Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. PAUL FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY

842 N.E.2d 170, 363 Ill. App. 3d 335, 299 Ill. Dec. 431, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 1270
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 20, 2005
Docket1-02-1021
StatusPublished
Cited by53 cases

This text of 842 N.E.2d 170 (Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. PAUL FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. PAUL FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY, 842 N.E.2d 170, 363 Ill. App. 3d 335, 299 Ill. Dec. 431, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 1270 (Ill. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

JUSTICE HALL

delivered the opinion of the court:

This appeal arises out of an elevator accident occurring on November 15, 1996, which generated a number of underlying personal injury lawsuits. 1 The appeal involves a dispute between two insurance companies, St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company (St. Paul) and Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company (Liberty), concerning whether Liberty was obligated to defend and indemnify its insured, the Central Illinois Public Service Company (CIPS), in the underlying lawsuits. CIPS and the Dover Elevator Company (Dover) were named as defendants in the underlying lawsuits.

The record shows that prior to the accident, CIPS and Dover entered into two separate service contracts under which Dover agreed to modernize and then upgrade two elevators located in a power generating facility owned and operated by CIPS in Newton, Illinois. The parties entered into the first service contract on March 18, 1994, and the second on February 12, 1996.

As required by the service contracts, Dover obtained an owners and contractors protective liability insurance (OCP) policy naming CIPS as an insured. The service contracts also required Dover to maintain a commercial general liability (CGL) policy on its own behalf. Liberty issued both policies to Dover.

On May 16, 2000, Liberty filed a declaratory judgment action seeking a determination that under the OCP and CGL policies it issued to Dover, it did not have a duty to defend or indemnify CIPS in the underlying lawsuits. The underlying lawsuits were scheduled for trial on October 16, 2000, but just prior to trial, they were settled. St. Paul contributed its $5 million policy limit on behalf of CIPS. Liberty contributed $5 million to the settlement on behalf of Dover, but nothing on behalf of CIPS.

After the underlying plaintiffs were dismissed from the litigation, trial commenced solely for the purpose of allocating liability between CIPS and Dover. On October 26, 2000, the trial court dismissed CIPS’s indemnity claim against Dover, as well as all other contractual claims between the parties, leaving only the contribution claims to be tried.

On November 3, 2000, a jury assessed 95% liability to CIPS and 5% liability to Dover. The trial court later modified that finding on posttrial motions, decreasing CIPS’s fault to 87.5% and increasing Dover’s fault to 12.5%. The parties subsequently accepted the reallocation.

On December 11, 2000, St. Paul filed an amended counterclaim for a declaratory judgment requesting the trial court to declare that Liberty did have a duty to defend and indemnify CIPS in the underlying lawsuits. St. Paul sought reimbursement for settlement costs and expenses it incurred in defending CIPS in the underlying lawsuits. St. Paul argued that Liberty was estopped from contesting its duty to defend and indemnify CIPS, due to its failure to either defend the underlying lawsuits under a reservation of rights or file a timely declaratory judgment action concerning its obligation to defend.

On cross-motions for summary judgment on the parties’ respective requests for declaratory judgment, the trial court ruled in favor of Liberty and against St. Paul, finding and declaring in separate memorandum opinions that Liberty had no duty to defend CIPS under its OCP or CGL policy. After the trial court denied its motion for reconsideration, St. Paul filed a timely notice of appeal on April 3, 2002.

Because of its ruling on the duty to defend issue, the trial court did not reach the duty to indemnify issue. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

ANALYSIS

Since this is an appeal from a summary judgment, our review of the trial court’s order granting summary judgment is de novo. Sears Roebuck & Co. v. Acceptance Insurance Co., 342 Ill. App. 3d 167, 171, 793 N.E.2d 736 (2003). “The construction of an insurance policy and a determination of the rights and obligations thereunder are questions of law for the court and appropriate subjects for disposition by summary judgment.” Konami (America), Inc. v. Hartford Insurance Co. of Illinois, 326 Ill. App. 3d 874, 877, 761 N.E.2d 1277 (2002).

Summary judgment is appropriate where the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with any affidavits and exhibits, when viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, indicate that there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. 735 ILCS 5/2 — 1005(c) (West 2000); Bier v. Leanna Lakeside Property Ass'n, 305 Ill. App. 3d 45, 50, 711 N.E.2d 773 (1999). As in this case, where the parties file cross-motions for summary judgment, they invite the court to decide the issues presented as a matter of law. Lexmark International, Inc. v. Transportation Insurance Co., 327 Ill. App. 3d 128, 134, 761 N.E.2d 1214 (2001).

St. Paul first contends that the trial court erred in finding that the allegations in the underlying complaints fell within the “completed operations” exclusion set forth in the OCP policy. We disagree.

The underlying lawsuits generally alleged that CIPS was negligent by failing to properly maintain and require proper maintenance of the elevator to prevent its falling from the fifteenth floor to the ground floor; by permitting use of the elevator when it knew or should have known of the unsafe conditions of the elevator; and by failing to adequately provide markings on the elevators for their proper use. A review of the record shows that these allegations fell within the “completed operations” exclusion contained in the OCP policy.

The OCP policy contains the following exclusion commonly referred to as the “completed operations” exclusion:

“This insurance does not apply to:
(c) ‘Bodily injury’ or ‘property damage’ which occurs after the earliest of the following times:
(1) When all ‘work’ on the project (other than service, maintenance or repairs) to be performed for you by the ‘contractor’ at the site of the covered operations has been completed; or
(2) When that portion of the ‘contractor’s’ ‘work’, out of which the injury or damage arises, has been put to its intended use by any person or organization.”

Under the “completed operations” exclusion, a contract or operation is generally deemed completed when the work contracted for or undertaken has been finished and put to its intended use. See 9A Couch on Insurance § 129:15 (3d ed. rev. 1997); see also A.

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Bluebook (online)
842 N.E.2d 170, 363 Ill. App. 3d 335, 299 Ill. Dec. 431, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 1270, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/liberty-mutual-fire-insurance-company-v-paul-fire-and-marine-insurance-illappct-2005.