J.T. Baker, Inc. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co.

135 F.R.D. 86, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17409, 1991 WL 30080
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedFebruary 14, 1989
DocketCiv. No. 86-4794(SSB)
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 135 F.R.D. 86 (J.T. Baker, Inc. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
J.T. Baker, Inc. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 135 F.R.D. 86, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17409, 1991 WL 30080 (D.N.J. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JEROME B. SIMANDLE, United States Magistrate:

In this case, plaintiff J.T. Baker, Inc., seeks a declaratory judgment that defendant Aetna Casualty and Surety Company is obligated to defend and indemnify it against bodily injury and property damage claims arising out of toxic waste contamination pursuant to comprehensive general liability policies issued by Aetna to Baker between 1976 and 1986. J.T. Baker, Inc., seeks indemnification with respect to claims arising against it at seven New Jersey sites, of which two were owned by Baker (Phillipsburg/Lopatcong plant site and Arlington Warehouse) and five were landfills to which Baker’s wastes were allegedly transported and disposed of (Price’s Landfill, Kin-Buc Landfill, Lone Pine Landfill, the SCP Carlstadt Site, and Harmony Township Landfill). A determination of the discovery motions presently before the court requires construction of the so-called expected/intended clause of the “occurrence” definition of comprehensive general liability policies of insurance, as now discussed.

[88]*88On September 24, 1987, plaintiff filed a motion for partial summary judgment and for a protective order, before the Honorable Stanley S. Brotman. In its motion for summary judgment, plaintiff sought a legal interpretation, under New Jersey law, of a provision contained in the comprehensive general liability policies (CGL) which defines “occurrence” — the event which triggers coverage under each policy.

The CGL policies involved in this case contain the following clauses:

The company will pay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injury or property damage to which this insurance applies, caused by an occurrence
“Occurrence” means an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to conditions, which results in bodily or property damage neither expected nor intended from the standpoint of the insured____

Defendants claim that the “neither expected nor intended” phrase excludes coverage for liability which is the result of conduct that plaintiff knew or should have known would cause environmental harm. Plaintiff argues that the expected/intended language bars coverage only if the insured acted with the specific intent to cause harm. This dispute formed the substance of the summary judgment motion.

Judge Brotman denied the plaintiffs summary judgment motion by Opinion and Order filed August 17, 1988. Judge Brotman noted that plaintiffs professed purpose in filing their summary judgment motion was to limit the scope of discovery. In fact, included in the motions for summary judgment was a motion by plaintiff for a protective order, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(c), and a motion by defendant to compel answers to interrogatories, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(2). Upon denying plaintiffs motion for summary judgment, Judge Brotman instructed the parties to direct their discovery motions to me, and also stated that I was to examine the question of expected/intended language in light of existing New Jersey law.

According to plaintiff, its motion for a protective order concerns 96 of the 132 interrogatories still in dispute between the parties, set forth in a separate appendix. According to defendant, their interrogatories are divided into ten sections, five of which are in dispute. Of those, Section 5 deals with the Phillipsburg Plant; Section 6 deals with Price’s Pit; Second 7 relates to Kin-Buc; Section 8 deals with the Carlstadt site; and Section 9 relates to the Lone Pine site. In reference to the four sites mentioned in Sections 6-9, the interrogatories are identical for each site. Aetna contends that its interrogatories are relevant and necessary to its defense that Baker either knew or should have known that its actions would have the consequences they did.

Baker’s main objections to the Aetna interrogatories are twofold: (1) Firstly, it insists that under New Jersey law, the “neither expected nor intended” exclusionary language bars coverage only if the insured acted with the specific intent to cause harm. Baker maintains that what the insured “knew or should have known” is irrelevant, and therefore Aetna’s interrogatories directed to that issue are over-broad and burdensome; (2) secondly, Baker insists that whatever construction this court gives to the “neither expected nor intended” clause, Aetna’s interrogatories are still overly broad and burdensome because “they are not directed to particular products, hazardous wastes, or contamination. Nor are they limited to specific instances of contamination, disposal, or dispersal. Instead, they demand the identification of all documents, communications, and individuals with information regarding numerous manufacturing processes, products and tests.” (Plaintiff’s Memo at 4-5).

Baker notes that five of the seven sites at issue in the underlying claims against it were not owned or operated by it, but rather it allegedly generated waste which was disposed of at those sites, of it stored waste at them. Thus, Baker is now subject to strict liability provisions of the Compre[89]*89hensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. § 9601, et seq., because it may have generated waste at these sites. Therefore, Baker insists that the Aetna interrogatories dealing with these sites are irrelevant if premised on a “knew or should have known” theory because Baker’s liability is strict regardless of fault under CERCLA.

Baker categorizes these interrogatories and its corresponding objections in its moving papers. Baker objects to Interrogatories 92, 134, 176 and 218 on the grounds that they are overbroad, in that they ask for the history of the title to any facility which generated trash for disposal at any of the contaminated sites, as well as the name of any person or entity who sold or leased the facility to Baker, and the history and personnel of any safety, quality control department, library and industrial hygiene department of every facility.

Interrogatories 94(k), 136(k), 178(k) and 220(k) are objected to by Baker, as they demand that for every Baker facility that ever generated waste materials for deposit at any one of the four waste deposit sites, Baker identify any hazardous waste which was not released, and the name, address and employer of any entity that had possession of each quantity of waste up to the present time.

Interrogatories 98, 140, 182 and 224 are objected to because they demand that Baker identify the generic name of any precursor chemicals or raw materials used in the manufacturing process that generated the waste transported to the off-site disposal facilities in the underlying claims. Baker insists that these interrogatories are irrelevant to Baker’s intent, which Baker maintains is the only issue involved in this motion.

Interrogatories 106, 148, 190 and 232 are objected to because they regard Baker’s knowledge of land surrounding or neighboring the waste sites. Baker states that it obviously had no control over where the State of New Jersey placed its toxic waste sites, so therefore these interrogatories are irrelevant.

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Bluebook (online)
135 F.R.D. 86, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17409, 1991 WL 30080, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jt-baker-inc-v-aetna-casualty-surety-co-njd-1989.