Southwest La. Grain v. Howard A. Duncan, Inc.

438 So. 2d 215
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 11, 1983
Docket83-113
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 438 So. 2d 215 (Southwest La. Grain v. Howard A. Duncan, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southwest La. Grain v. Howard A. Duncan, Inc., 438 So. 2d 215 (La. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

438 So.2d 215 (1983)

SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA GRAIN, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant-Appellee,
v.
HOWARD A. DUNCAN, INC., et al., Defendant-Appellant-Appellee.

No. 83-113.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

August 11, 1983.
Rehearings Denied September 29, 1983.
Writs Denied November 18, 1983.

*217 Edwards, Stefanski & Barousse, Homer Ed Barousse, Jr., Crowley, for defendant-appellant.

Everett & Everett, Glennon P. Everett, Crowley, for plaintiff-appellee-appellant.

Marcantel & Marcantel, Bernard N. Marcantel, Jennings, Allen, Gooch & Bourgeois, William Parker and Arthur I. Robison, Voorhies & Labbe, W. Gerald Gaudet, Gary McGoffin, Hawley & Schexnayder, W. Paul Hawley, Onebane, Donahoe, Bernard, Torian, Diaz, McNamara & Abell, Robert Mahoney, Lafayette, Guglielmo & Lopez, James C. Lopez, Opelousas, Aaron, Aaron & Chambers, Noble M. Chambers, Crowley, for defendant-appellee.

Before STOKER, DOUCET and KNOLL, JJ.

STOKER, Judge.

This is breach of contract claim. The petition alleges that the contract obligated defendant, Howard A. Duncan, Inc. (Duncan), to design and build a grain elevator and storage facility for the plaintiff, Southwest Louisiana Grain, Inc. (Southwest). After completion of construction, the foundation of the grain elevator and storage facility began to crack and silos on the foundation became unstable and began to lean.

ISSUE

The issue in this appeal is whether the primary and excess liability insurers of Duncan are liable for any structural failure of plaintiff's property resulting from deficiencies or error in its design or construction.

The damages claimed are for property damage, loss of revenue because of failure to timely complete the work, and for further loss of revenue. Duncan's liability insurers are defendants in this case and were dismissed from the suit on motion for summary judgment. This appeal concerns the correctness of the dismissals.

Bituminous Fire & Marine Insurance Company provided Duncan with primary liability coverage and Houston General Insurance Company provided excess and umbrella coverage. These two insurers are the appellees. The appellants are the insured contractor, Duncan, and the owner, Southwest.

From the allegations of the petition as amended and from the arguments presented in all the briefs it is clear that what is at issue in this appeal is whether completed operations coverage exists under the two policies. The damage occurred after the plaintiff's facility was completed and apparently resulted when the facility was filled with grain. The original and supplemental and amending petitions are annexed to this opinion as Appendices I and II.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES GOVERNING CASE

In support of their motion for summary judgment the two appellee-insurers rely on *218 well-settled principles of insurance law to the effect that liability policies are not intended to serve as performance bonds. Breaux v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 345 So.2d 204 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1977) and Vobill Homes, Inc. v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co., 179 So.2d 496 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1965), writ refused 248 La. 698, 181 So.2d 398 (1966), Vitenas v. Centanni, 381 So.2d 531 (La.App. 4th Cir.1980) and Peltier v. Seabird Industries, Inc., 304 So.2d 695 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1974), writ denied 309 So.2d 343 (La.1975). With the exception of the Vobill Homes case, these cases construed exclusions of coverage similar to certain exclusions contained in the policies involved here. The cases hold that liability policies containing such exclusions as were under consideration in those cases do not insure any obligation of the policy holder (contractor-builder or manufacturer) to repair or replace his own work or defective product.

The Vobill Homes case presented a different type of insurance policy exclusion from those involved here and in Breaux, Vitenas and Peltier. In Vobill Homes the policy excluded coverage for completed operations altogether. In contrast, the policies in the other cited cases, and those before us, do provide completed operations coverage but with certain exclusions. Therefore, the Vobill Homes case is not pertinent to our specific inquiry.

APPELLANTS' POSITION

Although completed operations coverage is involved here, the position of appellants is that the policies in question, that of Bituminous at least, present for consideration policy exclusion language different from that considered in the line of cases represented by Breaux, Vitenas and Peltier. Appellants also urge that there are ambiguities in the policies.

PROVISIONS OF THE POLICIES

In order to address appellants' arguments we first examine the policy provisions pertinent.

The general insuring agreement of the primary policy of Bituminous Fire & Marine Insurance Company (Bituminous) provides in part that:

"The company [Bituminous] will pay on behalf of the insured [Ducan] all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay damages because of
A. bodily injury or
B. property damage
to which this insurance applies, caused by an occurrence ...."

Immediately following the above quoted provisions the policy lists the exclusions, those situations to which the insurance does not apply. The policy contains amendments and supplemental endorsements.

The insuring agreement must be read together with applicable exclusions. This is perhaps best illustrated in Vobill Homes, Inc. v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, supra, written by Judge Albert Tate, while a member of this Court. That case, like the present case before us, dealt with a motion for summary judgment granted in favor of an insurer. Vobill Homes was sued in the principal demand by one Berge for defects in a house Vobill constructed for Berge. The defects, which included a defective or insufficient slab foundation, were alleged to have resulted from negligent acts or omission on the part of Vobill Homes. Vobill Homes sought through third party action to shift its liability to its manufacturer's and contractors' liability insurer, Hartford.

Judge Tate quoted the pertinent portion of Hartford's insuring clause. Through Judge Tate this Court then held there was no coverage by reason of specific exclusion of completed operations coverage. This principle is also illustrated by the Breaux case, cited above, written by Justice Watson while he was a judge of this Court. Despite the holdings in the cases cited and relied upon by Bituminous and Houston, we are confronted with policy provisions not involved in those cases. Therefore, we must consider the effect of those provisions and the case may not be decided solely on the basis of the Breaux line of cases.

*219 In the original briefs filed with this Court, all parties appeared to agree that the applicable policy exclusions in the two policies are as set forth below.

The exclusions in the primary liability policy of Bituminous Fire & Marine Insurance Company on which that company relies read as follows:

"Exclusions
This insurance does not apply:
* * * * * *
(m) to loss of use of tangible property which has not been physically injured or destroyed resulting from

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438 So. 2d 215, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southwest-la-grain-v-howard-a-duncan-inc-lactapp-1983.