National Union Fire Insurance v. Coinstar, Inc.

39 F. Supp. 3d 1149, 2014 WL 3891275, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109338
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedAugust 7, 2014
DocketCase No. C13-1014-JCC
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 39 F. Supp. 3d 1149 (National Union Fire Insurance v. Coinstar, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Union Fire Insurance v. Coinstar, Inc., 39 F. Supp. 3d 1149, 2014 WL 3891275, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109338 (W.D. Wash. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER

JOHN C. COUGHENOUR, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment. (Dkt. No. 37.) Having thoroughly considered the parties’ briefing and the relevant record, the Court finds oral argument unnecessary and hereby GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART the motion for the reasons explained herein.

I. BACKGROUND

This is a declaratory judgment action in which Plaintiff National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA (“National Union”) originally sought a declaration that it had no duty to defend or indemnify Defendant Redbox Automated Retail, LLC [1153]*1153(“Redbox”) for the class action lawsuit captioned Sterk v. Redbox Automated Retail, LLC, Case No. C11-1729 (N.D.Ill.2011). Defendants asserted several counterclaims against National Union, seeking a declaration that National Union had a duty to defend or indemnify Redbox in several additional lawsuits, captioned Cain v. Redbox Automated Retail, LLC, Case No. C12-15014 (E.D.Mich.2012), Mehrens v. Redbox Automated Retail, LLC, Case No. Cll-2936 (C.D.Cal.2011),1 and Holt v. Redbox Automated Retail, LLC, Case No. C11-3046 (S.D.Cal.2011).2 (Dkt. No. 15.)

Redbox is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Defendant Coinstar, Inc.3 (“Coinstar”), which is listed as the insured in multiple Commercial General Liability Insurance Policies issued by National Union. Red-box operates self-service kiosks from which customers can rent movies on DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Redbox tendered claims to National Union for each of the underlying lawsuits. National Union agreed to defend them subject to a reservation of rights. However, Redbox argues that National Union has not been involved in good faith efforts to defend the lawsuits under its reservations of rights, and that it wrongfully decided to limit the amount it would spend on attorneys working to defend the lawsuits.

On February 28, 2014, the Court granted partial summary judgment to National Union on National Union’s original claim, relating to whether National Union had a duty to defend Redbox in the Sterk lawsuit. The remaining issues include whether National Union is obligated to defend Redbox in the Cain and Mehrens suits, and whether National Union improperly limited the amount it would pay the attorneys defending Redbox in any of the underlying suits.

1. The Policies

National Union issued two Commercial General Liability Insurance policies to Coinstar, Inc., which owns Redbox. Policy No. 457-30-37 was in effect from September 1, 2009 to September 1, 2010. (Dkt. No. 20, Ex. B.) Policy No. 457-32-92 was in effect from September 1, 2010 to September 1, 2011. (Dkt. No. 20, Ex. C.) Both policies provide coverage for “personal injury and advertising injury” liability under the Coverage B Agreements. (Dkt. No. 20, Ex. B at NU 028; Ex. C at NU 104.) As relevant to the instant dispute, the policies provide the following definition:

14. “Personal injury and advertising injury” means injury, including consequential “bodily injury”, humiliation, mental anguish or shock, arising out of one or more of the following offenses:
[•••]
e. Oral or written publication, in any manner, of material that violates a person’s right of privacy.

[1154]*1154(Dkt. No. 20, Ex. B. at NU 036; Ex. C at NU112.) The policies also contain numerous exclusions applicable to Coverage B. Specifically relevant is Exclusion (p), which provides as follows:

Exclusion—Violation of Statutes in Connection with Sending, Transmitting, or Communicating Any Material Or Information
This insurance does not apply to. any loss, injury, damage, claim, suit, cost or expense arising out of or resulting from, caused directly or indirectly, in whole or in part by, any act that violates any statute, ordinance or regulation of any federal, state or local government, including any amendment of or addition to such laws, that addresses or applies to the sending, transmitting or communicating of any material or information, by any means whatsoever.

(Dkt. No. 20, Ex. B. at NU 084; Ex. C at NU 160.)

The Court found that, in Sterk, the plaintiffs’ claim that Redbox violated the Video Protection Privacy Act (“VPPA”) by disclosing personally identifiable information about its customers, see Lane v. Facebook, Inc., 696 F.3d 811, 822 (9th Cir.2012), was one that arose out of an act that violates a statute addressing the sending, transmitting or communicating of any material or information. The Court found that National Union was not obligated to defend Redbox in that suit. (See Dkt. No. 25.)

2.The Cain Lawsuit

The Cain lawsuit is a class action lawsuit asserting violations of Michigan’s Video Rental Privacy Act, which generally forbids “entities engaged in the business of selling at retail, renting, or lending books or other written materials, sound recordings, or video recordings” from “disclosing] to any person, other than the customer, a record or information concerning the purchase, lease, rental, or borrowing of those materials by a customer that indicates the identity of the customer.” Mich. Comp. Laws § 445.1712. There are five narrow exceptions to that law. Mich. Comp. Laws. § 445.1713. The plaintiffs in that case alleged that Redbox violated the statute by sending customer information to third parties, gathered when a customer rents a movie, without the customer’s consent. (Dkt. No. 39, Ex. 1 at 10-13.)

3. The Mehrens Lawsuit

The Mehrens lawsuit is a class action lawsuit asserting violations of California’s Song-Beverly Credit Card Act, codified at Cal. Civ.Code § 1747.08, which forbids entities that accept credit cards for the transaction of business from requesting or requiring the cardholder to write, or provide to the entity to write, any personal identification information on a credit card transaction form. Cal. Civ.Code § 1747.08(a)(l)-(2). It similarly bars the use of a credit card form that contains preprinted spaces designated for filling in any personal identification information of the cardholder. Cal. Civ.Code § 1747.08(a)(3). There are specific exceptions to those requirements. Cal. Civ. Code § 1747.08(c). “Personal identification information” is information concerning the cardholder, other than information set forth on the credit card. Cal. Civ.Code § 1747.08(b). In Mehrens, the plaintiffs argued that when Redbox requested a customer’s billing zip code and/or email, it violated of Cal.

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39 F. Supp. 3d 1149, 2014 WL 3891275, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-union-fire-insurance-v-coinstar-inc-wawd-2014.