Mascaro v. Fireman's Fund Insurance

611 F.2d 338
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedDecember 12, 1979
DocketNo. 78-1192
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 611 F.2d 338 (Mascaro v. Fireman's Fund Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mascaro v. Fireman's Fund Insurance, 611 F.2d 338 (10th Cir. 1979).

Opinion

McWILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.

This is the second time this case has been before us, and we recognize that quite possibly it is not the last time we will be asked to review this dispute between the Receiver for American Stock Transfer Company, a now defunct Utah corporation, and Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, a California corporation. The case concerns a blanket fidelity bond issued American Stock by Fireman’s Fund. The trial court granted the Fund’s motion for summary judgment and entered judgment dismissing the Receiver’s action. We reverse, in part, as we are convinced that the Receiver has not yet had his day in court.

The background facts in capsule form are: The Fund issued American Stock a blanket fidelity bond insuring against loss occasioned by any fraudulent acts of its employees; between October, 1972 and June, 1973, employees of American Stock fraudulently issued unauthorized shares of stock which belonged to Flying Diamond Oil Corporation, one of American Stock’s customers; Flying Diamond, whose stock had thus been fraudulently placed on the market, and sold, brought suit against American Stock and some time later obtained judgment against American Stock in the sum of $785,326.42; at a time when the Flying Diamond action against American Stock was pending, American Stock went into receivership, and the Receiver immediately commenced the present action against the Fund on the fidelity bond, seeking judgment in the sum of $500,000, the maximum amount recoverable under the terms of the policy.

As indicated, American Stock was placed into receivership by a Utah state court on June 4, 1975, when its corporate charter [339]*339was dissolved for failure to pay franchise taxes due the State of Utah. The next day the Receiver instituted the present action against the Fund pursuant to authority granted by the state court. The action was based on the fidelity bond issued American Stock by the Fund, which bond was admittedly in effect at the time of the fraudulent acts of American Stock’s employees. As a result of the fraudulent acts of American Stock’s employees, the Receiver alleged that American Stock had suffered a loss in two particulars: (1) loss of monetary income from certain customers who cancelled their stock transfer accounts with American Stock when the fraud became publicly known; (2) potential liability on the part of American Stock in the then pending action between it and Flying Diamond.

The Fund by answer denied liability on several grounds, including a failure to comply with the proof of loss provisions in the policy. Such provisions read as follows:

Section 7. Upon knowledge or discovery of loss under this Bond, the Insured shall: (a) give notice thereof as soon as practicable to the Underwriter or any of its authorized agents, and (b) file detailed proof of loss, duly sworn to, with the Underwriter within four months after the discovery of loss.
* * * No action shall lie against the Underwriter unless, as a condition precedent thereto, there shall have been full compliance with all the terms of this Bond, nor until ninety days after the required proofs of loss have been filed with the Underwriter, nor at all unless commenced within two years from the date when the Insured discovers the loss.

The Fund filed a motion for summary judgment based (1) on the failure to comply with the terms of the bond concerning proof of loss; (2) on the failure to start legal proceedings within two years from the discovery of the loss; and (3) on the ground that the “loss” claimed is not a loss of money or property within the meaning of the bond. The only evidentiary matters before the trial court at the hearing on the motion for summary judgment were some answers by the Fund to interrogatories of the Receiver, some documents produced by the Fund in response to Receiver’s motion to produce, and an affidavit of a Fund officer. After hearing, the trial court granted the Fund’s motion for summary judgment insofar as it related to the Receiver’s claim for loss of business. The basis for this particular holding was that inasmuch as no proof of loss had been filed prior to commencement of the present action, there was no compliance with the provisions of section 7 of the bond set forth above.

As concerns that part of the Receiver’s claim which was based on the potential liability of American Stock to Flying Diamond in the then pending action between those two parties, the trial court held that this particular claim was premature, since as of that time no judgment had been entered against American Stock in favor of Flying Diamond, and that any “loss” would not be incurred by American Stock until judgment was entered against it. The trial court dismissed this particular claim without prejudice.

Both the Receiver and the Fund filed timely motions to amend judgment. In his motion the Receiver alleged that two days after summary judgment was entered in the instant proceeding, a judgment was in fact entered in favor of Flying Diamond against American Stock in the sum of $785,-326.42, and that accordingly the “loss” to American Stock was no longer “contingent.” The motion to amend filed by the Fund was based on the belief that, notwithstanding the earlier ruling of the trial court, any “loss” to American Stock occurred when the fraud was discovered, and in no event later than June, 1973, and that accordingly there was a failure to comply with the proof of loss provisions of the policy not only as to the claim based on loss of business, but also as to the claim based on the liability of American Stock to Flying Diamond.

After hearing the trial court denied the Receiver’s motion to amend judgment and [340]*340granted the Fund’s motion. In thus holding, the trial court concluded that it had been in error in its earlier ruling that the date of loss would be the date that any judgment was entered against American Stock in favor of Flying Diamond. It concluded that the correct date of loss was the date when the fraud was discovered, which was some time in June, 1973. In so holding, the trial court relied on Mount Vernon Bank & Trust Co. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 224 F.Supp. 666 (E.D.Va.1963). Based, then, on a failure to comply with the proof of loss provisions of the insurance policy, the trial court entered summary judgment in favor of the Fund on the entire claim of the Receiver.

The Receiver appealed the summary judgment thus entered in favor of the Fund. On appeal, by order, we vacated the summary judgment and remanded the case to the trial court with directions to consider and determine whether the fact that American Stock had been placed in receivership had any effect, under Utah statutes, on the time period within which the Receiver could bring suit on the bond. On remand, with opposing counsel in apparent agreement, the trial court held that Utah statutes had no impact on the time period within which the Receiver could maintain an action on the fidelity bond, and re-entered summary judgment in favor of the Fund. The Receiver now appeals from this second summary judgment in favor of the Fund.

On appeal the Receiver does not really argue for reversal of the summary judgment entered in favor of the Fund on the Receiver’s claim based on an alleged loss of business. No doubt this is so because the “loss” which American Stock sustained because of the fraud perpetrated on Flying Diamond is far in excess of the policy limitation. The Receiver’s brief is directed to the “loss” suffered by American Stock as a result of the latter’s liability to Flying Diamond.

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Related

Mascaro v. Fireman's Fund Insurance Company
611 F.2d 338 (Tenth Circuit, 1979)

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Bluebook (online)
611 F.2d 338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mascaro-v-firemans-fund-insurance-ca10-1979.