Kmart Corporation v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance

777 F.3d 923, 2015 WL 448633, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 1775
Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit·Decided February 4, 2015·No. 14-1242, 14-1356, 14-1359·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinion

WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.

Under an agreement between Footstar and Kmart, Footstar operated the footwear departments in various Kmart stores as though they were islands. Footstar employees could only work in those departments unless they had written permission from Kmart. On July 27, 2005, a Footstar employee tried to help a customer get an infant carrier off a shelf outside the footwear department and the customer was injured. She sued, and Kmart eventually sought indemnification for the settlement and defense costs from Footstar and its insurer, Liberty Mutual. We affirm the magistrate judge’s finding that Foots-tar and Liberty Mutual both had a duty to defend beginning the day Kmart formally requested coverage since the injury was potentially coverable under the agreement and insurance policy. However, we reverse and hold neither Liberty Mutual nor Footstar had a duty to indemnify Kmart because the injury did not occur “pursuant to” or “under” the agreement between Kmart and Footstar. That agreement specifically precluded Footstar employees from working outside of the footwear department, where the injury occurred, and actions taken in contravention of the agreement were not “pursuant to” or “under” it. We also affirm the magistrate judge’s decisions that Liberty Mutual did not deny coverage in bad faith and that Kmart did not breach the relevant notice provisions such that Liberty Mutual and Footstar could withhold defense costs. We also find any argument about prejudgment interest has been waived.

*926 I. BACKGROUND

Footstar and Kmart entered into an agreement authorizing Footstar to operate the footwear department in hundreds of Kmart stores throughout the country. In essence, the footwear department was a store within the larger Kmart store. As Section 3.3 of the Master Agreement between Kmart and Footstar noted, “[Foots-tar] shall have the right to sell only the Licensed Footwear specified in this Agreement in the Footwear Departments, and shall sell or furnish no other merchandise or services in the Stores without the prior written permission of [Kmart].”

Section 18.1 of the Master Agreement required Footstar to defend and indemnify Kmart under certain conditions:

[Footstar] shall reimburse, indemnify, defend and hold harmless [Kmart] ... from and against any and all damage ... arising out of [Footstar’s] performance or failure to perform under this Agreement....

That same section also required Foots-tar to obtain additional insurance coverage for Kmart:

[Footstar] agrees to obtain and keep in force ... appropriate insurance for claims against [Kmart] and [Footstar] for personal injury ... arising out of or relating to the goods and services provided pursuant to this Agreement ...

Footstar fulfilled its obligation to obtain additional insurance by contracting with Liberty Mutual. Pursuant to that Policy, Liberty Mutual would defend and indemnify Footstar as well as Kmart, as an additional insured, under certain conditions. For Kmart, that coverage was dictated by Section II, which reads in relevant part:

WHO IS AN INSURED is amended to include ... [any entity] for whom you have agreed in writing to provide liability insurance. But:
The insurance provided by this amendment:
1. Applies only to “personal injury” or “property damage” arising out of (a) “your work” ...;
2. Applies only to coverage and limits of insurance required by the written agreement, but in no event exceeds either the scope of coverage or the limits of insurance provided by this policy;....

On July 27, 2005, a customer named Judy Patrick walked into a Kmart store in Hollywood, Florida. According to her complaint, she asked for assistance from Alex Sehat, who turned out to be a Foots-tar employee, in getting a stroller down from a shelf. Sehat, along with a Kmart employee, reached up and attempted to bring the stroller down. As they were bringing it down, an infant carrier inside the stroller fell and struck Patrick in the face. The accident took place in the infant/stroller department, which is entirely outside of the Footstar department.

Patrick sued Kmart on May 17, 2006, alleging negligence, with no mention of Footstar in her initial complaint. See Patrick v. Kmart Corp., No. 06-7117 (Fla.Cir.Ct.). But Patrick’s counsel discovered during the course of the litigation that Sehat was actually a Footstar employee and called Footstar in May 2007 to get Sehat’s employment records. Footstar contacted Liberty Mutual, as evidenced by an internal claim file created by a Liberty Mutual representative on June 6, 2007, in which Liberty Mutual employees began entering notes. Though potentially privileged, the notes were apparently inadvertently turned over during discovery of the present dispute. Because we do not need to use the notes to decide the case, we will not discuss the potentially privileged information.

On January 24, 2008, Kmart defense counsel wrote to Footstar formally requesting defense and indemnification for *927 the first time. Footstar forwarded the request to Liberty Mutual on January 30, and Patrick amended her complaint two days later to include Footstar as a defendant. Liberty Mutual wrote Kmart refusing to defend or indemnify, stating: “Foot-star is not responsible for the referenced claim as it is not a product liability incident.” Kmart settled with Patrick eight months later for $300,000 and $10,000 in Kmart gift cards.

Kmart then filed a complaint in this action originally against Footstar only, but then added Liberty Mutual, alleging both owed Kmart a duty of defense and indemnification for the Patrick suit. The magistrate judge entered partial summary on Kmart’s breach of contract and declaratory judgment counts, finding both defendants owed a duty to defend, but only as of January 24, 2008, when Kmart first requested defense. The court found Liberty Mutual and Footstar also had a duty to indemnify but only for Footstar’s relative fault, which a jury apportioned at 15%. The court also found Liberty Mutual did not act in bad faith by denying coverage and Kmart did not breach the notice provisions of the Policy and Master Agreement. Kmart appealed naming only Liberty Mutual as an Appellee, while Liberty Mutual and Footstar cross-appealed.

II. ANALYSIS

The issues on appeal are whether: (1) Footstar and/or Liberty Mutual had a duty to indemnify Kmart; (2) Liberty Mutual and/or Footstar had a duty to defend Kmart and, if so, when that duty began; (3) Liberty Mutual acted in bad'faith by denying coverage; (4) Kmart breached the notice provisions of the Policy and Master Agreement; and (5) the court erred in denying Kmart’s motion for prejudgment interest.

We review the magistrate judge’s grant of summary judgment de novo. Doe v. Archdiocese of Milwaukee, 772 F.3d 437, 440 (7th Cir.2014). Our review is under New Jersey law for the Policy and Illinois law for the Master Agreement since they both had forum selection clauses. We will give effect to the choice of law clauses so long as that law respects such clauses, which both parties argue (and we find) Illinois and New Jersey do. Jackson v. Payday Fin., LLC,

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Kmart Corporation v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance, 777 F.3d 923, 2015 WL 448633, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 1775 (7th Cir. 2015).

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