Vermont Mutual Insurance v. Zamsky

916 F. Supp. 2d 156, 2012 WL 6869847, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 165107
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedNovember 9, 2012
DocketCivil Action No. 11-11869-NMG
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 916 F. Supp. 2d 156 (Vermont Mutual Insurance v. Zamsky) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vermont Mutual Insurance v. Zamsky, 916 F. Supp. 2d 156, 2012 WL 6869847, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 165107 (D. Mass. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER

NATHANIEL M. GORTON, District Judge.

After consideration of plaintiffs’ objections (Docket No. [69]) and joint objections of defendants (Docket No. [70]) thereto, Report and Recommendation is accepted and adopted.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (#26), DEFENDANT SCOTTSDALE INSURANCE COMPANY’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT, ETC. (#34) AND DEFENDANT, MASSACHUSETTS PROPERTY INSURANCE UNDERWRITING ASSOCIATION’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (# 48)

COLLINGS, United States Magistrate Judge.

I. Introduction

This case involves the question of whether an exclusion in homeowners insurance policies issued by Vermont Mutual Insurance Company (“Vermont”) on a residence in Sharon, Massachusetts and two rental units in Melrose, Massachusetts to Alexander and Sofia Zamsky (“the Zamskys”) is applicable to claims for personal injury [157]*157occurring on property in Falmouth, Massachusetts which is also owned by the Zamskys but is not insured by Vermont. In its Complaint, Vermont seeks a declaratory judgment that it has no duty to defend claims for bodily injury occurring on the Falmouth property. The defendants oppose Vermont’s prayer for such a declaratory judgment, contending that Vermont has a duty to defend.

The Court rules that there are no disputes of material fact and that the summary judgment motions present a clear question of law which may be decided by the Court. The parties agree that Massachusetts law is applicable.

The exclusion found in the three policies issued by Vermont to the Zamskys provides that the policies do not cover “bodily injury” or “property damage” “arising out of a premises” which are either “owned by”, “rented to” and “rented to others by an ‘insured’ that is not an ‘insured location’.” It is undisputed that the Falmouth property is not an “insured location” in any of the three policies issued by Vermont. So the issue to be decided is whether the bodily injury which occurred on the Falmouth property can be found to be “arising out of’ the Falmouth property such that the exclusion in the three Vermont policies is applicable.

II. The Facts

The undisputed material facts are that Andrew Zamsky, the Zamsky’s son, had purchased a portable fire pit for use at the Falmouth property during the summer of 2008. The pit was approximately 2/6-3 foot square and stood about 18 inches high. It weighed between 30 and 40 pounds. The pit was not attached to any part of the property; rather, it was moveable and was kept in a shed on the Falmouth property when it was not in use.

On the evening of November 27, 2008, Andrew Zamsky decided to go to the Falmouth property with several of his friends. The friends included, inter alia, defendant Renata Ivnistkaya and Aaron Bronstein. At some point after the group’s arrival in Falmouth, it was decided to use the fire pit. The pit was retrieved from the shed and placed in the middle of the deck. Lawn chairs were placed around the pit. Unfortunately, the group had trouble getting the fire in the pit started, so Aaron Bronstein, who was familiar with the property, announced that he was going to get something to get the fire going; Andrew Zamsky urged him to do so and directed him to the garage or the shed.

A few minutes later, Aaron Bronstein reappeared toting a red container containing gasoline. He poured the gasoline on the pit which resulted in an immediate large flash of flames. The flames caused burns to all present. Thereafter, Renata Ivnistkaya sued Andrew Zamsky for negligence in Middlesex Superior Court, Ivnistkaya v. Zamsky, C.A. No. MICV201101744, seeking damages for her bodily injury, and Vermont has been defending Andrew Zamsky under a complete reservation of rights.1

III. Discussion

The exclusion found in the Vermont policy is not unusual and has been the subject of two decisions of the Massachusetts Appeals Court. In the first ease, Callahan v. Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Company, 50 Mass.App.Ct. 260, 736 N.E.2d 857 (2000), Callahan (“Callahan”) had brought a declaratory judgment action seeking a declaration that the insurer (“Quincy”) must defend him under a homeowners policy on property he owned in New Hampshire. That policy contained an exclusion identical in all pertinent respects to the [158]*158one at issue in the instant case. The duty to defend involved a suit for damages for bodily injury brought by a person who was bitten by Callahan’s dog at Callahan’s other residence in Marshfield, Massachusetts. The Marshfield property was not an “insured location” under the policy on the New Hampshire property.

The Appeals Court stated the question before it as:

... whether the exclusion ought to be read as pertaining to anything that occurs on the [Marshfield] premises or whether the exclusion is limited to accidents that occur because of a condition of the [Marshfield] premises, such as a hole in a walkway, a loose step, defective plumbing, or faulty electric wiring.

Callahan, 50 Mass.App.Ct. at 261, 736 N.E.2d at 858. Applying this test, the Appeals Court held that the dog bite did not “arise out of’ the Marshfield property because the dog was “not a condition of the Marshfield premises, as a protective electric fence would be.” Id. at 263, 736 N.E.2d at 859. “[The dog bite] happened there, but it did not ‘arise out of,’ as the phrase is understood.” Id2

The second Appeals Court decision on the issue came about five years later in the case of Commerce Insurance Co., Inc. v. Theodore, 65 Mass.App.Ct. 471, 841 N.E.2d 281 (2006). The facts were that the insurance company (“Commerce”) issued a homeowners policy to Theodore on his residence in Framingham, Massachusetts. Theodore owned another piece of property in Dorchester which was not insured. The policy on the Framingham property issued by Commerce contained the same exclusion as in the instant case, ie., no coverage “... for personal liability and medical payments to others ‘[a]rising out of a premises: (1) Owned by an “insured” ... that is not an “insured location.’”” Id. at 471, 841 N.E.2d at 282 (footnote omitted). The Dorchester property was not an “insured location” under the policy which Commerce issued vis-avis the Framingham property. Id. at 472, 841 N.E.2d at 282.

The injury occurred when Theodore asked a friend to help him take down a tree on the Dorchester property. In the process, the friend fell off a ladder and was injured. Id. The neighbor sued Theodore for personal injury, and Commerce, although defending under a reservation of rights, sought a declaration that it had no duty to defend. Id.

Distinguishing the decision in Callahan, the Appeals Court found the exclusion applicable, writing that:

[W]e consider that where, as here, a third person is on the property to repair a condition on the property — the dying tree — and in the course of such repair injury results, such injury is one ‘arising out of a premises.’

Id.

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Related

Vermont Mutual Insurance v. Zamsky
732 F.3d 37 (First Circuit, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
916 F. Supp. 2d 156, 2012 WL 6869847, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 165107, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vermont-mutual-insurance-v-zamsky-mad-2012.