Scottsdale Insurance v. City of Easton

379 F. App'x 139
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMay 11, 2010
DocketNo. 09-1815
StatusPublished

This text of 379 F. App'x 139 (Scottsdale Insurance v. City of Easton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scottsdale Insurance v. City of Easton, 379 F. App'x 139 (3d Cir. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

AMBROSE, District Judge.

This declaratory judgment action involves an insurance coverage dispute between Appellant Scottsdale Insurance Company (“Scottsdale”) and Appellees City of Easton (“City” or “Easton”), Phillip B. Mitman, and Stuart Gallaher (collectively “Appellees”)1 regarding Scottsdale’s [141]*141duty to defend and indemnify Appellees with respect to a civil rights action brought against Appellees and others in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 2007 (the “underlying action”). Scottsdale filed the instant action and moved for summary judgment in the same Court seeking a declaration that it did not have a duty to defend or indemnify Appellees in the underlying action under a law enforcement liability policy it had issued to the City of Easton.

Scottsdale appeals an order of the District Court denying its motion for summary judgment and dismissing its declaratory judgment action against Appellees. For the reasons set forth below, we will reverse the judgment of the District Court and remand with directions to enter summary judgment in favor of Scottsdale.2

I.

Because we write solely for the parties, who are familiar with the facts, procedural history and contentions presented, we will limit our discussion to only those facts necessary for our analysis.

A. The Underlying Action

On March 25, 2007, Carin Solimán, individually and as the administratrix of the Estate of Jesse E. Solimán, filed a civil complaint against the City of Easton, Mit-man, Gallaher, Matthew Renninger, Timothy Lambert, Robert Weber, John Maz-zeo, and Steven Mazzeo in the United States District Court for the Eastern Pennsylvania at Civil Action No. 07-1183. On January 16, 2009, after the District Court dismissed counts against several of the individual defendants, and while Scottsdale’s motion for summary judgment in the instant declaratory judgment action was pending, Carin Solimán filed an amended complaint naming only the City of Easton, Mitman, Gallaher, and Ren-ninger as defendants.

The following facts were pled in the underlying action. On March 25, 2005, Jesse Solimán (“Officer Solimán”) was a member of the City of Easton Police Department’s SWAT team. Following a SWAT team exercise on that date, members of the team returned to police headquarters and began unloading and cleaning the weapons used during the exercise. Officer Solimán along with fellow SWAT team members Renninger and Weber performed these tasks in a secondary weapons cleaning room. After cleaning his weapon, Renninger proceeded to the locker room where he reloaded his weapon. Upon noticing a mark on the weapon, Renninger returned to the secondary cleaning room with the loaded weapon. Renninger placed the safety on, cleaned the slide portion of the weapon to remove the spot, and then removed the safety and turned to exit the room. In the process of turning, Renninger’s weapon discharged, firing a bullet that fatally wounded Officer Soil-man.

Subsequently, a statewide Grand Jury was empaneled to investigate the circumstances of Officer Sollman’s death. The grand jury concluded that his death was the result of

the cumulative effect of: the deficiency of the firearm safety facilities; the absence of appropriate firearm safety stan-[142]*142dai’ds; the failure of the Easton Police Department command structure to establish and enforce safety standards and procedures; and, the series of negligent actions by Officer Renninger.

(App.442). The amended complaint further alleges a number of practices of the Ea-ston Police Department that may have contributed to the shooting incident including: that there were previous incidents of accidental or negligent weapons handling and/or discharge; that the police department did not provide any training pertaining to the transport of weapons, loading and unloading of weapons, or cleaning of weapons within police headquarters; that officers routinely loaded and unloaded weapons without using sand safety barrels and were not penalized; and that no written policies existed regarding the transportation, cleaning, loading and unloading, use of a safety, or holstering of weapons in police headquarters.

Based on the above factual background, Officer Sollman’s widow filed the underlying action alleging federal claims against the individuals and the City, including various § 1983 and substantive due process claims, § 1983 supervisory liability and civil conspiracy claims against the individual defendants, and Monell claims against the City. The underlying action also asserts various state constitutional and tort law claims against the individuals and the City.

B. The Applicable Insurance Policy

Scottsdale issued the Public Entity Policy at issue to the City of Easton, effective January 1, 2004 through January 1, 2005, and renewed for the period from January 1, 2005 through January 1, 2006 (the “Policy”). The Policy provides occurrence-based Law Enforcement Liability Coverage in consideration for a specified premium. The Policy does not provide general liability coverage or coverage for liability arising out of a public official’s wrongful acts. The Policy initially provided limits of liability of $3 million that were increased in 2004 to $10 million. The City of Easton is the Named Insured on the Policy. (App.83, 255).

C. The Present Declaratory Judgment Action

Scottsdale initially received notice of the Solimán claim on March 12, 2007, and denied coverage for the claim on March 19, 2007. Subsequently, Carin Solimán filed her complaint in the underlying action which was sent to Scottsdale and received by a Claim Specialist on April 2, 2007. The Claim Specialist forwarded that complaint for a coverage review and assessment. Scottsdale thereafter rescinded the March 19, 2007 coverage denial and accepted the claim subject to a complete reservation of its rights to seek declaratory relief.

Scottsdale filed the instant declaratory judgment action on July 27, 2007. After limited discovery, Scottsdale filed a motion for summary judgment on December 15, 2008, seeking a declaration that Scottsdale had no duty under the Policy to defend and/or indemnify Appellees in the underlying action. Appellees opposed Scottsdale’s motion.

By Memorandum and Order entered March 10, 2009, 2009 WL 673291, the District Court denied Scottsdale’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the declaratory judgment action, concluding that Scottsdale had a duty to defend and potentially indemnify Appellees in the underlying action. With respect to indemnification, the District Court rejected Scottsdale’s argument that the case fell within the Policy’s exclusion for “injuries arising out of and in the course of employment by the insured.” In this regard, the District Court found that the phrase “in [143]*143the course of employment” in the Policy is black letter worker’s compensation law and that “[t]he repetition of worker’s compensation language defines the exclusion as limiting Scottsdale’s coverage to suits other than worker’s compensation claims.” Mem. at 5. The Court further noted that the Policy states that it covers civil rights claims arising out of law enforcement activities. Id.

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Bluebook (online)
379 F. App'x 139, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scottsdale-insurance-v-city-of-easton-ca3-2010.