Tig Insurance v. Monongahela Power Co.

58 A.3d 497, 209 Md. App. 146, 2012 WL 6652756, 2012 Md. App. LEXIS 161
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedDecember 21, 2012
DocketNo. 2842
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 58 A.3d 497 (Tig Insurance v. Monongahela Power Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tig Insurance v. Monongahela Power Co., 58 A.3d 497, 209 Md. App. 146, 2012 WL 6652756, 2012 Md. App. LEXIS 161 (Md. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

WATTS, J.

Appellant, TIG Insurance Company, appeals the Circuit Court for Washington County’s grant of appellees’—Allegheny Energy, Inc., Monongahela Power Company, The Potomac Edison Company, West Penn Power Company, and Allegheny Energy Supply Company, LLC—motion for partial summary judgment, and its denial, in part, of appellant’s motion for partial summary judgment. After final judgment was entered in the case, appellant noted an appeal raising two issues, which we quote:

[149]*149I. Whether the Circuit Court erred as a matter of law by entering summary judgment for [appellees] declaring that Pennsylvania law applies to the interpretation and application of the terms of the [insurance] Policies at issue in this case[?]
II. In the alternative, whether the Circuit Court erred as a matter of law by failing to enter summary judgment for [appellant] on the grounds that [appellant] is entitled to a set-off against [appellees’] loss which reflects the settling insurers’ proportionate shares of coverage responsibility for the loss[?]

For the reasons set forth below, we answer the questions in the negative. We shall, therefore, affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Although there were many entities involved in the lawsuit before the circuit court, and the procedural history is long and complex, we include only those facts relevant to the resolution of the issues presented before this Court.

Appellee Allegheny Energy, Inc. (“Allegheny”), “a corporation of the State of Maryland[,]” is the holding company of appellees Monongahela Power Company, The Potomac Edison Company, West Penn Power Company, and Allegheny Energy Supply Company, LLC.1 Since 1949, Allegheny has purchased both project specific and comprehensive general liability insurance policies from various insurers, including Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London and London Market Companies (“London”) and North River Insurance Company (“North River”).2 Among nineteen general liability insurance policies that North River issued to Allegheny were four Excess Insurance Policies-Policy Nos. 522-051804-9, 522-051805-8, 522-[150]*150051806-7, and 522-051807-6 (the “Non-JU Policies”)3—covering a policy period from October 31,1984, through October 31, 1985. On each of the Non-JU Policies, Allegheny’s address is listed as “320 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10022[.]”

The Non-JU Policies provided that the insurer agreed to indemnify Allegheny for loss exceeding the amount of loss payable by underlying policies over $5,000,000.4 The underlying policy listed on each Non-JU Policy is Associated Electric & Gas Insurance Services Limited (“AEGIS”) Policy No. 195 ANJ (the “AEGIS Policy”), which covered the same policy period as the North River policies. Liability under the AEGIS Policy had an underlying limit of $500,000 and was limited to $1,000,000 for any one occurrence. In addition, Allegheny purchased $3,500,000 in first layer excess insurance through Employers Insurance of Wausau and Twin City Fire Insurance Company.

In 2001 and 2002, Allegheny demanded that insurers indemnify it for costs related to the settlement of asbestos suits that triggered the insurers’ Liability Insurance Policies. By 2003, Allegheny had informed insurers that thousands of claims were expected to be brought against Allegheny for alleged bodily injuries arising from the claimants’ exposure to asbestos fibers while performing work within facilities owned and/or operated by Allegheny. On May 2, 2003, London filed a complaint (the “London Complaint”) against Allegheny, as well as “other interested insurers,”5 in the circuit court re[151]*151questing declaratory judgment for the purpose of determining “the rights and legal relations” of the parties arising under the contracts of insurance entered into between Allegheny and the insurers. In essence, London sought to resolve the issue of what obligations it had under the excess insurance policies to defend or indemnify Allegheny in connection with alleged liability arising from asbestos lawsuits.

On November 17, 2003, Allegheny filed a counterclaim against London and a cross-claim against the other insurers listed in the London Complaint, including North River, seeking declaratory judgment against the insurers for breach of contract “under [the] comprehensive general liability insurance policies sold to [it].” Allegheny sought a declaration that the insurers were obligated, pursuant to the terms of the Liability Insurance Policies, to provide insurance coverage for the asbestos claims. Allegheny sought damages from insurers for their alleged failure to pay the costs for the investigation and defense of the asbestos suits and other alleged “breaches of insuring obligations!.]” On December 22, 2003, appellant filed an answer to the cross-claim “as successor in interest by merger to International Insurance Company, and on behalf of North River Insurance Company [ ] by power of attorney, as to [the] Non-JU Policies[.]”

On March 31, 2005, the circuit court granted a motion by Allegheny to realign the parties so that Allegheny was the plaintiff and the insurers were the defendants. On May 3, 2005, Allegheny filed a complaint alleging breach of contract by the named defendants, and requesting declaratory judgment and other relief. On November 12, 2008, Allegheny filed a First Amended Complaint (the “First Amended Complaint”), alleging breach of contract and requesting declaratory and other relief. The First Amended Complaint contained ten counts, including Count I for “Breach of Contract against [London], North River, Wausau, Twin City, and Commercial Union” and Count X for “Declaratory Judgment Against All Insurers.”

[152]*152In Count I, Allegheny contended that it was due reimbursement under the insurance policies purchased from North River and other insurers for costs incurred during litigation of asbestos claims. Allegheny argued that the insurers “refused to meet [Allegheny’s] contractual demands, refused to acknowledge, accept, or undertake their contractual obligations, and have thereby breached their Liability Insurance Policies.” Allegheny asserted that it sustained damages as a result of the insurers’ breaches, and that it was “entitled to all direct, indirect, consequential, special, compensatory and other damages resulting from the[] breaches of contract.” Allegheny maintained that, with regard to the breaches alleged in Count I, it was due pre-and post-judgment interest and attorney’s fees and costs. In Count X, Allegheny requested that nineteen declarations be entered against insurers, including a declaration that the insurers be required to pay or reimburse Allegheny for sums it is “legally obligated or reasonably required to pay as damages by reason of bodily injury, personal injury and other damage or injury ... in connection with the Asbestos Suits[.]”

On April 9, 2010, Allegheny filed a motion for partial summary judgment requesting that the circuit court find that Pennsylvania Law applies to the 1974 to 1980 London comprehensive general liability insurance policies and that, as a result, it (Allegheny) was entitled to select which policy (from 1974 to 1980) to respond first to in the asbestos suits.

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58 A.3d 497, 209 Md. App. 146, 2012 WL 6652756, 2012 Md. App. LEXIS 161, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tig-insurance-v-monongahela-power-co-mdctspecapp-2012.