Pekin Insurance Company v. Roszak/ADC

402 Ill. App. 3d 1055
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 25, 2010
Docket1-09-1709 Rel
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 402 Ill. App. 3d 1055 (Pekin Insurance Company v. Roszak/ADC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pekin Insurance Company v. Roszak/ADC, 402 Ill. App. 3d 1055 (Ill. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

JUSTICE ROBERT E. GORDON

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff Pekin Insurance Co. (Pekin) filed this declaratory judgment action and appeals the trial court’s denial of its motion for summary judgment and granting of Roszak/ADC, LLC’s (Roszak) cross-motion for summary judgment, finding that Pekin owes Roszak a duty to defend. 735 ILCS 5/2 — 1005 (West 2008). In the underlying action, Deirdre Hastings had filed suit against Roszak, among others, alleging negligence and premises liability theories for personal injuries that she sustained while working on a construction site when Roszak was the general contractor (the Hastings action). Roszak tendered its defense of the Hastings action to Pekin under its coverage as an additional insured on Rockford Ornamental Iron, Inc.’s (Rockford) commercial general liability policy. Pekin declined to defend Roszak and filed an action seeking a declaratory judgment that it was under no duty to defend Roszak. On appeal, Pekin argues that the terms of the additional insured endorsement on Rockford’s policy exclude Roszak from coverage. For the following reasons, we reverse.

BACKGROUND

On August 10, 2007, Deirdre Hastings filed a personal injury action against Roszak and Rockford, among others. In it, she alleges that she was employed by Area Erectors, Inc. (Area Erectors), as an ironworker on a construction project located on Oak Avenue in Evanston, Illinois, when a load of structural steel escaped its rigging and struck her, causing serious personal injuries. Roszak served as the general contractor for the project. The Hastings complaint does not state the relationship between Roszak and Rockford. Specifically, it does not state that Rockford was a subcontractor. However, because the parties refer to Rockford as Roszak’s subcontractor in their briefs and at oral argument, we will assume that Roszak hired Rockford as a subcontractor and that Rockford, in turn, hired Area Erectors as its subcontractor.

The amended complaint in the Hastings action consists of two counts each against five defendants. Count I, titled “Negligence,” against Roszak alleged that Roszak

“individually and through its agents, servants and employees, was present during the course of such erection and construction. [Roszak] participated in coordinating the work being done and designated various work methods, maintained and checked work progress and participated in the scheduling of the work and inspection of the work. In addition thereto, at that time and place, the defendant had the authority to stop the work, refuse the work and materials and order changes in the work, in the event that the work was being performed in a dangerous manner or for any other reason.”

Count I also alleged that Roszak was negligent in the following ways:

“(a) Failed to reasonably inspect, supervise and control the work site and the work being done thereon, when the defendant knew or in the exercise of ordinary care should have known, that adequate and proper inspection and control was necessary to prevent injury to the plaintiff;
(b) Carelessly and negligently designated an unsafe and improper area for the staging and shaking out of structural steel;
(c) Failed to enforce proper steel rigging, hoisting and offloading procedures;
(d) Failed to properly supervise steel rigging, hoisting and offloading procedures;
(e) Carelessly and negligently permitted steel rigging, hoisting and offloading procedures on site despite high winds;
(f) Failed to suspend the work due to high winds;
(g) Failed to follow it[s] own safety rules and procedures;
(h) Failed to follow OSHA safety rules and procedures;
(i) Failed to fulfill its onsite contractual safety obligations;
(j) Failed to coordinate the work in a safe, suitable and proper manner;
(k) Failed to schedule the work in a safe, suitable and proper manner;
(l) Failed to require the crane operator to utilize the proper booming procedures including proper boom length.”

Count II, titled “Premises Liability,” incorporated the allegations in count I and also alleged that Roszak “possessed, operated, managed, maintained and controlled or had a duty to possess, operate, manage, maintain and control, both directly and indirectly, individually and through its agents, servants and employees, the construction site.” Count II further alleged that Roszak owed a duty of ordinary care to Hastings and others on the premises and that Roszak had breached that duty in the various ways described above in count I. Both counts I and II conclude with the following assertion: “That as a direct and proximate result of the negligence of [Roszak], [Hastings] was struck by a load of structural steel, suffering serious and permanent personal and pecuniary injuries.”

The contract between Roszak and Rockford called for Rockford to add Roszak as an additional insured to its commercial general liability policy, which Pekin has issued to Rockford as named insured. Rockford’s policy contains the following endorsement amending the language identifying who is insured under the policy:

“Who Is An Insured (Section II) is amended to include as an insured any person or organization for whom you are performing operations when you and such person or organization have agreed in writing in a contract or agreement that such person or organization be added as an additional insured on your policy. Such person or organization is an additional insured only with respect to liability incurred solely as a result of some act or omission of the named insured and not for its own independent negligence or statutory violation.”

Roszak tendered the complaint in the Hastings action to Pekin, claiming that it was an additional insured under Rockford’s policy, and asked Pekin to defend it in the Hastings action. Pekin declined the tender and sought a declaratory judgment claiming that it had no duty to defend Roszak in the Hastings action. Pekin and Roszak filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The trial court denied Pekin’s motion and granted Roszak’s motion, finding that Pekin owed Roszak a duty to defend in the Hastings action. Pekin then filed this timely appeal.

ANALYSIS

Pekin argues on appeal that it owes Roszak no duty to defend in the Hastings action because the facts pled in the Hastings complaint do not allege “liability incurred solely as a result of some act or omission of the named insured” as stated in the additional insured endorsement to Rockford’s general commercial liability policy. Roszak maintains that the Hastings complaint raises the possibility of coverage and thus that Pekin owes it a duty to defend.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
402 Ill. App. 3d 1055, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pekin-insurance-company-v-roszakadc-illappct-2010.