Spirtas Co. v. Nautilus Insurance

897 F. Supp. 2d 790, 2012 WL 4058067
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedSeptember 14, 2012
DocketCase No. 4:11CV00829 AGF
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 897 F. Supp. 2d 790 (Spirtas Co. v. Nautilus Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spirtas Co. v. Nautilus Insurance, 897 F. Supp. 2d 790, 2012 WL 4058067 (E.D. Mo. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

AUDREY G. FLEISSIG, District Judge.

Plaintiff Spirtas Company (“Spirtas”) brings this action for a declaratory judgment and to recover damages under a commercial general liability (“CGL”) insurance policy issued by Defendant Nautilus Insurance Company. Defendant has filed a counterclaim for a declaration that under the terms and/or exclusions in the Policy, Defendant owes no duty to indemnify or cover Plaintiff for any claimed loss. Now before the Court are the Parties’ cross motions for summary judgment. For the reasons set forth below, Defendant’s motion (Doc. No. 26) shall be granted, and Plaintiff’s motion (Doc. No. 40) shall be denied.

BACKGROUND

The Subcontract Agreement

On February 5, 2010, Plaintiff, as subcontractor, entered into a Subcontract Agreement with Edward Kraemer & Sons, Inc. (“Kraemer”), as contractor, whereby Plaintiff agreed to provide demolition work to “Remove Existing] Structure” of the Seneca Bridge over the Illinois River (also called the Seneca River), in exchange for payment by Kraemer of $285,000.00. (Doc. No. 28-1.) Demolition of the bridge was part of a highway project for which Kraemer was the general contractor for the Illinois Department of Transportation, the owner of the bridge.

The Subcontract Agreement between Plaintiff and Kraemer included the following provisions:

8. Indemnity for Delay. [Plaintiff] shall indemnify and hold [Kraemer] harmless from all damage, loss, cost, liability or expense (“damage”) which [Kraemer] may sustain by reason of any delays caused or contributed to by [Plaintiff].
16. Back Charges and Setoffs. In the event [Plaintiff] shall fail to perform ... any of the subcontract work ..., or in the event [Kraemer] suffers any damage whatsoever or is caused any expense, loss or liability by [Plaintiff], all such payments made and all related costs incurred by [Kraemer] ... may be de[793]*793ducted by [Kraemer] from amounts otherwise due hereunder to [Plaintiff].
25. Public Liability and Indemnity. [Plaintiff] shall be liable and responsible for ... damage or injuries to any property whether belonging to [Plaintiff], [Kraemer] or to others, resulting or arising from acts, omissions and negligence of [Plaintiff] or its agents, employees or sub-subcontractors or suppliers. [Plaintiff] shall indemnify and hold [Kraemer] and its agents and employees harmless from any and all loss, liability, penalties, damages, costs, attorneys’ fees, expenses, causes of action, claims .or judgments resulting ... from damage, injury to or destruction of property (including, but not limited to the loss of use of such property) arising out of, sustained, or in any way connected with the performance of the subcontract work under this Agreement, regardless of whether or not such damage, injury, harm or death, affected by or results from the contributory or comparative negligence of [Kraemer], its agents, servants and employees, but only to the extent caused by [Plaintiff],

The Subcontract Agreement required Plaintiff to maintain certain insurance, including CGL insurance with an occurrence limit and project limit of $1 million each, for an aggregate limit of $2 million.

The Insurance Policy

On June 30, 2010, Plaintiff purchased from Defendant a CGL policy for the period of June 30, 2010, through June 30, 2011. (Doc. No. 2-5.) The insuring clause provided in pertinent part: “We will pay those sums that the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of ‘bodily injury’ or ‘property damage’ to which this insurance applies.” The Policy further stated: “This insurance applies to ‘bodily injury’ and ‘property damage’ only if: (1) The ‘bodily injury’ or ‘property damage’ is caused by an ‘occurrence’ that takes place in the ‘coverage territory’ .... ”

The Policy defined “property damage” as,

a. Physical injury to tangible property, including all resulting loss of use of that property. All such loss of use shall be deemed to occur at the time of the physical injury that caused it; or
b. Loss of use of tangible property that is not physically injured. All such loss of use shall be deemed to occur at the time of the “occurrence” that caused it.

“Occurrence” was defined as “an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions.” The Policy did not define “accident” or “legally obligated to pay as damages.” Coverage was subject to a $1 million limit of liability that applied to each “occurrence.”

The Policy contained numerous exclusions, including the following:

This insurance does not apply to:
j. Damage To Property
“Property damage” to:
(5) That particular part of real property on which you or any contractors or subcontractors working directly or indirectly on your behalf are performing operations, if the “property damage” arises out of those operations; or
(6) That particular part of any property that must be restored, repaired or replaced because “your work” was incorrectly performed on it.
m. Damage To Impaired Property Or Property Not Physically Injured
[794]*794“Property damage” to “impaired property” or property that has not been physically injured, arising out of:
(1) A defect, deficiency, inadequacy or dangerous condition in “your product” or “your work”; or
(2) A delay or failure by you or anyone acting on your behalf to perform a contract or agreement in accordance with its terms.
This exclusion does not apply to the loss of use of other property arising out of sudden and accidental physical injury to “your product” or “your work” after it has been put to its intended use.
The Policy defined “impaired property” as
tangible property, other than “your product” or “your work”, that cannot be used or is less useful because:
(a) It incorporates “your product” or “your work” that is known or thought to be defective, deficient, inadequate or dangerous; or
(b) you have failed to fulfill the terms of a contract or agreement;
if such property can be restored to use by:
(a) the repair, replacement, adjustment or removal of “your product” or “your work”; or
(b) your fulfilling the terms of the contract or agreement.
The Policy included a “Demolition Contractors — Mistaken Demolition”

Endorsement that provided in pertinent part that Exclusion j.5 did “not apply to ‘property damage’ arising out of the inadvertent or mistaken demolition of property resulting from the insured’s demolition and/or wrecking operations.” (Doc. No. 2-5.)

Demolition of the Bridge

On November 4, 2010, Plaintiff entered into a subcontract with Dykon Explosive Demolition Corp.

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Related

Spirtas Company v. Nautilus Insurance Company
715 F.3d 667 (Eighth Circuit, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
897 F. Supp. 2d 790, 2012 WL 4058067, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spirtas-co-v-nautilus-insurance-moed-2012.