S & K Motors, Inc. v. Harco Nat. Ins. Co.

213 P.3d 630
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedAugust 17, 2009
Docket62828-3-I
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 213 P.3d 630 (S & K Motors, Inc. v. Harco Nat. Ins. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
S & K Motors, Inc. v. Harco Nat. Ins. Co., 213 P.3d 630 (Wash. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

213 P.3d 630 (2009)

S & K MOTORS, INC., d/b/a Pinnacle Mazda, a Washington corporation, Appellant,
v.
HARCO NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Respondent.

No. 62828-3-I.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 1.

August 17, 2009.

*631 Franklin Dennis Cordell, Pamela Jo Devet, Gordon Tilden Thomas & Cordell LLP, Seattle, WA, for Appellant.

Robert Craig Levin, Wilson Smith Cochran Dickerson, Seattle, WA, for Respondent.

LEACH, J.

¶ 1 S & K Motors, Inc., d/b/a Pinnacle Mazda (Pinnacle), appeals orders denying its motion for partial summary judgment and granting summary judgment to Harco National Insurance Company. Because an insured must be fully compensated for its loss before the insurer can benefit from any third-party recovery collected by the insured, we reverse and remand with instructions for the trial court to grant summary judgment to Pinnacle.

Background

¶ 2 Pinnacle Mazda is a car dealership in Renton. In February 2007, Pinnacle discovered that one of its employees, Stephen Casino, had been stealing from the dealership for about three months. As finance manager, Casino had access to and handled cash, including customer down payments. Casino had converted cash to his own use rather than delivering it to the accounting department or depositing it in the company safe. Pinnacle confronted Casino about the thefts on February 8, 2007.

¶ 3 Casino confessed that on seven occasions he had stolen amounts ranging from $1,300 to $5,000, for a total of $21,590. He admitted that he had a gambling addiction and begged to keep his job. Based on Casino's promise to repay and not steal again, Pinnacle kept him as its employee. Casino entered a written agreement with Pinnacle authorizing Pinnacle to deduct all available funds from his paycheck until his debt was paid in full. Casino also agreed to handle all future cash transactions in the presence of another employee.

¶ 4 However, it soon became clear that Casino had misled Pinnacle. Casino had failed to disclose two instances of theft to Pinnacle. Before entering the agreement, he had actually stolen, on nine rather than seven occasions, a total of $27,590. In addition, Casino continued to steal from Pinnacle after entering the agreement. Even after Pinnacle discovered Casino's persisting dishonesty, it entered a second agreement with him in which he made the same promise to repay and to stop stealing. The second agreement listed the newly discovered thefts that had taken place before and after the first agreement. Casino continued to steal after the second agreement. Pinnacle terminated Casino's employment on May 1, 2007. Between February 8, 2007, when Pinnacle first discovered the theft, and May 1, 2007, when it fired Casino, Pinnacle recovered $26,561 through deductions from Casino's pay. During that *632 same time, Casino stole an additional $44,715. Pinnacle's total loss from Casino's thefts before and after discovery was $72,305. Pinnacle reported the theft to the Renton Police Department on May 4, 2007.

¶ 5 Harco insured Pinnacle through a policy issued to its parent corporation, Sound Ford, Inc., having a stated policy period from September 1, 2006, to September 1, 2007. The parties agree that all of Casino's thefts occurred during this policy period. On May 9, 2007, Pinnacle submitted a claim to Harco for loss due to employee theft. The policy provides employee theft coverage with a limit of $250,000 per occurrence and a $5,000 deductible. The "COMMERCIAL CRIME COVERAGE FORM" provides:

A. Insuring Agreements
Coverage is provided under the following Insuring Agreements for which a Limit of Insurance is shown in the Declarations and applies to loss that you sustain resulting directly from an "occurrence" taking place during the Policy Period shown in the Declarations, except as provided in Condition E.1.k. or E.1.l., which is "discovered" by you during the Policy Period shown in the Declarations or during the period of time provided in the Extended Period To Discover Loss Condition E.1.g.:
1. Employee Theft
We will pay for loss of or damage to "money," "securities" and "other property" resulting directly from "theft" committed by an "employee," whether identified or not, acting alone or in collusion with other persons.
For the purposes of this Insuring Agreement, "theft" shall also include forgery.

