Scottsdale Ins. Co. v. Granada Ins. Co.

371 F. Supp. 3d 1130
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedFebruary 5, 2019
DocketCASE NO. 18-21207-CIV-ALTONAGA/Goodman
StatusPublished

This text of 371 F. Supp. 3d 1130 (Scottsdale Ins. Co. v. Granada Ins. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scottsdale Ins. Co. v. Granada Ins. Co., 371 F. Supp. 3d 1130 (S.D. Fla. 2019).

Opinion

CECILIA M. ALTONAGA, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

THIS CAUSE came before the Court on Plaintiff, Scottsdale Insurance Company's Motion for Summary Judgment [ECF No. 31] ("Pl.'s Mot.") and Defendant, Granada Insurance Company's Response in Opposition and Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment [ECF No. 35] ("Def.'s Mot."). Plaintiff filed a Reply to Defendant's Response to Plaintiff's Motion and a Response to Defendant's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment [ECF No. 38] ("Pl.'s Reply"). Defendant filed a Reply to Plaintiff's Response [ECF No. 45] ("Def.'s Reply"). The Court has carefully considered the parties' submissions,1 their exhibits, the record, Plaintiff's Complaint [ECF No. 1], and applicable law. For the following reasons, Plaintiff's Motion is denied and Defendant's Motion is granted.

I. BACKGROUND

This is a coverage dispute arising out of the duty to defend an underlying lawsuit alleging various construction defects. The facts are entirely undisputed.

On October 29, 2010, Eldorado Towers Condominium Association, Inc. ("Association") entered into a contract with Plaintiff's insured, National Concrete Preservation, Inc. ("National Concrete"). (See Plaintiff's Statement of Undisputed Facts [ECF No. 32] ¶ 1 ("Pl.'s SOFs"); see also Defendant's Response to Plaintiff's Statement of Facts [ECF No. 36] ¶ 1 ("Def.'s Resp. to Pl.'s SOF") ). National Concrete agreed to serve as the contractor for the repair and restoration of a pool, Jacuzzi, *1132pool decks, clubhouse decks, and a garage area ("Project") for the Association's complex in Aventura, Florida. (See Pl.'s SOF ¶ 1).

Plaintiff issued three commercial general liability policies to National Concrete for the policy periods of January 12, 2011 to January 12, 2014. (See id. ¶ 4). Plaintiff's Amendment to Other Insurance Condition Endorsement provides National Concrete insurance that "is excess over any other insurance, whether primary, excess, contingent or any other basis." (Id. ¶ 5). Therefore, if there is a "valid and collectible insurance available ... under any other policy," Plaintiff has "no duty to defend ... the insured against any 'suit.' " (Id. (alterations added) ). Under Plaintiff's policies, "[i]f no other insurer defends, [Plaintiff] will undertake to do so, but [is] entitled to the insured's rights against all those other insurers. (Id. (alterations added) ).

In August 2011, National Concrete retained Rosmel Pools, Inc. ("Rosmel") to serve as one of its subcontractors on the Project. (See id. ¶ 8). Rosmel agreed to perform work and supply materials for the Project. (See id. ). In the contract, Rosmel stated it would endorse National Concrete as an additional insured and would designate its retained insurance as primary over any other insurance policy. (See id. ).

For its part, Defendant issued commercial lines policies that contained commercial general liability coverage to Rosmel for the policy periods of July 29, 2008 to June 20, 2013. (See id. ¶ 10). The July 29, 2010 to June 20, 2013 policies contain an Additional Insured - Owners, Lessees or Contractors - Scheduled Person or Organization Endorsement, which provides:

A. Section II - Who Is An Insured is amended to include as an additional insured the person(s) or organization(s) shown in the Schedule, but only with respect to liability for ... "property damage" ... caused, in whole or in part by:
1. Your acts or omissions; or
2. The acts or omissions of those acting on your behalf; in the performance of your ongoing operations for the additional insured(s) at the location(s) designated above.
B. With respect to the insurance afforded to these additional insureds, the following additional exclusions apply:
This insurance does not apply to "bodily injury" or "property damage" ... occurring after:
1. All work, including materials, parts or equipment furnished in connection with such work on the project (other than service, maintenance, or repairs) to be performed by you or on your behalf for the additional insured(s) at the location of the covered operations has been completed; or
2. That portion of "your work" out of which the injury or damage arises has been put to its intended use by any person or organization other than another contractor or subcontractor engaged in performing operations for a principal as a part of the same project.

(Id. ¶ 11; see also Commercial Line Policy [ECF No. 36-1] 612 ).

Defendant's policies issued to Rosmel also contain the following endorsement:

*1133CLASSIFICATION LIMITATION ENDORSEMENT
THIS ENDORSEMENT MODIFIES INSURANCE PROVIDED UNDER THE FOLLOWING:
Commercial General Liability Coverage part
Owners and Contractors Liability Coverage part
Products/Completed Operations Liability Coverage part
Coverage under this policy is specifically limited to those operations described in the declarations under "CLASSIFICATION SCHEDULE"
NO OTHER OPERATIONS BY THE INSURED OR BY ANYONE FOR WHOSE ACTIONS THE INSURED IS RESPONSIBLE ARE COVERED.

(Defendant's Additional Material Facts [ECF No. 36] ¶ 22; see also Response to Def.'s Additional Material Facts [ECF No. 37] ¶ 22 (emphasis in original) ).

A "products-completed operations hazard" in Defendant's policies is defined as:

16. "Products-completed operations hazard":
a. Includes all "bodily injury" and "property damage" occurring away from premises you own or rent and arising out of "your product" or "your work" except:
1. Products that are still in your physical possession; or
2. Work that has not yet been completed or abandoned. However, "your work" will be deemed completed at the earliest of the following times:
(a) When all of the work called for in your contract has been completed.
(b) When all of the work to be done at the job site has been completed if your contract calls for work at more than one job site.
(c) When that part of the work done at a job site has been put to its intended use by any person or organization other than another contractor working on the same project.
Work that may need service, maintenance, correction, repair or replacement, but which is otherwise complete, will be treated as completed.

(Commercial Line Policy [ECF No. 36-1] Section V ¶ 16). In contrast, an "occurrence" under the policy is "an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions." (Id. ¶ 14).

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

Related

Allen v. Tyson Foods, Inc.
121 F.3d 642 (Eleventh Circuit, 1997)
Laura Skop v. City of Atlanta, Georgia
485 F.3d 1130 (Eleventh Circuit, 2007)
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
United States v. Frank M. Oakley
744 F.2d 1553 (Eleventh Circuit, 1984)
Irvine v. Prudential
630 So. 2d 579 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1993)
Auto-Owners Ins. Co. v. Marvin Development Corp.
805 So. 2d 888 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2001)
Taurus Holdings v. US Fidelity
913 So. 2d 528 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2005)
Aerothrust Corp. v. Granada Ins. Co.
904 So. 2d 470 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2005)
Jones v. Florida Ins. Guar. Ass'n, Inc.
908 So. 2d 435 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2005)
LaMarche v. Shelby Mut. Ins. Co.
390 So. 2d 325 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1980)
JSUB, INC. v. US Fire Ins. Co.
906 So. 2d 303 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2005)
Shelby Mut. Ins. Co. v. LaMarche
371 So. 2d 198 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1979)
Hugh A. Carithers v. Mid-Continent Casualty Company
782 F.3d 1240 (Eleventh Circuit, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
371 F. Supp. 3d 1130, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scottsdale-ins-co-v-granada-ins-co-flsd-2019.