Lafarge North America, Inc. v. K.E.C.I. Colorado, Inc.

250 P.3d 682, 2010 Colo. App. LEXIS 275, 2010 WL 726052
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 4, 2010
Docket09CA0460
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 250 P.3d 682 (Lafarge North America, Inc. v. K.E.C.I. Colorado, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lafarge North America, Inc. v. K.E.C.I. Colorado, Inc., 250 P.3d 682, 2010 Colo. App. LEXIS 275, 2010 WL 726052 (Colo. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge J. JONES.

Defendant, K.E.C.I. Colorado, Inc., appeals the district court's summary judgment ruling that it breached contractual obligations to defend, indemnify, and insure plaintiff, Lafarge North America, Inc. We conclude that (1) K.E.C.I. breached the duty to defend but that it is premature to assess *684 damages for that breach; (2) Lafarge is not entitled to summary judgment on its indemnification claim; and (8) the district court incorrectly construed K.E.C.I's duty to insure Lafarge. Therefore, we affirm the judgment in part, reverse it in part, and remand the case for further proceedings.

I. Background

Lafarge was the general contractor for a highway construction project administered by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). K.E.C.I. provided traffic control services pursuant to a subcontract with Lafarge.

Late one night, a motorcyclist drove onto a highway entrance ramp and collided with a piece of road construction equipment that a Lafarge employee had parked in the only traffic lane of the ramp. The motorcyclist died in the accident; his wife, who was a passenger on the motoreyele, was seriously injured.

The injured wife sued Lafarge, the La-farge employee who had parked the equipment on the ramp, and K.BE.C.I. for negli-genee. Lafarge demanded that K.E.C.L provide it a defense and indemnify it for any liability it might have, invoking certain provisions of the subcontract and K.E.C.L.'s insurance policy, on which Lafarge was an additional named insured. KE.C.I. and the insurer refused Lafarge's demands, essentially for the reasons that (1) K.E.C.I. was not even partially at fault and its duties to defend and indemnify Lafarge apply only if KE.C.I. was at least partially at fault; and (2) because the insurance policy was only an "excess" coverage policy, (a) there is no duty to defend under the policy, and (b) there is no coverage under the policy to pay Lafarge because Lafarge had not incurred any liability in excess of that covered by its own insurance policy. Lafarge settled the claims against it by paying $700,000 to the injured wife in return for a release.

Lafarge brought this case against K.E.C.L. and two of K.E.C.L.'s insurers. Its amended complaint asserted claims for breach of contract, fraud, and violation of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act. In essence, La-farge alleged that (1) K.E.C.I. is contractually obligated to indemnify Lafarge for liability arising from Lafarge's own negligence so long as the liability arose in part from KE.C.L's acts or omissions, which it did here; (2) the complaint in the personal injury case triggered K.E.C.I.'s contractual duty to defend Lafarge because it alleged that K.E.C.IL. was at least partially at fault for the accident; and (8) the subcontract obligates KE.C.I. to provide Lafarge with "primary," not merely "exeess" insurance coverage.

The parties agreed to litigate the case in two phases, with the first phase limited to resolving the issues pertaining to interpretation of the indemnity and insurance provisions of the subcontract. After the parties completed discovery on those issues, they filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The district court granted Lafarge's motion and denied K.E.C.I.'s. As relevant here, the court ruled as follows:

ethe subcontract unambiguously requires KE.C.I. to indemnify Lafarge for La-farge's negligence if K.E.C.L. was at least partially at fault;
e K.E.C.I. had breached the indemnity obligation;
e the subcontract unambiguously requires K.E.C.I. to defend Lafarge if a claim which could trigger K.E.C.L's obligation to indemnify Lafarge was asserted against Lafarge;
e K.E.C.I. had breached the duty to defend because the complaint in the personal injury case alleged that both La-farge and K.E.C.1I. were at fault;
ethe subcontract unambiguously requires K.E.C.I. to provide Lafarge with primary insurance coverage;
e K.E.C.I. had breached the duty to provide primary insurance; and
eKE.CI. is liable to Lafarge for La-farge's cost of defense and the amount Lafarge paid to settle the personal injury case.

K.E.C.I. moved for reconsideration. It asserted that the court had misinterpreted the subcontract and had erred by finding it liable for indemnity when there had been no factual determination that it was even partially at fault fqr the accident. In denying K.E.C.L's *685 motion, the court again rejected K.E.C.I's arguments concerning interpretation of the subcontract and found (for the first time) that K.BE.C.I. had waived its right to contest its liability for indemnification by breaching its duty to defend.

The district court certified its summary judgment as final,. KE.C.I. appeals.

II. Discussion

K.E.C.I. raises the following contentions on appeal:

(1) The district court erred in granting summary judgment in Lafarge's favor on the duty to indemnify because
(a) the indemnification clause unambiguously provides that K.E.C.I. is liable only for its own negligence,
(b) the clause is at least ambiguous on that score, and
(c) it may challenge its alleged duty to indemnify Lafarge even if it breached its duty to defend.
(2) The court erred in finding that it had breached the duty to indemnify because the issue of breach was not before the court and no fact finder has found that it was at least partially at fault.
(3) The court erred in finding that KE.C.I has a duty to defend because, again, it is liable only for its own negligence; therefore, it only has a duty to defend Lafarge where Lafarge is alleged to be vicariously liable for K.E.C.I.'s acts, and no such liability was alleged in the personal injury case.
(4) The court erred in construing the insurance clause to require K.E.C.I. to provide Lafarge with primary insurance coverage because
(a) the clause does not contain any language imposing such a requirement, or
(b) the clause is ambiguous, and that ambiguity should he resolved against La-farge under the relevant extrinsic evidence.
(5) The court erred in determining that K.E.C.I. had breached the contractual duty to insure because the issue of breach was not before the court.

We address these contentions in turn.

A. Standard of Review

We review a district court's entry of summary judgment de novo. A.C. Excavating v. Yacht Club II Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., 114 P.3d 862, 865 (Colo.2005). The construction of a contract (including the question whether the contract is ambiguous) is a question of law, which we also review de novo. East Ridge of Fort Collins, LLC v. Larimer & Weld Irrigation Co., 109 P.3d 969, 974 (Colo.2005); Boulder Plaza Residential, LLC v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
250 P.3d 682, 2010 Colo. App. LEXIS 275, 2010 WL 726052, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lafarge-north-america-inc-v-keci-colorado-inc-coloctapp-2010.