Mandina, Inc. v. O'Brien

156 So. 3d 99, 2013 WL 3945030
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 31, 2013
DocketNo. 2013-CA-0085
StatusPublished
Cited by61 cases

This text of 156 So. 3d 99 (Mandina, Inc. v. O'Brien) 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
Mandina, Inc. v. O'Brien, 156 So. 3d 99, 2013 WL 3945030 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

ROSEMARY LEDET, Judge.

| iThis is a Hurricane Katrina-related suit by an insured against its insurance agent and his agency for negligence. The insured contends that the agent mislead it to believe that the business interruption/extra expense (“BI/EE”) coverage it purchased covered flood-related business interruption losses. Initially, the trial court granted the motion for summary judgment filed by the defendants — the agent, John O’Brien, and his agency, Powell Insurance Agency (“Powell”). Subsequently, the trial court granted the motion for new trial filed by the plaintiff — Mandi-na’s Inc., doing business as Mandina’s Restaurant (“Mandina’s”). The trial court vacated its prior judgment (in which it had granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment) and denied the defendants’ motion for summary judgment. At the parties’ request, the trial court certified its interlocutory judgments granting the motion for new trial and denying Powell’s motion for summary judgment as final judgments for purposes of immediate appeal under La. C.C.P. art. 1915.

|2For the reasons that follow, we convert the defendants’ appeal to an application for supervisory writ, grant their writ, and reverse the trial court’s judgments.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Mandina’s owns and operates a popular restaurant on Canal Street in New Orleans. For over a decade before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the New Orleans area (August 29, 2005), Mandina’s obtained insurance for its restaurant and related commercial properties (its warehouse and office) from Powell. Powell provided Mandina’s with both a fire/windstorm policy and a flood policy. The flood policy was provided through the National Flood Insurance Program (“NFIP”) and never included BI/EE coverage. Mandi-na’s added BI/EE coverage to its fire/windstorm policy several years before the hurricane; however, this policy always excluded coverage for flood-related losses.

On an annual basis, Mr. O’Brien met with Mandina’s owner, Tommy Mandina, to discuss and renew the policies. At these annual meetings, Mr. O’Brien presented Mandina’s with a written proposal. Five days before the hurricane (August 24, 2005), Mr. O’Brien conducted the annual meeting with Mr. Mandina. At that meeting, Mr. O’Brien recommended that Man-dina’s increase its existing BI/EE coverage under its fire/windstorm policy from $400,000 to $500,000. Mr. Mandina ac[101]*101cepted the recommendation. Besides increasing the limits of the existing BI/EE coverage, only minor coverage changes were made. Mandina’s did not receive a copy of the 2005-06 renewal policies until after the hurricane.

|sAs a result of the hurricane, Mandina’s sustained significant flood and windstorm damages, which resulted in a substantial business interruption loss. According to Mandina’s, it first learned that it lacked BI/EE coverage for its flood-related business interruption loss when it reported its loss to its insurer. This suit followed.

In its petition, Mandina’s alleged that Powell and Mr. O’Brien held themselves out as experts in the insurance field and that it employed them in reliance on their expertise to recommend and secure proper and appropriate insurance coverage, including business interruption insurance in the maximum amount legally permitted. Mandina’s further alleged that it was advised by Powell, through Mr. O’Brien, that it was purchasing the maximum amounts and coverage of insurance available on its properties, including business interruption insurance, and that it was not advised that the policies would not provide any coverage for flood-related business interruption. Nor was it advised that an additional policy of insurance could have been purchased that would have provided coverage for flood-related business interruption. Man-dina’s still further alleged that it reasonably believed that in the event of any significant loss to its properties resulting in a business interruption loss, the insurance policies it purchased from Powell would provide coverage for its business interruption claim. Based on these allegations, Mandina’s averred that the defendants breached their legal and fiduciary duty to accurately and completely explain and disclose the insurance coverage available to Mandina’s, including business interruption coverage, and to insure that the coverage purchased by Mandina’s provided the types and amounts of coverage sought by Mandina’s, including for flood-related business interruption loss.

I/The defendants moved for summary judgment on the basis that Mandina’s could not satisfy its evidentiary burden to establish that they breached any duty. In support, they offered Mr. O’Brien’s affidavit and Mr. Mandina’s deposition, which they contended established the following undisputed facts:

• John O’Brien (Powell) sold Mandina’s Restaurant commercial insurance for at least a decade before Hurricane Katrina struck the New Orleans area.
• For at least several years prior to Hurricane Katrina, Mandina’s windstorm/fire policies included business interruption and extra expense coverage (“BI/EE”).
• A reading of Mandina’s past policies explains that BI/EE applies only if the BI/EE loss is a result of a covered loss. Flood has always been specifically excluded as not being a covered loss.
• Tommy Mandina testified as the corporate representative for Mandina’s Restaurant that he knew that he had no BI/EE coverage under Mandina’s flood policy.
• Tommy Mandina testified that he knew that Mandina’s fire/windstorm policy excluded flood coverage.
• Mandina’s contention is that it was buying BI/EE coverage for a “catastrophic loss,” and Tommy Mandina thought that would include BI/EE coverage for flood.
• Tommy Mandina testified that he did not review Mandina’s insurance policies upon receipt to verify whether the BI/EE coverage included flood as a covered cause of loss.
[102]*102• Tommy Mandina admits that John O’Brien never told him that Mandina’s had BI/EE coverage in the event of a flood.
• Tommy Mandina never asked John O’Brien whether Mandina’s BI/EE coverage included flood as a covered cause of loss.
• Tommy Mandina never asked John O’Brien prior to Hurricane Katrina to obtain BI/EE coverage for Mandina’s which would include flood as a covered cause of loss.

Finding the Louisiana Supreme Court’s decision in Isidore Newman School v. J. Everett Eaves, Inc., 09-2161 (La.7/6/10), 42 So.3d 352, “on. point,” the trial |scourt granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment. In its written reasons for judgment, the trial court stated:

Defendant argues that in cases against agents for failure to give accurate advice as to the extent of coverage, liability only attaches when there is some specific question from the insured. Absent a specific question from the insured, the agent may presume that the insured understands that policy’s terms. Isidore Newman School v. J. Everett Eaves, Inc., 42 So.3d 352, 357 (La.2010). In the Newman case, the Supreme Court also said that that client is charged with the duty of reviewing an insurance policy to make sure his needs are met. Id.
It is telling that on page 359 of Newman, the Supreme Court specifically quotes from the annual Insurance Proposal rendered to Newman

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

Related

Christopher Smith v. Pipes Miles Beckman
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2025
Sunset Harbour, LLC v. Howard Anthony Brown
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2023
Choice Foundation v. Law Industries, LLC
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2022
Adler & Sons v. Axis Surplus Ins Co
49 F.4th 894 (Fifth Circuit, 2022)
Succession of Dorothy B. Nero .
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2022

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
156 So. 3d 99, 2013 WL 3945030, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mandina-inc-v-obrien-lactapp-2013.