Sandy Creek Public Schools, School District No. 1-C v. St. Paul Surplus Lines Insurance

384 N.W.2d 279, 222 Neb. 424, 1986 Neb. LEXIS 920
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedApril 4, 1986
DocketNo. 85-003
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 384 N.W.2d 279 (Sandy Creek Public Schools, School District No. 1-C v. St. Paul Surplus Lines Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sandy Creek Public Schools, School District No. 1-C v. St. Paul Surplus Lines Insurance, 384 N.W.2d 279, 222 Neb. 424, 1986 Neb. LEXIS 920 (Neb. 1986).

Opinion

Grant, J.

Plaintiff-appellant, Sandy Creek Public Schools, school district No. 1-C (Sandy Creek), a Nebraska Class III school district, sought a declaratory judgment against defendantappellee, St. Paul Surplus Lines Insurance Company (St. Paul), under a contract of insurance between the parties. In its petition Sandy Creek sought a declaration that St. Paul “had an obligation to defend and to pay for all losses incurred by Plaintiff [Sandy Creek],” together with all costs and expenses of defending an earlier legal action brought against Sandy Creek. The district court found there was no coverage afforded Sandy Creek under the policy and dismissed the petition. Sandy Creek appeals to this court, requesting that the lower court’s decision be reversed and that St. Paul be required to reimburse Sandy Creek for the reasonable legal expenses incurred in defending the earlier case, denominated [425]*425Wilson v. School District No. 1-C, docket 32, page 222, case No. 9122 (hereinafter the Wilson case).

Sandy Creek assigns two errors: “1. The trial court erred in failing to recognize St. Paul’s obligation to defend its insured school board members. 2. The trial court erred in determining that the policy of insurance did not provide coverage for the causes of action alleged in the Wilson action.” For the reasons set out hereinafter we affirm the action of the trial court.

The underlying law is clear. An insurer is required to undertake the defense of claims asserted against its insured which fall within the coverage of the policy. Gottula v. Standard Reliance Ins. Co., 165 Neb. 1, 84 N.W.2d 179 (1957).

The facts of the instant case were presented to the trial court in the form of a “STIPULATION OF FACTS” which shows the following.

St. Paul issued a liability policy to Sandy Creek, agreeing to “pay on behalf of the Insureds all Loss which the Insureds shall be legally obligated to pay for any civil claim or claims first made against them because of a Wrongful Act” and to “reimburse the Educational Entity for all Loss for which the Educational Entity shall be required by law to indemnify the Insureds for any civil claim or claims first made against them because of a Wrongful Act.” Under the policy issued, “Insureds” are defined, in part, as “the Educational Entity named in the Declarations and all elected and appointed board members ...” The educational entity named in the policy was Sandy Creek.

The relevant exclusions from coverage were set out in the policy as follows:

EXCLUSIONS. The Company [St. Paul] shall not be liable to make payment for Loss in connection with any claim made against the Insureds allegedly based upon or arising out of any one or more of the following:
D. claims, demands or actions seeking relief, in any form other than money damages;
E. for fees or expenses relating to claims, demands or actions seeking relief or redress, in any form other than money damages.

[426]*426The history of the Wilson case shows that on April 4, 1984, four individual plaintiffs (each a resident of Clay County, Nebraska, a registered voter, a “patron” of Sandy Creek, and a parent of children attending school in the Sandy Creek school district) filed a petition in the district court for Clay County, Nebraska, against Sandy Creek and six named persons “INDIVIDUALLY AND AS MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF [SANDY CREEK]____” This petition set out four causes of action. The first three causes sought various restraining or mandatory court orders either restraining or requiring Sandy Creek, the individual board members, or both, to do or refrain from doing certain acts with regard to a proposed consolidation of certain schools in the district. Those three causes of action obviously sought relief other than money damages and, under the exclusionary clauses of the policy, did not require St. Paul to afford a defense to either Sandy Creek or the board members.

The fourth cause of action alleged that “the actions of the defendant Board of Education of [Sandy Creek] . .. were null, void and illegal” as violating the provisions of Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 84-1408 to 84-1414 (Reissue 1981) (commonly known as the “open meetings law”). The fourth cause sought a court order determining that certain actions of the school board members were null and void; requiring the board of education to render an accounting of all moneys spent pursuant to the allegedly void acts; restraining the board members from acting pursuant to their allegedly void acts; and an order that “the individual defendants be required to indemnify and reimburse the School District [Sandy Creek] ... for all sums paid out or distributed on account of the void acts of March 6,15 and 27,1984.”

On April 5 the Wilson plaintiffs filed a motion seeking a temporary injunction enjoining “defendants individually and as members of the Board of Education of [Sandy Creek]” from holding a certain bond election or issuing any bonds or closing any existing, separate schools in the district. A copy of the petition was delivered to St. Paul’s agent in Fairfield, Nebraska, on April 9,1984. On April 12 a hearing was held on the Wilson plaintiffs’ motion for temporary injunction, and the motion was denied. On April 17 attorneys for Sandy Creek wrote to St. [427]*427Paul’s Fairfield agent, seeking “written confirmation of your company’s acceptance of this firm in defending the [Wilson] lawsuit,” informing the agent that the Wilson plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary injunction had been successfully resisted; and informing him that “trial on other causes of action in the petition has been set for May 3.” Trial of the Wilson case was held on May 3, and at the conclusion of the plaintiffs’ evidence, the case was dismissed on defendants’ motion. The Wilson plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal to this court, which they later dismissed on or about October 1, 1984. On May 23, 1984, St. Paul wrote to the attorneys representing Sandy Creek, informing them that St. Paul had determined there was no coverage under the policy. Sandy Creek filed its amended petition in this case against St. Paul in October of 1984.

The stipulation of facts above referred to summarized the parties’ view of the instant case in setting out that

[a] controversy exists between plaintiff [Sandy Creek] and defendant [St. Paul], by reason of this dispute as to whether defendant had any duty, pursuant to provisions of the attached insurance policy, to defend or provide coverage to plaintiff by reason of the litigation and issues raised in Wilson v. School District No. 1-C.

It is basic to our review to note that there are two separate “Insureds” under the policy in question — the Sandy Creek district itself and the group consisting of individual members of the school board of Sandy Creek. We have already stated that the first three causes of action against Sandy Creek and the individual school board members did not seek money damages against the district or the school board members. An examination of the fourth cause shows that it does not seek money damages or relief of any kind.against Sandy Creek.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
384 N.W.2d 279, 222 Neb. 424, 1986 Neb. LEXIS 920, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sandy-creek-public-schools-school-district-no-1-c-v-st-paul-surplus-neb-1986.