Unifoil Corp. v. CNA Ins. Companies

528 A.2d 47, 218 N.J. Super. 461, 4 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1393, 1987 N.J. Super. LEXIS 1216
CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedJune 29, 1987
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 528 A.2d 47 (Unifoil Corp. v. CNA Ins. Companies) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Unifoil Corp. v. CNA Ins. Companies, 528 A.2d 47, 218 N.J. Super. 461, 4 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1393, 1987 N.J. Super. LEXIS 1216 (N.J. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

218 N.J. Super. 461 (1987)
528 A.2d 47

UNIFOIL CORPORATION, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,
v.
CNA INSURANCE COMPANIES, DEFENDANT-RESPONDENT.

Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.

Argued May 13, 1987.
Decided June 29, 1987.

*463 Before Judges DREIER, SHEBELL and STERN.

Thomas A. McKinney argued the cause for appellant (Waldman, Renda & McKinney, attorneys; Thomas A. McKinney, on the brief).

Marc M. Kaye argued the cause for respondent (Mark A. Clemente, attorney; Marc M. Kaye, on the brief).

The opinion of the court was delivered by DREIER, J.A.D.

Plaintiff appeals from a summary judgment dismissing its complaint for a judgment declaring insurance coverage for losses allegedly occasioned by plaintiff's defective product. Plaintiff produces foil-laminated paper used in the manufacture of lottery tickets. A supplier and sub-supplier were apparently responsible for defective lacquer supplied to plaintiff which caused plaintiff's product to be defective. When tickets were further processed by plaintiff's customer, Lustour Corp., the tickets' surface would not retain printing after an opaque covering was scrapped off. Thus the purchasers of the tickets *464 would be unable to read the symbols beneath the covering and determine whether they had won prizes. At a time when plaintiff had not realized the extent of the problem, it settled with its suppliers for the sum of $35,000.

Dittler Bros. Inc., the final recipient of the alleged defective foil-coated paper in the manufacturing chain, processed the paper before sending completed tickets to the distributor. It brought action in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Southern Division, against Lustour Corp. alleging breaches of warranty under the Uniform Commercial Code. Lustour Corp. in turn served Unifoil with a third-party complaint claiming both breaches of warranty and negligence on Unifoil's part. Unifoil, by reason of its prior settlement with and general releases issued to its own suppliers, was subject to a claim of $1,157,722.14 in the Michigan action with no ability to pass the loss to them. It, therefore, turned to defendant, its insurer, for its sole protection.

Defendant CNA Insurance Companies denied coverage under an exclusion provision of the general liability policy which stated:

This insurance does not apply:

* * * * * * * *
... to loss of use of tangible property which has not been physically injured or destroyed resulting from
(1) a delay in or lack of performance by or on behalf of the Named Insured of any contract or agreement, or
(2) the failure of the Named Insured's Products or work performed by or on behalf of the Named Insured to meet the level of performance, quality, fitness or durability warranted or represented by the Named Insured,
but this exclusion does not apply to loss of use of other tangible property from the sudden and accidental physical injury to or destruction of the Named Insured's Products or work performed by or on behalf of the Named Insured after such products or work have been put to use by any person or organization other than an Insured....

The case was argued in the Law Division on the basis of defendant's responsibility to pay for the cost of defense and for any eventual judgment that might be rendered against plaintiff. *465 The trial judge determined that the exclusion was applicable and this appeal ensued. While the appeal was pending before us the Michigan action was settled with no liability imposed upon plaintiff. Apparently, the functional defects in the tickets were acknowledged to be substantially unrelated to plaintiff's processing. The sole issue remaining before us, therefore, is the responsibility of defendant to pay for plaintiff's legal costs in the Michigan action, represented at oral argument before us to be between $20,000 and $30,000. We will, therefore, confine our review to the issue of defendant's alleged obligation to defray the cost of plaintiff's defense of the Michigan claim.

The third-party complaint in the Michigan action alleged:

a) The chemical composition of the alleged defective material was improperly formulated;
b) The material was not fit for its intended purposes;
c) The material was not merchantable;
d) The material was improperly mixed;
e) The specifications for the material was [sic] improper with relationship to its intended uses;
f) Implied warranties under the Uniform Commercial Code were breached;
g) Information possessed by the third-party defendants should have been disclosed in order to alter other procedures related to the material;
h) Third-party defendants were negligent and careless with reference to the material by failing to or improperly examining or testing the materials, by failing to exercise proper quality control over the preparation, manufacture, formulation, bottling and distribution of the materials, by failing to discover that the materials were defective, and by failing to act in a reasonable and prudent manner according to the circumstances and conditions then existing;
i) Third-party defendants implied and expressly warranted that the materials were of merchantable quality and that they were reasonably fit for the general use and purpose for which it was manufactured and sold.

The third-party complaint further alleged that the third-party plaintiff's damages resulted as "a proximate cause of the aforementioned breaches of negligence and warranty duties."

There is no question that defendant should be required to defend plaintiff in a third-party action if the claim against plaintiff constituted a risk falling within the purview of the policy coverage. NPS Corp. v. Insurance Co. of North America, 213 N.J. Super. 547, 550 (App.Div. 1986). An insurer's duty *466 to defend an action against an insured is measured by the allegations in the complaint. Ibid.

The exclusion clause quoted above has at least two salient features relevant to the issue before us. One disqualifying factor urged by plaintiff is that the claims against it were not limited by the policy exclusion that the loss of use must result from plaintiff's product's failure "to meet the level of performance, quality, fitness or durability warranted or represented by" plaintiff. This exclusion has been judicially determined to reflect a

... clear and unambiguous desire by the insurer to exclude from coverage damages arising from the breach of representations or warranties made by the named insured as to the level of performance of its work. [Willets Point Contracting v. Hartford Ins. Group, 75 App.Div.2d 254, 259, 429 N.Y.S.2d 230, 233 (App.Div. 1980), aff'd, 53 N.Y.2d 879, 423 N.E.2d 42, 440 N.Y.S.2d 619 (1981)].

Plaintiff further urges that the claims against it were not merely for breaches of warranty, which it acknowledges would fall within this exclusion, but also for negligence which should not be encompassed by this exclusion.

Our analysis of the claims against plaintiff can start with an examination of Spring Motors Distr. Inc. v. Ford Motor Co., 98 N.J. 555 (1985).

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Bluebook (online)
528 A.2d 47, 218 N.J. Super. 461, 4 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1393, 1987 N.J. Super. LEXIS 1216, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/unifoil-corp-v-cna-ins-companies-njsuperctappdiv-1987.