Mid-Continent Casualty Company v. John Strickling

451 F. App'x 335
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedOctober 11, 2011
Docket10-20726
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 451 F. App'x 335 (Mid-Continent Casualty Company v. John Strickling) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mid-Continent Casualty Company v. John Strickling, 451 F. App'x 335 (5th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

PER CURIAM: *

This is an insurance coverage dispute stemming from restoration work performed by Plaintiff-Appellee Mid-Continent Casualty Company’s (“Mid-Continent”) insured, non-party John Ashley Strickling, after a fire at Defendant-Appellant Leigh Anne Brock’s Texas home. Brock appeals the district court’s declaratory judgment that Mid-Continent had no duty to indemnify Strickling for a judgment obtained by Brock in an underlying Texas state court lawsuit. Based solely upon the jury’s findings in the underlying lawsuit, the district court held that Strick-ling’s conduct was intentional and that the damages suffered by Brock did not arise from an “occurrence” as defined by the policy, thereby precluding any duty to indemnify. We disagree and REVERSE *337 and REMAND this case for further proceedings.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

The determined facts are remarkably simple. Brock’s home was significantly damaged in a fire. Strickling, the owner of Restoration Services of Houston and Fire Restoration Services of Houston, approached Brock and offered to restore and remediate her home, and a deal was reached. The job went poorly. Brock brought suit against Strickling in Texas state court, 1 alleging causes of action sounding in negligence, breach of contract, conversion and unjust enrichment, and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act (the “DTPA”). 2 The jury rendered a verdict in favor of Brock.

Specifically, the jury answered the following relevant questions affirmatively:

(1) Did John Ashley Strickling engage in any false, misleading, or deceptive act or practice that Leigh Anne Brock relied on to her detriment and that was a “producing cause” of damages to Leigh Anne Brock?
(2) Did John Ashley Strickling engage in any unconscionable action or course of action that was a producing cause of damages to Leigh Anne Brock?
(4) Did John Ashley Strickling engage in any such conduct knowingly and/or intentionally?

The commercial general liability policy issued by Mid-Continent to Strickling covers damages that Strickling is legally obligated to pay for “bodily injury” or “property damage” caused by an “occurrence.” As defined in the policy, “ ‘[occurrence’ means an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions.” Before the state court entered final judgment in the underlying lawsuit, Mid-Continent filed this lawsuit in federal court, seeking a declaratory judgment that it did not have a duty to indemnify Strickling for damages awarded in the underlying lawsuit. Mid-Continent moved for summary judgment, arguing that the verdict in the underlying lawsuit established that the damages did not arise out of an “occurrence,” thus precluding any duty to indemnify. The district court referred Mid-Continent’s motion to a magistrate judge for resolution. The magistrate judge issued a report and recommendation (“R & R”) recommending that Mid-Continent’s motion be granted. After reviewing Brock’s objections, the district court accepted the R & R and entered final judgment in favor of Mid-Continent. Brock timely appealed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

“The grant or denial of a motion for summary judgment is reviewed de novo.” Smith v. Am. Family Life Assurance Co. of Columbus, 584 F.3d 212, 215 (5th Cir.2009). Summary judgment is proper only if there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.CivP. 56(a). We review all evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.

DISCUSSION

The parties agree that Texas law governs this dispute. “In Texas, the insured carries the burden to establish the insurer’s duty to indemnify by presenting facts sufficient to demonstrate coverage.” Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa. v. *338 Puget Plastics Corp., 532 F.3d 398, 401 (5th Cir.2008) (citations omitted). Under the Mid-Continent policy, Strickling is entitled to indemnification for damages that he becomes legally obligated to pay because of “property damage” or “bodily injury” that is “caused by an occurrence.” Strickling is legally obligated to pay Brock the sums awarded in the underlying lawsuit. The district court ruled that the jury findings in the Texas state court case compel the conclusion that the damage to Brock’s house was not “caused by an occurrence.” We disagree.

The Mid-Continent policy defines the term “occurrence” as “an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to conditions, which results in Bodily Injury or Property Damage neither expected nor intended from the standpoint of the Insured.” “In other words, an insured’s conduct is an occurrence if it: (1) qualifies as an accident and (2) results in harm that the insured did not expect or intend.” Puget Plastics Corp., 532 F.3d at 401-02. Like most commercial general liability policies, the Mid-Continent policy does not define the term “accident.” 9A Couch On Insurance § 129:3 (3d ed. 2010). Therefore, we must interpret it in accordance with its “generally accepted or commonly understood meaning.” See Lamar Homes, Inc. v. Mid-Continent Cas. Co., 242 S.W.3d 1, 8 (Tex.2007). In Texas, deliberate acts may constitute an accident unless: (1) the resulting damage was “highly probable” because it was “the natural and expected result of the insured’s actions”; or (2) “the insured intended the injury.” See id. at 8-9. Intent is presumed in cases of intentional tort. Id.

The focus of the inquiry as to the intent or expectation of the insured is whether the harm was intended or expected, not whether the conduct itself was intended or expected. Texas courts have rejected the notion that “if an actor intended to engage in the conduct that gave rise to the injury, there can be no ‘accident.’ ” Trinity Universal Ins. Co. v. Cowan, 945 S.W.2d 819, 828 (Tex.1997) (noting that “this construction of the term ‘accident’ would render surplusage the intentional injury exclusion of many insurance policies”).

“The determination of whether an insured’s faulty workmanship was intended or accidental is dependent on the facts and circumstances of the particular case.” Lamar Homes, 242 S.W.3d at 9. Cognizant that “[t]he underlying case often does not resolve all the factual issues necessary to determine coverage because issues relevant to the question of coverage can be irrelevant to the question of the insured’s liability,” Puget Plastics, 532 F.3d at 404, we turn to the adjudicated facts of the underlying lawsuit. Parroting the Lamar Homes

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Related

National Union Fire Insurance v. Puget Plastics Corp.
454 F. App'x 291 (Fifth Circuit, 2011)

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Bluebook (online)
451 F. App'x 335, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mid-continent-casualty-company-v-john-strickling-ca5-2011.