Turkey Run v. Seneca Specialty Insurance

37 Pa. D. & C.5th 61
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lycoming County
DecidedFebruary 13, 2014
DocketNo. 11-02,404
StatusPublished

This text of 37 Pa. D. & C.5th 61 (Turkey Run v. Seneca Specialty Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lycoming County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Turkey Run v. Seneca Specialty Insurance, 37 Pa. D. & C.5th 61 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2014).

Opinion

ANDERSON, J.,

Before the court is the motion of defendant Soccer Dome, LLC for Entry of Discontinuance, filed February 7, 2014. Defendant Gleason’s response to the motion was filed February 12, 2014.

Plaintiff, Turkey Run Properties, LP, owns certain real estate on which was situated a dome structure which was leased by defendant Soccer Dome, LLC.. Turkey Run purchased insurance on the dome from defendant Seneca Specialty Insurance Company, using Gleason Agency, [63]*63Inc. to effectuate the purchase. In February 2011 the dome collapsed. Turkey Run made a claim with Seneca and, after an investigation, Seneca denied the claim, for two reasons: the application for insurance had misrepresented that there had been no losses in the previous five years when in fact there had been a partial collapse in 2007, and faulty or inadequate maintenance (in temperature and pressure levels) excluded the loss from coverage under the policy.

In the instant suit, Turkey Run claims that (1) Seneca breached the insurance contract by failing to diligently investigate the claim and by failing to pay it, (2) Gleason was negligent in filling out the insurance application, and (3) Soccer Dome was negligent in its maintenance of the temperature and pressure in the dome. Turkey Run also seeks a declaration that the damage to the dome “arises out of or is related to use” by Soccer Dome (which would make Soccer Dome liable under its lease with Turkey Run).

All defendants answered the complaint and filed cross-claims against all other defendants; Seneca and Soccer Dome also filed counterclaims against Turkey Run. The cross-claims and counterclaims were answered and the pleadings thus closed without too much wrangling. Discovery proved to run much less smoothly, however, and after significant time in the matter was invested by all counsel, it was decided that mediation might be beneficial. Indeed it was, and following mediation, Turkey Run settled with both Seneca and Soccer Dome. A settlement with Gleason was not forthcoming, however, and the matter proceeded to the pre-trial conference, at which counsel for Gleason objected to the absence of counsel for Soccer [64]*64Dome who, based on the settlement with Turkey Run, had not appeared. Gleason contended that Soccer Dome was required to participate in the trial based on Gleason’s cross-claim against it. Counsel for Soccer Dome was contacted by telephone and indicated his understanding that only claims for contribution and indemnity had been made and that while any judgment Turkey Run might obtain against Gleason might be reduced because of the settlement with Seneca and Soccer Dome, Gleason could not pursue a claim of negligence against Soccer Dome. Counsel for Gleason disagreed but as the issue was not at that time before the court, the pre-trial conference proceeded and the matter was scheduled for trial. Soccer Dome has now filed the instant motion for entry of discontinuance, seeking an order that the entire matter be discontinued as against it.

Initially, the court notes that counsel for Soccer Dome was correct in his understanding that only claims of contribution and indemnity have been made by Gleason, as follows:

NEW MATTER PURSUANT TO RULE 2252(D) IN THE FORM OF A CROSS-CLAIM AGAINST CO-DEFENDANT, SOCCER DOME, LLC
110. Gleason avers that if plaintiff sustained any compensable injuries or damages as alleged inplaintiff’s complaint, said injuries or damages were caused by co-defendant, Soccer Dome, LLC, for the reasons set forth in plaintiff’s complaint or otherwise, which allegations are hereby incorporated by reference as if each of said allegations were more fully set forth herein at length.
[65]*65111. As a result, Gleason avers that co-defendant, Soccer Dome, LLC, is jointly or severally liable, or liable over to Gleason for contribution or indemnity on any recovery obtained by plaintiff.
WHEREFORE, defendant, Gleason Agency, Inc. respectfully avers that co-defendant Soccer Dome, LLC, is liable, jointly or severally liable, or liable over to Gleason Agency, Inc. for contribution or indemnity on any recovery obtained by plaintiff.

Gleason argues against dismissal on the basis that the request for indemnity is a valid claim against Soccer Dome.1 Before reaching that point, however, the court will address Gleason’s preliminary points.

First, Gleason argues that the motion should be denied as an untimely motion for summary judgment. Soccer Dome has filed the motion under Pa.R.C.P. 229, which speaks to voluntary discontinuance by a plaintiff before trial. That is indeed not the case here, and Gleason is thus correct that the motion should be treated as a motion for summary judgment. Since the latest version of the scheduling order in this matter required dispositive motions to have been filed by August 5, 2013, the instant motion is untimely. The court will not dismiss the motion on that basis, however, as to do so would work a manifest injustice: Soccer Dome would be required to defend an invalid claim, one which it reasonably could not have foreseen until counsel for Gleason announced an intent to pursue it, after the dispositive motions deadline had [66]*66passed.2

Second, Gleason argues it would be prejudiced by dismissal of its cross-claim against Soccer Dome. Interestingly, Gleason cites Rule 229 in support of this argument, for the proposition that discontinuance as against some but not all defendants is not appropriate where discontinuance would prejudice the remaining parties. Ignoring the irony in this argument, the court will simply note that as it is determined hereinafter that Gleason does not have a valid claim against Soccer Dome, dismissal of that claim cannot constitute prejudice.

Finally, Gleason argues that encouraging settlement is no justification for depriving it of a valid cross-claim against Soccer Dome. The court wholeheartedly agrees with Gleason on this point, and if Gleason had a valid cross-claim against Soccer Dome the motion would not be granted. As discussed hereinafter, however, the court has concluded that Gleason does not have such a valid cross-claim.

Gleason contends that it has a valid cross-claim against Soccer Dome for indemnity because Soccer Dome was “actually responsible for the collapse” and Gleason was only, if at all, “secondarily liable.” Gleason argues that “the issue is not whether Gleason was itself negligent, but whether Gleason’s alleged negligence ‘contributed to the happening of the accident,”’ and that Gleason “in no way caused this damage,” citing Builder’s Supply Co. [67]*67v. McCabe, 77 A.2d 368, 370 (Pa. 1951). This argument is simply incorrect. While Gleason may not have had anything to do with the collapse, it is alleged that it had much to do with the refusal of the insurance company to pay, and that lack of payment, in addition to the collapse itself, is said by Turkey Run to have caused further injury in the form of mold and mildew which accumulated as the parties wrestled with the claim. Gleason’s negligence is thus indeed an issue and further, Gleason’s focus on the collapse is misplaced, as primary and secondary liability is not defined based on some sort of “which negligence was worse” analysis.

In Builder s Supply,

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Related

Burch v. Sears, Roebuck and Co.
467 A.2d 615 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
TVSM, INC. v. Alexander & Alexander, Inc.
583 F. Supp. 1089 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1984)
Builders Supply Co. v. McCabe
77 A.2d 368 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1951)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
37 Pa. D. & C.5th 61, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/turkey-run-v-seneca-specialty-insurance-pactcompllycomi-2014.