TITAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY v. Nolf

500 P.2d 377
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 11, 1972
Docket71-249. (Supreme Court No. 24393.)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 500 P.2d 377 (TITAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY v. Nolf) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
TITAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY v. Nolf, 500 P.2d 377 (Colo. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

500 P.2d 377 (1972)

TITAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, a Colorado corporation, Plaintiff in Error.
v.
James G. NOLF et al., Defendants in Error.

No. 71-249. (Supreme Court No. 24393.)

Colorado Court of Appeals, Div. I.

May 16, 1972.
Rehearing Denied June 6, 1972.
Certiorari Granted September 11, 1972.

*378 Zarlengo, Mott & Carlin, John C. Mott, Denver, for plaintiff in error.

Joseph J. Branney, John A. Criswell, Englewood, for defendants in error James G. Nolf and The Industrial Commission of Colorado.

Montgomery, Little & Freeland, Robert R. Montgomery, Denver, for defendant in error Phoenix Assur. Co. of New York.

C. Charles Buchler, Victor N. Nilsen, Englewood, for defendant in error Stephen Dach.

Selected for Official Publication.

COYTE, Judge.

This case was transferred from the Supreme Court pursuant to statute.

It arose out of an injury to James Nolf (referred to as Nolf), an employee of *379 Walt Flanagan & Co. (Flanagan), sustained when Nolf was unloading grout into a hopper at a construction site which was under the supervision of Titan Construction Co. (Titan). Nolf at the time of the accident was standing between the mixer truck and the pump being used to pump grout from a hopper onto the roof of the building being built by Titan. He was waiting for the pump to take enough grout out of the hopper so that he could replenish it with grout from his truck. The mixer on the truck was shut off and the pump motor, while apparently running, was not pumping at the time Nolf was injured. At this time the mixer truck was not completely empty. The injury was caused by a piece of falling cinderblock apparently jarred loose by a hose attached to the pump, which hose was used as a conduit to carry the grout onto the roof. This cinderblock might have come from masonry work performed by Stephen Dach (Dach) who was the masonry subcontractor for the project. At the time of the accident there was in effect an automobile liability policy issued by Phoenix Assurance Company of New York (Phoenix) to Walt Flanagan & Co. Benefits were paid to Nolf under the Workmen's Compensation Act for the injury, by Flanagan's compensation carrier.

Nolf and the Industrial Commission of Colorado brought suit against Titan. Titan filed a third-party complaint against Dach and Phoenix, alleging they were liable to Titan for indemnification. The trial court dismissed Phoenix from the case at the close of all the evidence. The jury found in favor of Dach on Titan's claim for indemnity and awarded Nolf $35,000 against Titan, who is now seeking reversal of all these judgments.

I.

LIABILITY OF TITAN TO NOLF

Titan argues that the jury was improperly instructed as to the obligation of Titan toward Nolf. The instruction in effect advised that Titan would be liable if it did not provide Nolf with a safe place to work. This instruction is in line with the recently announced opinion of Mile High Fence Co. v. Radovich, Colo., 489 P.2d 308.

There was no error in the giving of the instruction. The jury having determined that Titan was liable to Nolf under proper instruction, the judgment will not be disturbed.

II.

STEPHEN DACH IS NOT LIABLE TO TITAN ON EITHER A NEGLIGENCE THEORY OR AN INDEMNITY THEORY

Dach was a subcontractor who did the masonry work on the building being constructed by Titan. His workmen had been off the job for some three weeks prior to the happening of the accident and there was no direct evidence as to the source of the cinderblock that injured Nolf, or how it came to be placed on the wall. A rope used to guide the hose being used to carry the grout to the roof and the hose itself were scraping along the building; but who placed the cinderblock in the location from whence it fell was left entirely to speculation. There was no evidence to connect Dach with any negligent act relative to the loosening of the brick. The trial court was correct in directing a verdict in favor of Dach on the issue of negligence.

The second issue as to indemnification was submitted to the jury. The agreement between Dach and Titan provided that Dach would be responsible to Titan for:

". . . any and all liability, damages, losses, claims, and expenses, howsoever caused, resulting directly or indirectly from or connected with the performance of his agreement, irrespective of whether such liability, damages, losses, claims or expenses were actually or allegedly caused wholly or in part through the negligence of Contractor or any of its agents, employees or other Sub-Contractors."

*380 The jury was properly instructed that they could not impose liability upon Dach unless the injury complained of by Nolf "resulted directly or indirectly from or was connected with the performance of Dach's agreement under the terms of the sub-contract."

Any finding by the jury that the injury of Nolf resulted directly or indirectly from or was connected with performance of Stephen Dach's agreement under the terms of the contract would have been pure speculation and conjecture and could not have been allowed to stand. Accordingly, the finding of the jury in this regard will not be disturbed.

Titan also argues that the trial court erred in permitting the jury to determine whether the contract between Dach and Titan was entered into knowingly. Titan contends that this was not an issue in the case and that to instruct upon it was error. Since there was no evidence to support a finding against Dach even in the absence of the contract, any error in regard to instructing the jury on this issue was harmless error.

III.

LIABILITY OF PHOENIX ASSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK

The trial court in dismissing the third-party complaint against Phoenix, held that Phoenix could not be liable under the circumstances herein presented because of an exclusionary clause in their policy. Because of such ruling, the court did not decide the questions as to whether the unloading had been completed and whether coverage extended to Titan under the loading and unloading provision of the policy.

The clause to which the trial court referred and upon which Phoenix relies is commonly referred to as "Employee Exclusion Clause" and reads as follows:

"This policy does not apply:
. . . . . .
"(b) Under Coverage A, to bodily injury to or sickness, disease, or death of any employee of the insured arising out of and in the course of (1) domestic employment by the insured, if benefits therefor are in whole or in part either payable or required to be provided under any workmen's compensation law, or (2) other employment by the insured;
"(c) Under Coverage A, to any obligation for which the insured or any carrier as his insurer may be held liable under any workmen's compensation, unemployment compensation or disability benefits law, or under any similar law."

This Employee Exclusion Clause must be read with another clause in the policy of Phoenix, namely the "Severability of Interests Clause" which reads as follows:

"8. Severability of Interests. The term `the insured' is used severally and not collectively, but the inclusion herein of more than one insured shall not operate to increase the limits of the company's liability."

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Related

Auxier v. Auxier
843 P.2d 93 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 1992)
TITAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY v. Nolf
515 P.2d 1123 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1973)

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Bluebook (online)
500 P.2d 377, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/titan-construction-company-v-nolf-coloctapp-1972.