derecho, Heartland received a total of $3,000,000 from Nationwide.1 Heartland suffered lost earnings and extra expenses at multiple locations that, in total, exceeded $3,000,000, but Nationwide limited payment to $3,000,000 because it determined that the lost income and extra expenses suffered across all properties combined constituted a single loss to which the $3,000,000 limit applied. Heartland filed suit alleging breach of contract. Both parties moved for summary judgment. The district court granted summary judgment to Nationwide after finding

1 Nationwide also paid Heartland $131,418,384.58 under other coverages for losses Heartland sustained from the derecho. Payment under those other coverages is not in dispute in this case. The dispute in this appeal is confined to how much Nationwide owes under the earnings-and-extra-expense coverage.

that the words “any one loss” mean the combined loss at all locations for one event.2 Heartland appeals.

We review summary judgment rulings for correction of errors at law.

Lennette v. State, 975 N.W.2d 380, 388 (Iowa 2022). A party is entitled to summary judgment when the record “show[s] that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.981(3). Material facts are those that affect the outcome of the suit, and a fact issue “is genuine if the evidence would allow a reasonable jury to return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” In re Est. of Franken, 944 N.W.2d 853, 858 (Iowa 2020) (cleaned up) (citation omitted). The movant bears the burden of proving the “undisputed facts entitle[] it to summary judgment.” Behm v. City of Cedar Rapids, 922 N.W.2d 524, 542 (Iowa 2019). We review the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and make on their behalf all “legitimate inference[s] that can be reasonably deduced from the record.” Homeland Energy Sols., LLC v. Retterath, 938 N.W.2d 664, 683 (Iowa 2020) (quoting Phillips v. Covenant Clinic, 625 N.W.2d 714, 717‒18 (Iowa 2001)).

2 Heartland also argued to the district court that it should have the chance to prove

at trial that the derecho was not a single storm. The district court found that the evidence did not establish a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the derecho was a single weather event. The court found that the derecho was a single weather event for purposes of the insurance policy and granted summary judgment to Nationwide. Heartland appeals this issue but barely mentions it in its brief. The brief cites no parts of the record generating a factual dispute on this issue and cites no pertinent authority. Therefore, we find the issue waived. Iowa R. Civ. P. 6.903; Soo Line R.R. Co. v. Iowa Dep’t of Transp., 521 N.W.2d 685, 691 (Iowa 1994) (“[R]andom mention of [an] issue, without elaboration or supportive authority, is insufficient to raise the issue for our consideration.”).

We start by highlighting some of the key provisions pertaining to the earnings-and-extra-expense coverage, beginning with the one under the heading “HOW MUCH WE PAY” that reads, “‘We’ pay no more than the Income Coverage ‘limit’ indicated on the ‘schedule of coverages’ for any one loss.” The pages that follow contain the schedule of coverages. Under the “Income Coverage Part” of the schedules, there is a list of potential coverages under the heading “COVERAGE (check one)” with a box to check next to each coverage listed. Only the box for “Earnings and Extra Expense” is checked. Thus, the parties do not dispute that the policy provides earnings-and-extra-expense coverage.

Following the list of coverages is the heading “LIMIT (check one)” followed by two options with a corresponding box to check beside each option. The first option states “Income Coverage Limit—The most ‘we’ pay for loss at any one ‘covered location’ is:.” This option is unchecked, and no limit was filled in. The second option reads: “Refer to Scheduled Locations (check if applicable).” This option is checked, requiring the parties and us to look to the location schedules to determine the applicable limit of coverage.

The location schedules that follow start with a schedule that describes the covered location as location number “087 ALL ‘COVERED LOCATIONS.’” This page lists five types of coverage, including earnings-and-extra-expense coverage with a limit of $3,000,000—the coverage at issue here. Here is the pertinent part of that schedule:

Following this schedule listing earnings-and-extra-expense coverage for “ALL ‘COVERED LOCATIONS’” is a separate page for each of Heartland’s eighty-six business locations in Iowa and other states (consecutively numbered as location numbers 001 through 086), with each of those eighty-six schedules listing coverages for that location and a corresponding limit amount for each coverage. None of the individual-location schedules lists any earnings-and-extra-expense coverage.

The dispute here comes down to whether the policy provides $3,000,000 of coverage for each location that sustained an earnings-and-extra-expense loss or whether it provides $3,000,000 of coverage for all earnings-and-extra-expense loss Heartland sustained across all eighty-six locations (or as many of them as sustained damage from the derecho). This requires us to interpret and construe the policy. When we interpret an insurance policy, we determine the meaning of the words it contains. Boelman v. Grinnell Mut. Reins. Co., 826 N.W.2d 494, 501– 02 (Iowa 2013). When we construe the policy, we give those words legal effect. Id. Both interpretation and construction are matters for the court. Id. (noting that interpretation is a matter for the court unless extrinsic evidence comes into play

and that construction is always a matter for the court). If a policy term is undefined, we give the term its ordinary meaning, rather than a technical or specialized meaning. Wakonda Club v. Selective Ins. Co. of Am., 973 N.W.2d 545, 549 (Iowa 2022). If the language has more than one reasonable interpretation, it is ambiguous and will be interpreted in favor of the insured. Id. A term is not ambiguous simply because the parties disagree on its meaning. Id.

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