TAG 380 v. ComMet 380, Inc.

40 A.D.3d 1, 830 N.Y.S.2d 87
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedFebruary 13, 2007
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 40 A.D.3d 1 (TAG 380 v. ComMet 380, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
TAG 380 v. ComMet 380, Inc., 40 A.D.3d 1, 830 N.Y.S.2d 87 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

[3]*3OPINION OF THE COURT

Tom, J.P.

Plaintiff TAG 380, LLC (tenant) seeks a declaration of its rights and obligations as assignee of a 1989 ground lease to the premises known as 380 Madison Avenue in New York County. Defendant ComMet 380, Inc. (landlord), a real estate investment trust, currently owns the property, and nonparty RREEF America LLC, a national real estate asset management company, is ComMet’s asset manager for the building. Specifically, the parties dispute the extent of tenant’s duty under the terms of the lease to obtain insurance coverage for the premises, particularly for damage resulting from acts of terrorism. This action was precipitated by landlord’s August 5, 2002 notice of lease default stating that coverage obtained for the property by tenant failed to comply with the insurance, covenant of the lease “in that said insurance does not contain adequate insurance against losses resulting from terrorism” and demanding that tenant “cure such default immediately.” The notice contained a reminder that the lease affords landlord the right to remedy any default in tenant’s performance at tenant’s expense.

Upon commencement of its declaratory judgment action in mid-August 2002, tenant sought and obtained a Yellowstone injunction (First Natl. Stores v Yellowstone Shopping Ctr., 21 NY2d 630 [1968]) restraining landlord, pending decision of this action, from terminating the lease based upon the notice of default. In late September, landlord answered and counterclaimed for a declaration that tenant is required to obtain insurance coverage that does not exclude acts of terrorism and is therefore in breach of the lease. The counterclaim further seeks compensatory damages together with attorney’s fees incurred in defending the declaratory judgment action. Landlord was subsequently granted leave to amend the answer and counterclaim to assert causes of action seeking damages for sums expended to obtain terrorism coverage for the premises, as required by the terms of its mortgage with third-party defendant GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corporation.

This matter is before us on appeal from the disposition of landlord’s motion and tenant’s cross motion for summary judgment (CPLR 3212) seeking, respectively, dismissal of the complaint and dismissal of the counterclaims. In contention is the interpretation of article 6 of the lease, which requires tenant to maintain

“insurance on the building against loss or damage [4]*4by fire and against loss or damage by other risks included under the standard Extended Coverage Endorsement as presently adopted for use with the New York Standard Fire Insurance Policy in an amount not less than the then full insurable value of the Building, with a deductible of not more than $50,000.”

At the time the lease took effect in 1989, the Extended Coverage Endorsement included causes of loss resulting from hazards in addition to fire, such as smoke, explosion, riot and civil commotion and “actual physical contact of an aircraft or vehicle with the property.” Specifically excluded were such hazards as nuclear reaction and radioactive contamination, war (including insurrection or civil war) and “hostile and warlike action” undertaken “by any government or sovereign power (de jure or de facto) or by any authority maintaining or using military, naval or air forces,” including action “by an agent of any such government, power, authority or forces.” Terrorism is neither included as a covered peril, nor excluded (the exclusion applying only to acts of governments or sovereign powers).

Supreme Court resolved the issue of insurance coverage in .favor of landlord, rejecting tenant’s argument that because terrorism is not- specifically enumerated as a covered cause of loss in the Extended Coverage Endorsement, it is not a peril against which coverage must be maintained pursuant to the lease. The court reasoned that “unless specifically enumerated in the exclusions section of the policy,” a fire insurance policy must cover all losses that result from fire, “even if such losses are caused by terrorism.” Thus, the court concluded that acts of terrorism must be deemed to be within the ambit of the endorsement. We disagree.

The endorsement is silent as to acts of terrorism, neither including nor excluding terrorist acts from the scope of the protection afforded. In concluding that the Extended Coverage Endorsement protects against terrorism, the court failed to distinguish between a cause of damage and its resulting effect. “Fire” is an enumerated “cause” of loss under the standard fire insurance policy, and a covered “peril” denotes a cause, not the ensuing effect on the covered property (see Catalanotto v Commercial Mut. Ins. Co., 256 AD2d 883, 884 [1998]). Clearly, a fire resulting from physical contact between an aircraft and the building (an enumerated cause) is a covered loss under the endorsement, while a fire resulting from a warlike act (a specified exclusion) is not. As the court correctly perceived, the [5]*5endorsement in effect at the time the lease commenced required the premises to be covered only against the causes of loss provided therein, such as physical contact with an aircraft, irrespective of whether such cause might be attributable to a terrorist act or not.

The excluded risk under the endorsement concerning acts of war, including warlike action, contemplates acts by a hostile nation or by a standing military force; it does not address ad hoc paramilitary action by agents who are neither identified with any particular sovereign power nor affiliated with any organized military force. The language does not embrace the concept of a terrorist organization, loosely structured into autonomous cells, supported by funding from disparate sources and promoting an uncertain political or, ostensibly, religious agenda. The endorsement simply does not deal with the subject of terrorism.

A policy of insurance should not be extended beyond its plain meaning to include perils not specifically covered by its provisions (see e.g. Harrigan v Liberty Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 170 AD2d 930 [1991]). Simply because the subject endorsement affords coverage for a particular loss attributable to an act of terrorism (such as an aircraft striking the building) does not dictate the conclusion that the endorsement affords coverage for all terrorist acts, irrespective of the precipitating cause of loss. To construe the endorsement so broadly would violate the venerable principle that the parties to an agreement will not be required to assume any obligation not reasonably within their contemplation at the time of contract (Hadley v Baxendale, 9 Exch 341, 156 Eng Rep 145 [1854]).

BFP 245 Park Co., LLC v GMAC Commercial Mtge. Corp. (12 AD3d 330 [2004]), relied on by landlord, does not support its position. The agreement at issue in that case (a mortgage) required insurance coverage against any peril included within the “all risk” or “special perils” classification; it did not involve enumerated perils as contained in the Extended Coverage Endorsement referenced by the subject lease. Furthermore, the mortgage in BFP “contemplated a flexible obligation subject to change as the marketplace recognized new insurable risks” (id. at 331), reflected by the provision for coverage against “ ‘any peril now or hereafter included’ ” in the all risk or special perils classification (id.),

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

Related

Mansueto v. 80 Pine LLC
2025 NY Slip Op 32906(U) (New York Supreme Court, New York County, 2025)
Deer Park Enterprises, LLC v. Ail Systems, Inc.
57 A.D.3d 711 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2008)
Tag 380, LLC v. Commet 380, Inc.
11 N.Y.3d 753 (New York Court of Appeals, 2008)
Imtanios v. Goldman Sachs
44 A.D.3d 383 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2007)
Grazioli v. Encompass Insurance
40 A.D.3d 696 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
40 A.D.3d 1, 830 N.Y.S.2d 87, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tag-380-v-commet-380-inc-nyappdiv-2007.