New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority v. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

2007 NMCA 142, 170 P.3d 998, 142 N.M. 760
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 20, 2007
DocketNo. 26,251
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2007 NMCA 142 (New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority v. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority v. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., 2007 NMCA 142, 170 P.3d 998, 142 N.M. 760 (N.M. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

VIGIL, Judge.

{1} Plaintiff, New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority (the Authority), appeals the district court’s order dismissing its claim against Defendants Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (U.K.) Limited, and International Special Risk Services, Inc. (collectively, Gallagher). The district court determined that the Authority’s complaint stated a claim for professional negligence that was barred by the statute of limitations. The Authority argues that it stated a claim for indemnification that was not barred by the statute of limitations. We hold that the Authority’s claim is one for professional negligence not for indemnification. We therefore affirm the district court.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

{2} The Authority is a state agency that provides risk insurance to public schools pursuant to the Public School Insurance Authority Act (the Act), NMSA 1978, §§ 22-29-1 to -11 (1986, as amended through 2005). From 1986 to 1991, the Authority provided insurance coverage to Moriarty Municipal Schools (Moriarty), including coverage for embezzlement loss. The Authority performs a dual role in providing insurance for school districts. It acts as an insurer, covering losses up to a certain amount through a self-insured risk retention. Additionally, under the Act, the Authority is authorized to negotiate and obtain insurance policies from private insurers to provide additional benefits to school districts beyond that provided by the Authority’s self-insured retention. See § 22-29-7(E). The insurance provided by the Authority to Moriarty during this period was two-tiered, with the Authority responsible for a first layer of self-insured retained coverage, and a layer of excess coverage provided by policies issued by private insurers. See id. The Authority hired Gallagher to draft policies to provide the second-tier coverage to Moriarty from 1986 to 1991. These policies were underwritten by Lloyd’s of London (London policies). Pursuant to its regulations, the extent of the Authority’s self-insured retention was determined by the terms of the second-tier policies in effect at that time. See Moriarty Mun. Sch. v. Pub. Sch. Ins. Auth., 2001-NMCA-096, ¶7, 131 N.M. 180, 34 P.3d 124.

{3} In 1994, Moriarty discovered that one of its employees had embezzled $610,452.99 from the district over a period of years from 1986 to 1994, and made claims against its insurers. The Authority paid Moriarty $250,000 from its self-insured retention under the terms of policies in effect from 1991 to 1994. However, the Authority refused to cover any crime losses that occurred between 1986 and 1991, when the London policies were in effect. The Authority’s position was that it was not responsible under its self-insured retention because the second-tier London policies in effect at the time did not cover crime losses for claims made more than twelve months after the last London policy terminated. Since Moriarty made no claims during the years that the London policies provided second-tier coverage, the Authority’s self-insured retention did not cover the losses for 1986 to 1991.

{4} In 1996, Moriarty sued the Authority seeking reimbursement under the Authority’s self-insured retention for the losses suffered from 1986 to 1991, when the London policies were in effect, and the parties ultimately submitted the case to arbitration. The arbitrator determined that Moriarty was entitled to reimbursement from the Authority for crime losses suffered from 1986 to 1991. The arbitrator found that the Authority was a co-insurer for the London policies, and was therefore responsible for the portion of the claims covered by the self-insured retention. The arbitrator also determined that the amounts sought per policy were within the limits of the self-insured retention, and the Authority was solely responsible for payment under its self-insured retention coverage. Gallagher was not a party to the litigation or to the arbitration.

{5} The arbitration decision was issued on February 20, 2004. In January 2005, the Authority sued Gallagher seeking the amount it was required to pay to Moriarty, alleging that Gallagher negligently drafted the London policies in violation of its professional duty, and that the Authority suffered the adverse arbitration judgment as a result. Gallagher moved to dismiss under Rule 1-012(B)(6) NMRA arguing that this was a cause of action for professional negligence that was barred by the statute of limitations. The district court granted Gallagher’s motion to dismiss, but granted the Authority leave to file an amended complaint.

{6} In its amended complaint, the Authority labeled its claim as one for indemnification based upon Gallagher’s creation and sale of a defective insurance policy. The Authority alleged that it suffered the adverse arbitration decision as a result of defects in the insurance policies drafted and sold by Gallagher. The Authority alleged that it had agreed with Gallagher that the policies would be drafted to protect the Authority from any obligation to pay for crime losses discovered more than twelve months after the last London policy terminated. The Authority alleged that, despite Gallagher’s knowledge of the Authority’s expectations for the policy, Gallagher included a carelessly drafted addendum with the policy that was construed by the arbitrator to subject the Authority to additional payments under its self-insured retention. The Authority alleged that as a result of Gallagher’s failure to provide the insurance that it promised the Authority, Gallagher was required to indemnify the Authority for the payments made to Moriarty.

{7} Gallagher again moved to dismiss under Rule 1-012(B)(6), arguing that the amended complaint failed to state a claim under any theory of indemnification recognized in New Mexico and asserting that the Authority’s claim remained in essence a claim for professional negligence. The Authority argued that its cause of action was not for professional negligence but for indemnification, and that the cause of action was within the statute of limitations. The district court ruled that the Authority’s amended complaint stated a cause of action for professional negligence that was barred on its face by the statute of limitations, and dismissed. The Authority appeals.

II. DISCUSSION

{8} On appeal, the Authority does not disagree that under the test stated in Sharts v. Natelson, 118 N.M. 721, 724, 885 P.2d 642, 645 (1994), and Wiste v. Neff & Co., 1998-NMCA-165, ¶8, 126 N.M. 232, 967 P.2d 1172, its claim against Gallagher accrued in 1996. Nor does the Authority argue that Sharts and Wiste do not apply to determine when a claim for professional negligence accrues. Rather, the Authority argues that Sharts and Wiste are not applicable in this case because its claim against Gallagher is for indemnification, not for professional negligence. The Authority further argues that a cause of action for indemnification does not accrue until the indemnitee’s liability to a third party is fixed and determined, in this case in 2004, when the Authority received the adverse arbitration decision in the Moriarty lawsuit and paid the judgment. Accordingly, the Authority argues that its claim against Gallagher is not barred by the four-year statute of limitations. See NMSA 1978, § 37-1-4 (1880).

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2007 NMCA 142, 170 P.3d 998, 142 N.M. 760, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-mexico-public-schools-insurance-authority-v-arthur-j-gallagher-co-nmctapp-2007.