Royal Ins. Co. of Am. v. Crowne Investments, Inc.

903 So. 2d 802, 2004 Ala. LEXIS 340, 2004 WL 2914913
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedDecember 17, 2004
Docket1030310
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 903 So. 2d 802 (Royal Ins. Co. of Am. v. Crowne Investments, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Royal Ins. Co. of Am. v. Crowne Investments, Inc., 903 So. 2d 802, 2004 Ala. LEXIS 340, 2004 WL 2914913 (Ala. 2004).

Opinion

903 So.2d 802 (2005)

ROYAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA
v.
CROWNE INVESTMENTS, INC.

1030310.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

December 17, 2004.

*804 Stanley A. Cash and Michelle K. Pieroni of Huie, Fernambucq & Stewart, LLP, Birmingham, for appellant.

Frank A. Hickman and P. Richard Hartley of Hartley & Hickman, Greenville, for appellee.

HARWOOD, Justice.

Royal Insurance Company of America ("Royal") appeals from the denial of its motion to set aside a default judgment previously entered by the Butler Circuit Court in favor of Crowne Investments, Inc. ("Crowne"). We reverse and remand.

*805 Crowne owns and operates a nursing-home facility known as Crowne Healthcare of Greenville. From August 1, 2001, to August 1, 2002, Royal insured this facility against physical damage and losses. One section of the policy insuring the facility stated that Royal would "pay for the actual loss of Business Income you sustain due to the necessary suspension of your `operations.'" In a section entitled "Additional Coverage(s)," the policy stated that Royal would pay for "loss or damage caused by or resulting from risks of direct physical loss involving collapse of a building or any part of a building caused ... by ... [h]idden decay." The policy also contained a section entitled "Exclusions," which stated, in pertinent part:

"2. We will not pay for loss or damage caused by or resulting from any of the following ...
"....
"b. [D]eterioration ... [or]
"....
"i. Faulty, inadequate or defective:
"....
"(2) Design, specifications, workmanship, repair, [construction]; [or]
"(3) Materials used in ... construction...."

In September 2001, during renovations to Crowne's nursing-home facility, Crowne employees discovered deficiencies in portions of the subflooring of the facility. On September 21, 2001, Crowne's general contractor inspected the flooring and determined that the plywood subflooring in portions of the facility had partially collapsed. That day, Crowne notified Royal and made a claim under the insurance policy, seeking reimbursement both for property damage and for lost business income. Royal arranged for the facility to be inspected by an engineering firm.

On October 23, 2001, The VAIL Consulting Company ("VAIL"), an independent engineering firm hired by Royal, inspected Crowne's nursing facility. In its report, dated November 8, 2001 ("the VAIL report"), VAIL gave two reasons for the deterioration of the subfloor. First, the builder had used interior-grade plywood on the subflooring, not the exterior-grade plywood required by industry standards. Second, the builder had failed to install a proper waterproofing system underneath the building, and moisture was allowed to remain under the building, causing the plywood to deteriorate. After receiving the VAIL report, Royal's national general adjustor, Orvin Willis, notified Crowne by letter dated November 16, 2001,[1] that the insurance policy did not cover Crowne's loss.

On March 26, 2003, Crowne sued Royal in the Butler Circuit Court alleging that Royal breached the terms of its insurance policy. Crowne's complaint identified the insurance policy as "bearing policy number PSU005666," being "a Royal Flex Policy," and having "the policy period of August 1, 2001, through August 1, 2002." The policy stated that it provided protection for "Crowne's nursing-home facility in Greenville, Alabama." The complaint alleged that the policy "provided Crowne with protection from actual loss of business income and extra expenses incurred during a necessary suspension of its business operations caused by direct loss or damage to the insured premises." The complaint quoted the provisions regarding coverage for collapse and stated that "[a] copy of the pertinent provisions of the policy are attached hereto as Exhibit `A' and incorporated *806 herein by reference." The complaint additionally referred to "Royal's denial letter," written "[o]n or about November 6, 2001," pursuant to which Royal notified "Crowne ... that it was denying Crowne's claim," and stated that a copy of it was also "attached hereto as Exhibit `B' and is incorporated herein by reference."[2]

On March 31, 2003, Crowne served Royal's registered agent by certified mail; the complaint was then forwarded to Royal's legal department. From the legal department, the complaint was routed through Royal's robotic mail system to Thomas Crowley, the supervisor of one of Royal's units. Because of a malfunction in this system, however, the complaint disappeared before it reached Crowley. Because he never received the complaint, Crowley never notified the law firm to whom he would have sent the complaint under standard procedures. Consequently, neither Royal nor its counsel took any action on the complaint.

Because Royal did not respond to the complaint within 30 days, see Rule 12(a), Ala. R. Civ. P., Crowne moved for a judgment by default against Royal, which the court entered on June 13, 2003. See Rule 55(b)(2), Ala. R. Civ. P. Royal was served with a copy of the judgment, and on July 11 Royal filed a motion to set it aside. Attached to Royal's motion was an affidavit by Crowley. The affidavit recited Crowley's position within Royal, described his responsibilities with respect to receiving complaints filed against Royal, and explained what procedure he would have followed had he actually received the complaint filed in Crowne's action. He stated that he was unaware that Crowne had filed any action against Royal until he received notice of the default judgment. The fourth paragraph of Crowley's affidavit stated:

"On receipt of this Notice of Default, I contacted counsel and requested that immediate steps be taken to set aside the default Judgment. Based on my review of the claim file material, [Royal] has a meritorious defense to this action, since Royal hired [VAIL, which] had rendered the opinion that the failure of the flooring at the facility owned by [Crowne], which forms the basis of this action, was apparently caused by deterioration of the property that resulted in damage or destruction to the property itself. As a result, it is my opinion, based on my experience in the property claims industry, that there is no coverage, and therefore, [Royal] declined to reimburse [Crowne] for this loss."

Despite the affidavit's references to the VAIL report and Royal's letter declining coverage, neither document was attached to Royal's motion to set aside the default judgment.

The trial court conducted a hearing on Royal's motion, at which Royal's counsel stated:

"I would like to provide to the Court, I believe according to the pleadings the Letter of Denial was attached to the original complaint and I haven't been able to confirm that, so I would like to offer the Letter of Denial as our Exhibit B, the Engineer Report as Exhibit C and a complete copy of the policy as D just for completeness. I will give Frank [Crowne's counsel] a copy of the same package.
"But there's nothing there that has not been set out in the original pleadings and responses in the Motion to Set Aside the Default."

Counsel for Crowne then responded:

"First of all I object to them offering you this information right here. They *807

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
903 So. 2d 802, 2004 Ala. LEXIS 340, 2004 WL 2914913, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/royal-ins-co-of-am-v-crowne-investments-inc-ala-2004.