Iteld v. Four Corners Construction, L.P.

133 So. 3d 312, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0692, 2014 WL 535879, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 216
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 30, 2014
DocketNo. 2013-CA-0692
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 133 So. 3d 312 (Iteld v. Four Corners Construction, L.P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Iteld v. Four Corners Construction, L.P., 133 So. 3d 312, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0692, 2014 WL 535879, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 216 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

PAUL A. BONIN, Judge.

| TFour Corners Construction, L.P., subcontracted with Jack’s Electric Service, Inc., to provide specified work in connection with the operation of a five thousand wine bottle “cellar” as a part of an ongoing renovation of a home in uptown New Orleans. The subcontract provided for Jack’s to indemnify and defend Four Corners under certain circumstances; it also required Jack’s to furnish an insurance policy naming Four Corners as an additional insured. The policy was issued by Lafayette Insurance Company.

The homeowners, alleging numerous deficiencies in the overall renovation project, sued Four Corners. Four Corners then filed incidental demands against Jack’s and Lafayette, seeking to enforce its claims for indemnity and defense. After a considera[315]*315ble number of motions were filed and rulings were made, which we detail in Part I, post, the ultimate judgment which issued from the district judge awarded Four Corners the total amount of $196,281.00 as attorney fees owed for | ¡¡the defense of the homeowners’ action and the amount of $16,438.09 of additional costs of defense. The district judge denied Four Corners the bad faith penalties it sought against the insurer, Lafayette.

Four Corners appeals the denial of the motion for new trial wherein the district judge refused to award it an additional $28,102.71 in costs of defense and in denying it bad faith penalties on the attorney fees awarded. We more fully address Four Corners’ complaints in Part II, post. Because Four Corners does not offer any explanation for why the additional claimed costs could not have been discovered at the time of its initial motion for summary judgment, we find no abuse of discretion in the district judge’s denial of the motion for new trial. Also, because we find that the district judge correctly found that Foot Corners had not submitted a satisfactory proof of loss to Lafayette, we uphold that aspect of the judgment. Thus, we affirm those two aspects or parts of the judgment under review.

Jack’s and Lafayette devolutively appeal the award of attorney fees. We more fully address their complaint in Part III, post. The award was made on summary judgment. Because we find in this case that there are genuine issues of material fact about the fees claimed by Four Corners, we reverse that portion of the summary judgment which awarded such fees and we remand with instructions to the district court with respect to that part of the judgment under review.

Thus, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand with instructions. We explain our decision in greater detail in the Parts which follow.

_ki

In this Part we set out the relevant facts and discuss this appeal’s somewhat complicated procedural history.

A

In 2003, the plaintiffs in the principal demand, Sandy and Bruce J. Iteld, commenced the process of renovating their Robert Street home in uptown New Orleans by entering into a contract with Four Corners. The contract anticipated a thirteen month, one-and-a-half million dollar project. Among the design features included in the renovation was the creation of a climate controlled, five thousand bottle wine “cellar.” The contract also specified the installation of a generator to supply electricity to the wine cellar’s air conditioning unit in the event of a power outage.

Jack’s was the subcontractor responsible for all or most of the work associated with the installation of the generator. The subcontract included an indemnity agreement, which provides in pertinent part:

Section 8.1 Indemnity. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the subcontractor expressly agrees to defend (at subcontractor’s expense and with counsel acceptable to the contractor), indemnify and hold harmless owner, contractor ... from and against any and all claims, suits, losses, causes of action, damages, liabilities, fines penalties and expenses of any kind whatsoever, including without limitation, all expenses of litigation and arbitration, court costs, and attorney fees, arising on account of or in connection with injuries to or the death of any person, or any and all damages to property, including loss of use, regardless of possession or ownership. This defense and indemnity provision applies [316]*316to all injuries, death, or damages arising from, or in any manner connected with, the work performed by or for the subcontractor’s account under this subcontract, or caused in whole |4or in part by reason of the acts or omissions or presence of the person or property of the subcontractor on the job site or any of its employees, agents, representatives, subsubcontractors, or suppliers.

In its contract with Four Corners, Jack’s also agreed to provide insurance identifying Four Corners as an additional insured. The additional insured endorsement contained within Jack’s Lafayette policy provides:

A. Section II — -Who is an Insured is amended to include as an additional insured any person or organization for whom you [ (i.e. Jack’s) ] are performing operations when you and such person or organization have agreed in writing in a contract or agreement that such person or organization is an additional insured only with respect to your liability for “bodily injury”, “property damage” or “personal and advertising injury” which may be imputed to that person or organization directly arising out of:
1. Your acts or omissions; or
2. The acts or omissions of those acting on your behalf;
In the performance of your ongoing operations for the additional insured.

By August 2005, as Hurricane Katrina approached New Orleans, the renovations to the Itelds’ home were yet to be completed. Although the Itelds had yet to retake possession of their home, their wine collection was on the premises at the time. Prior to their evacuation for Hurricane Katrina, the Itelds were informed that the generator had been installed, test-run, and was operating perfectly.

The generator failed, however, because of a faulty part several weeks after power to the house was lost. As a result, the Itelds’ entire wine collection was rendered a total loss. At the trial on the Itelds’ principal demand, the wine collection’s worth was valued by an expert at $362,622.00.

|-In 2006, the Itelds instituted this action against Four Corners, Jack’s, and Lafayette, among others.1 The petition identifies numerous areas of purported negligence and/or breaches of contract which comprise the Itelds’ claims, but only one of these areas concerned the loss of the Itelds’ wine collection. See Iteld v. Four Corners Construction L.P., 12-1504 (La.App. 4 Cir. 6/5/13), — So.3d-, 2013 WL 2443261 (where we considered the myriad issues raised by the parties following the trial of the principal demand and Four Corners’ reconventional demand). During the course of the litigation Four Corners filed a third party demand against Lafayette seeking a defense arid indemnity from Lafayette through Four Corners’ additional insured status in the policy issued to Jack’s. Through its answer, Lafayette declined to provide Four Corners with a defense. Four Corners subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment seeking defense and indemnity from Jack’s and Lafayette. Jack’s filed a cross motion for summary judgment seeking a dismissal from the claims of Four Corners.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
133 So. 3d 312, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0692, 2014 WL 535879, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 216, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/iteld-v-four-corners-construction-lp-lactapp-2014.