The Cincinnati Insurance Company v. James Leroy Wilson and Lisa Wilson

Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided May 25, 2021·No. 2018-CA-01703-COA·Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI NO. 2018-CA-01703-COA

THE CINCINNATI INSURANCE COMPANY APPELLANT v. JAMES LEROY WILSON AND LISA WILSON APPELLEES

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 11/21/2017 TRIAL JUDGE: HON. WINSTON L. KIDD COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: HINDS COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT: STUART ROBINSON JR.

RICHARD T. CONRAD III

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEES: JOHN HUNTER STEVENS NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - INSURANCE DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 05/25/2021 MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED: MANDATE ISSUED:

BEFORE BARNES, C.J., WESTBROOKS AND SMITH, JJ.

BARNES, C.J., FOR THE COURT:

¶1. On September 23, 2006, James Wilson, an employee of Tri-State Brick & Tile Co. Inc. (Tri-State), was seriously injured on Tri-State’s premises while attempting to unclog a line in an air pollution control system (a “scrubber”) manufactured by Bundy Environmental Technology Inc. (Bundy). Bundy’s insurance carrier, The Cincinnati Insurance Company (Cincinnati), denied coverage for James’s injury, citing an exclusionary clause contained in Bundy’s general commercial liability policy.

¶2. In 2010, James and Lisa Wilson (the Wilsons) filed a “Complaint for Declaratory

Judgment” in the Hinds County Circuit Court against Bundy and Cincinnati.1 The sole issue presented in the complaint is whether Bundy’s insurance policy provided coverage for James’s accident. After a two-day trial, a circuit court jury rendered a verdict for the Wilsons. The circuit court entered its final judgment on November 20, 2017, ordering Cincinnati to provide coverage for the claims under the terms of the policy. Cincinnati filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) or, in the alternative, a new trial, which the court denied.

¶3. On appeal, Cincinnati requests that this Court reverse and render the judgment, maintaining that James’s injury was not covered under the policy. Finding the verdict was supported by the evidence, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶4. James was employed by Tri-State, a brick manufacturer in Mississippi. Part of the brick manufacturing process involves large kilns baking the bricks with “use of certain chemicals and significant heat in these ovens.” James’s duties at Tri-State included working with these kilns. Environmental regulations required Tri-State to install air pollution control systems, a/k/a “scrubbers,” to get rid of the pollutants caused by the manufacturing process. When Tri-State added a new kiln in 2006, it negotiated with Bundy to purchase a scrubber.

1 The Wilsons have also filed a complaint against Bundy in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi (Civil Action No. 3:10cv14-HTW-LRA), alleging that the product was defective and unreasonably dangerous. That action was stayed pending resolution of this action. However, Bundy has made no appearance in this action; nor is Bundy a party to this appeal.

According to the purchase contract signed in June 2005, Tri-State “opted to supply the field construction (erection, wiring, piping, and field insulation) of the system” in an effort to lower costs, with the agreement that Bundy would “coordinate with Tri-State’s contractor and [would] supply field supervision and management as reasonably required throughout the construction period as well as during check-out and start-up.”

¶5. Alkali lime used in the scrubber to eliminate pollutants would occasionally get clogged along the sides of the scrubber; so the machine was typically outfitted with a pneumatic device to shake and unclog the lines. However, there is no evidence that the pneumatic device had been installed on the scrubber in question on September 23, 2006, the date of James’s accident. For this reason, James used a stepladder to climb up and hit the side of the scrubber with a sledgehammer in an effort to unclog the lines. In doing so that particular day, a hole opened up, spraying the lime into James’s eyes and blinding him.

¶6. Cincinnati denied coverage for James’s injury, citing an exclusion provision for “Products-Completed Operations Hazard” (PCOH) contained in Bundy’s policy. The exclusion states:

“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; or

(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; or

(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 or subcontractor 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.

Cincinnati provided the following explanation for denying coverage in a letter to Bundy dated February 4, 2010:

In this case, Mr. Wilson’s injury clearly occurred away from your premises and the Air Pollution Control System was not in your possession. As such, this falls within the PCOH and the PCOH exclusion applies eliminating coverage.

The PCOH definition also includes bodily injury occurring away from your premises that arises out of “your work” unless that work has not been completed or abandoned. First, note that “your work” is different that “your product.” A review of the suit against you clearly indicates that Mr. Wilson is suing based upon a defective product, not defective work.

However, even if the suit was based upon defective work, the PCOH states that your work is completed or abandoned when (a) all of the work called for in your contract is completed, (b) all of the work at a single job site is completed even if there are other job sites not yet finished or (c) that part of the work done at a job site has been put to is intended use. In this case, the Air

Pollution Control System was installed and put to its intended use when it allegedly injured Mr. Wilson. As such, there is still no coverage, even if the suit was based upon defective work instead of a product.

The Wilsons filed a “Complaint for Declaratory Judgment” on September 22, 2010, seeking a ruling from the circuit court on “whether or not there is insurance coverage within the policy for the allegations of this Plaintiff’s initial [c]omplaint to cover his injuries.” Responding to the complaint, Cincinnati continued to assert that the exclusion clause precluded coverage for the injury.

¶7. After extensive discovery, the Wilsons filed a summary-judgment motion on August 17, 2017, claiming “[t]he overwhelming evidence shown in discovery proves unequivocally that the product itself was neither completed, nor put to its[] intended use on or about the date of the accident.” Cincinnati filed a response and a motion for summary judgment, in which the insurance company argued that the Wilsons’ “reliance on the ‘not yet completed’ work policy language to afford coverage to Bundy fails because the work in question was complete and being put to its intended use, as evidenced by [James’s] own deposition testimony along with other proof developed in discovery.” The circuit court denied both motions.

¶8. A jury trial was held on November 6-8, 2017. During pretrial proceedings, the parties stipulated that the only issue to be decided was whether James’s injury was covered under Bundy’s insurance policy.2

2 For this reason, the parties agreed that evidence related to damages or whether the product was defective would not be introduced at trial.

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