For purposes of this provision, the term "occurrence" is defined in the policy as

(1) An individual act;
(2) The combined total of all separate acts whether or not related; or
(3) A series of acts whether or not related committed by an "employee" acting alone or in collusion with other persons, during the Policy Period shown in the Declarations, except as provided under Condition E.1.k. or E.1.l.

A policy condition specifies that employee theft coverage "terminates as to any `employee'... [a]s soon as ... [y]ou ... learn of the `theft' or any other dishonest act committed by the `employee' whether before or after becoming employed by you."

¶ 6 Harco denied Pinnacle's claim, stating that the amount Pinnacle recovered from Casino exceeded the amount of the covered claim. Harco relied upon a recoveries condition in its policy that was not in force at the time of the denial. An endorsement labeled "Washington Changes" replaced this condition with one entitling Harco to a third-party recovery only after its insured had been fully compensated for its loss.

¶ 7 Pinnacle sued Harco for breach of contract, violation of the insurance fair conduct act, bad faith, and violation of the consumer protection act. The parties brought cross-motions for summary judgment regarding Harco's obligation to pay Pinnacle's claim. Pinnacle's motion requested summary judgment on the breach of contract claim, arguing that by denying the claim, Harco breached its insuring agreement as a matter of law because the policy and Washington law require that the insured be fully compensated for its loss before the insurer can benefit from a third-party recovery. Harco opposed this motion on a different basis than it denied Pinnacle's claim, arguing that Pinnacle suffered two distinct losses: one loss before discovery of the theft and a second loss after discovery. It argued that the amount recovered from Casino applied only to the first loss and that Pinnacle would enjoy a double recovery if Harco paid the claim. The trial court granted Harco's motion for summary judgment and denied Pinnacle's partial motion for summary judgment.

Standard of Review

¶ 8 The court of appeals reviews summary judgment orders de novo, engaging in the same inquiry as the trial court.[1] Interpretation of an insurance policy is a question of law reviewed de novo.[2]

*633 Discussion

¶ 9 Pinnacle appeals from the trial court's order denying its summary judgment motion. Pinnacle did not designate in its notice of appeal the contemporaneous, final appealable order granting Harco's motion for summary judgment, although it clearly argues that the motion was granted in error. RAP 5.3(f) states that the court "will disregard defects in the form of a notice of appeal... if the notice clearly reflects an intent by a party to seek review." Here, the notice clearly reflects Pinnacle's intent to seek review of the issues decided in the order granting summary judgment to Harco, although Pinnacle failed to designate that order in its notice of appeal.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Us Bank National Assn, V. David Vournas
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2024
Mdb Landmark Llc, V. William Washington
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2024
LLRIG Two, LLC, V. RV Resort Management
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2021
Lauri Daniels v. State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance
421 P.3d 996 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2018)
Randall J. Kincheloe v. Wa State Dept. Of Health
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2013
In re the Recall of Bolt
298 P.3d 710 (Washington Supreme Court, 2013)
In re Recall of Bolt
Washington Supreme Court, 2013
Averill v. Farmers Insurance
155 Wash. App. 106 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2010)
Averill v. Farmers Ins. Co. of Washington
229 P.3d 830 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2010)
Greenfield v. Western Heritage Ins. Co.
226 P.3d 199 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2010)
Greenfield v. Western Heritage Insurance
154 Wash. App. 795 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2010)
Black v. National Merit Ins. Co.
226 P.3d 175 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2010)
Black v. National Merit Insurance
154 Wash. App. 674 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
213 P.3d 630, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/s-k-motors-inc-v-harco-nat-ins-co-washctapp-2009.