Interstate Aerials, LLC v. Great American Insurance

352 F. App'x 637
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedNovember 12, 2009
DocketNo. 08-4901
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 352 F. App'x 637 (Interstate Aerials, LLC v. Great American Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Interstate Aerials, LLC v. Great American Insurance, 352 F. App'x 637 (3d Cir. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

COWEN, Circuit Judge.

Interstate Aerials, LLC (“Interstate Aerials”) appeals from the judgment of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey entered on November 26, 2008, 595 F.Supp.2d 373, denying Interstate Aerials’ motion for summary judgment and granting summary judgment in favor of Great American Insurance Com[638]*638pany of New York, et al. (“Great American”). We will affirm.

I.

Interstate Aerials rents and leases construction equipment, including mechanical aerial lifts, to contractors engaged in construction projects. Interstate Aerials delivered an aerial lift to Al Horgan General Contractor, Inc. (“Al Horgan”) at one of its construction sites. The lift collapsed, killing an employee of one of Al Horgan’s subcontractors. This appeal involves a dispute between Interstate Aerial and its insurer, Great American.1

At the time of this incident, Interstate Aerials had a property insurance policy with Great American for “Commercial Inland Marine” coverage. The terms of coverage for leased property are set forth in an endorsement to the policy entitled, “LEASED PROPERTY — CONTINGENT INTEREST FORM,” which is also identified as Form F 930. The first page of the endorsement describes the type of property covered by the endorsement as “[p]ersonal property consisting principally of EQUIPMENT USUAL TO AREIAL [sic ] LIFT.” (App.78.) Additionally, there is a subsection on the first page of the endorsement entitled, “LIMITS OF LIABILITY.” This subsection limits coverage to $200,000 for “[property leased to others ... in the custody of any one lessee not specified below.” (Id.) The second page of the endorsement reiterates that the property subject to this limitation is:

... personal property of the Insured, as described in the Schedule, which is: (a) leased or rented to others; and (b) intended for lease or rent to others.

(App.79.)

Notably, the second page of the endorsement also contains a provision entitled, “CONTINGENT COVERAGE,” which indicates that:

When property is in the custody of lessee^), this insurance applies only if the Insured has obtained: (1) A signed lease/rental agreement which requires the lessee to: (a) be fully responsible for all loss or damages; (b) provide insurance, no less broad as respects perils than that provided by this policy, covering the property to be leased; and (2) Evidence of such physical damage insurance, which names the Insured (lessor) as loss payee, when the value of property leased to any one customer exceeds $50,000.
Insurance under this policy shall not apply until the Insured has exhausted all reasonable efforts to collect the amount of loss or damage from the lessee and its insurer.

(Id.)

Great American relied on this contingent coverage provision to deny Interstate Aerials claim, asserting that Interstate Aerials failed to (i) procure a signed lease agreement with Al Horgan for the lift in question, and (ii) procure a certificate of insurance on which Interstate Aerials was named as an additional insured or loss payee.

Interstate Aerials commenced the instant action seeking a declaration that the contingent coverage provision was unenforceable. Upon conclusion of discovery, the parties cross-moved for summary judgment. Great American asserted that it was entitled to judgment due to Interstate Aerials’ failure to comply with the terms of coverage as set forth in the endorsement. Interstate Aerials conceded that it failed to comply with both provi[639]*639sions; however, Interstate Aerials contended that the endorsement was unenforceable as a matter of law. In support of this contention, Interstate Aerials asserted that the endorsement was ambiguous and buried at the end of the insurance policy, and therefore, its enforcement would run contrary to any policyholder’s reasonable expectation of coverage.

The District Court granted Great American’s motion and denied Interstate Aerials’ cross-motion. The District Court held that (i) the terms of the policy and endorsement were unambiguous, (ii) the endorsement required Interstate Aerials to comply with the contingent coverage provision, and (iii) Interstate Aerials failed to do so, thereby resulting in no coverage under the policy for the incident claimed. On appeal, Interstate Aerials contends that the District Court committed reversible error by denying its motion and granting Great American’s motion. According to Interstate Aerials, it had a reasonable expectation of coverage as (i) the terms of the endorsement were ambiguous, and (ii) the endorsement was buried in the insurance policy. As noted above, Interstate Aerials conceded that it failed to comply with the two requirements of the contingent coverage provision. Accordingly, the sole issue before this Court is whether the contingent coverage provision contained in the endorsement is enforceable under New Jersey law.

II.

The District Court exercised jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332. We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. “The standard of review applicable to the District Court’s order granting summary judgment is plenary.” Kautz v. Met-Pro Corp., 412 F.3d 463, 466 (3d Cir.2005). We must apply the same test employed by the District Court under Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Id.

III.

Under New Jersey law, “the words of an insurance policy are to be given their plain, ordinary meaning.” Zacarias v. Allstate Ins. Co., 168 N.J. 590, 775 A.2d 1262, 1264 (2001). “In the absence of any ambiguity, courts should not write for the insured a better policy of insurance than the one purchased.” Id. (quoting Gibson v. Callaghan, 158 N.J. 662, 680, 730 A.2d 1278 (1999)). In evaluating insurance policies for ambiguity, courts should “interpret!] the policy as a whole, by giving a reasonable meaning to its form and case.” Royal Ins. Co. v. KSI Trading Corp., 563 F.3d 68, 74 (3d Cir.2009) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Arrow Indus. Carriers, Inc. v. Continental Ins. Co., 232 N.J.Super. 324, 556 A.2d 1310, 1314 (1989)). An insurance policy is ambiguous when “the phrasing of the policy is so confusing that the average policyholder cannot make out the boundaries of coverage.” Weedo v. Stone-E Brick, Inc., 81 N.J. 233, 405 A.2d 788, 795 (1979).

It is well-settled that insurance policies are “contracts of adhesion and as such, are subject to special rules of interpretation.” Zacarias, 168 N.J. at 595, 775 A.2d at 1264.

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Bluebook (online)
352 F. App'x 637, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/interstate-aerials-llc-v-great-american-insurance-ca3-2009.