Welton v. AMCO Insurance Co.

180 F. Supp. 3d 825, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44090, 2016 WL 1298086
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedMarch 31, 2016
DocketCase No. 14-cv-4066-DDC-KGG
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 180 F. Supp. 3d 825 (Welton v. AMCO Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Welton v. AMCO Insurance Co., 180 F. Supp. 3d 825, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44090, 2016 WL 1298086 (D. Kan. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Daniel D. Crabtree, United States District Judge

Plaintiffs Dr. Thomas C. Welton and Mary E. Welton bring this lawsuit claiming that defendant AMCO Insurance Company failed to pay the total amount of damages caused by a fire and collapse in part of their home. This matter comes [827]*827before the Court on plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 25). Plaintiffs ask the Court to find that defendant’s March 16, 2012 “denial of Plaintiffs’ claim of collapse based upon the general exclusions of ‘settlement’ or ‘earth movement’ was an error as a matter of law.” Doc, 25 at 1 (emphasis omitted). Plaintiffs also ask the Court to grant summary judgment against all affirmative defenses that defendant has asserted relying on its general policy exclusions. Id. Defendant has filed a Memorandum in Opposition (Doc. 33), and plaintiffs filed a Reply (Doc. 37). Plaintiffs also have filed a document, labeled a “Notice of Supplemental Authority” (Doc. 87). It advances additional facts and exhibits which, they contend, support their motion. For reasons explained below, the Court denies plaintiffs’ motion.

I. Plaintiffs’ Notice of Supplemental Authority

Before reaching the merits of plaintiffs’ motion, the Court, first, must determine whether to consider the supplemental facts and exhibits plaintiffs submitted after briefing on their motion had closed. On January 29, 2016, plaintiffs filed a document called “Supplemental Authority in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment on Collapse” (Doc. 87),1 In it, plaintiffs set out 17 pages of facts—referred to as a “Statement of Supplemental Uncontroverted Collapse Authority.” Doc. 87 at 2-8. Plaintiffs attempt to support those facts in this supplement by attaching a number of photographs, deposition, transcripts, and expert reports. See Docs. 87-93,102-03. The depositions were taken and the expert reports were submitted after plaintiffs had submitted their motion. The photographs were taken before plaintiffs had submitted their motion and they purport to show the. condition of the home before and after the collapse. Plaintiffs’ notice also explained that their initial summary judgment motion “is fully briefed and ready for a decision by the Court.” Doc, 87 at 1. Plaintiffs assert that the purpose of the “supplemental authority is merely to aid the Court in its decision.” Id. Defendant did not object to plaintiffs’ Supplemental Authority. Instead, it filed a Memorandum in Opposition (Doc. 110), admitting and denying plaintiffs’ supplemental facts. Defendant’s memorandum also advances additional arguments against summary judgment.

Typically, a party moving .for summary judgment must support assertions of fact by citing “particular parts of materials in the record.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(e)(1)(A); see also D. Kan. Rule 56.1(d) (requiring all facts on which a summary judgment motion is based to be “presented by affidavit, declaration under penalty of perjury, and/or relevant pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and responses to requests for admission.”). When a moving party fails to support an assertion of fact with such a citation, Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(e) permits the Court to afford the movant “an opportunity to properly support or address the fact.”

Here, the Court never issued a Rule 56(e) order. But, having reviewed plaintiffs’, initial motion (Doc. 25) and support[828]*828ing memorandum (Doc. 26), the Court finds that such an order is needed here. The Court thus will construe plaintiffs’ Supplemental Authority as a response to an order issued under Rule 56(e). Consistent with this approach, the Court considers plaintiffs’ supplemental facts, defendant’s response to those facts, and any admissible exhibits supporting or controverting the supplemental facts, below, as part of the summary judgment record that governs this motion. The Court declines, however, to consider the additional legal arguments advanced by either party.2

II. Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment

A. Uncontroverted Facts

The following facts are uncontroverted or, if controverted, are stated in the light most favorable to defendant, the non-moving party. Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 378, 127 S.Ct. 1769, 167 L.Ed.2d 686 (2007).

Plaintiffs’ Homeowner’s Policy

Plaintiffs purchased their home in Topeka, Kansas, in 1999. They renovated and expanded the home, adding bedrooms and bathrooms to its east wing in 2000. And, from 2008 through 2012, plaintiffs insured the home and their personal property under a “Homeowners 5” insurance policy issued by defendant (the “Policy”).

The Policy included “additional coverage” for damage or loss caused by collapse. The Policy defines a “collapse,” as follows:

With respect to this Additional coverage:

1)Collapse means an abrupt falling down or caving in of a building or any part of a building with the result that the building or part of the building cannot be occupied for its current intended purpose.
2) A building or any part of a building that is in danger of falling down or caving in is not considered to be in a state of collapse.
3) A part of a building that is standing is not considered to be in a state of collapse even if it has been separated from another part of the building.
4) A building or any part of a building that is standing is not considered to be in a state of collapse even if it shows evidence of cracking, bulging, sagging, bending, leaning, settling, shrinkage or expansion.

Doc. 33-1 at 26-27. The Policy also describes, in relevant part, the extent of coverage in the event of a collapse:

a. We insure for direct physical loss to covered property involving collapse of a building or part of a building if the collapse was caused by one or more of the following:
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2) Decay that is hidden from view, unless the presence of such decay is known to an “insured” prior to collapse ....

Doc. 33-1 at 27.

Section I of the Policy sets out the exceptions to coverage. It provides that defendant does not insure plaintiffs’ home against losses caused by “[s]ettling, shrinking, bulging or expansion, including resultant cracking, of bulkheads, pavements, patios, footings, foundations, walls, floors, roofs, or ceilings ....” Id. at 31. Section I also describes the exclusions to the Policy. Among those exclusions, the [829]*829Policy does not cover damage or loss resulting from earth movement:

A. We do not insure for loss caused directly or indirectly by any of the following. Such loss is excluded regardless of any other cause or event contributing concurrently or in any sequence to the loss. These exclusions apply whether or not the loss event results in widespread damage or affects a substantial area.
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2.

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Bluebook (online)
180 F. Supp. 3d 825, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44090, 2016 WL 1298086, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/welton-v-amco-insurance-co-ksd-2016.