Willets Point Contracting Corp. v. Hartford Insurance Group

75 A.D.2d 254, 429 N.Y.S.2d 230, 1980 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11226
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJune 23, 1980
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 75 A.D.2d 254 (Willets Point Contracting Corp. v. Hartford Insurance Group) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Willets Point Contracting Corp. v. Hartford Insurance Group, 75 A.D.2d 254, 429 N.Y.S.2d 230, 1980 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11226 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Mangano, J.

This is a declaratory judgment action in which plaintiff Willets Point Contracting Corp. (Willets) seeks a determination that defendant the Hartford Insurance Group (Hartford) is required, pursuant to two contracts of insurance, to defend and indemnify it in an action instituted by the Hempstead T.W. Corp. (Hempstead) against Willets and the County of Nassau.

The principal question raised on this appeal is whether Hartford was obligated to defend and indemnify Willets under its policies of insurance.

In 1975 Willets entered into a contract with the County of Nassau to do certain repair and resurfacing work along Peninsula Boulevard, Hempstead, New York, known as the "Horse-brook Drain Project.” Willets applied to Hartford for liability coverage and obtained two policies, i.e., a general liability policy for the period of January 20, 1975 to January 20, 1976 and an "umbrella liability policy” for the period of May 8, 1975 to January 20, 1976. Willets commenced its work in 1975 and it subsequently completed said work, receiving a certificate of completion from the County of Nassau on October 25, 1976.

Pursuant to the terms of the contract between Willets and the County of Nassau, the contractor was required to maintain the means of ingress and egress to each owner’s property abutting the construction site.

On November 20, 1975 Hempstead, the owner and operator [256]*256of a gas station located along the route where Willets was performing its work, served a notice of claim upon the County of Nassau seeking monetary damages for loss of business profits as a result of the public being denied ingress and egress to its station.

On January 23, 1976 Hempstead commenced an action against Willets and the County of Nassau seeking monetary damages for the loss of said business profits resulting from the alleged failure of Willets to maintain ingress and egress to Hempstead’s gas station as was required by the terms of Willets’ contract with the County of Nassau. Both defendants served their answers and the defendant County of Nassau cross-claimed against Willets in the event any judgment was rendered against the county.

Willets demanded that Hartford honor the terms of the insurance policies and defend and indemnify it in the action commenced by Hempstead. When Hartford refused to defend Willets under either the general liability policy or the umbrella policy, Willets commenced the instant declaratory judgment action, inter alia, against Hartford.

The comprehensive general liability insurance policy between the parties stated:

"The company will pay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of

"Coverage A—bodily injury or

"Coverage B—property damage

"to which this insurance applies, caused by an occurrence, and the company shall have the right and duty to defend any suit against the insured seeking damages on account of such bodily injury or property damage, even if any of the allegations of the suit are groundless, false, or fraudulent * * *

" 'occurrence’ means an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to conditions, which results in bodily injury or property damage neither expected nor intended from the standpoint of the insured * * *

" 'property damage’ means (1) physical injury to or destruction of tangible property which occurs during the policy period, including the loss of use thereof at any time resulting therefrom, or (2) loss of use of tangible property which has not been physically injured or destroyed provided such loss of use is caused by an occurrence during the policy period”.

[257]*257The general coverage provisions are subject to the following pertinent policy exclusions:

"(m) 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” (emphasis supplied).

Hartford maintains that the actions complained of in the suit instituted against Willets and the County of Nassau do not constitute an "occurrence” within the terms of the policy and further that exclusion "(m)” specifically relieves it of the obligation to defend the insured. Special Term rejected both of these arguments. We reverse.

The policy of insurance in the instant case requires the insurer to "pay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because * * * of bodily injury * * * or property damage to which the insurance applies, caused by an occurrence, * * * and * * * to defend any suit against the insured seeking damages on account of such bodily injury or property damage, even if any of the allegations of the suit are groundless, false or fraudulent”.

An "occurrence” is defined in the policy as "an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to conditions, which results in bodily injury or property damage neither expected nor intended from the standpoint of the insured”.

The term "property damage”, as defined in the policy, includes "loss of use of tangible property which has not been physically injured or destroyed provided such loss of use is caused by an occurrence during the policy period”.

The gravamen of Hempstead’s complaint is the failure of Willets to live up to the terms of its contract with the County of Nassau in that Willets failed to provide abutting landowners along the project site with ingress and egress to their property.

The first question to be resolved is whether the damage to Hempstead’s property was caused by an "occurrence”, within the meaning of Hartford’s policy, thus requiring the latter to defend and indemnify Willets.

[258]*258In applying the policy definition of "occurrence” to the actions complained of by Hempstead, i.e., the blocking of ingress and egress, we must determine whether the acts of Willets in excavating, may nevertheless be considered an occurrence causing damage to Hempstead’s property within the coverage of the policy.

In the landmark case of McGroarty v Great Amer. Ins. Co. (43 AD2d 368, affd 36 NY2d 358) the question was whether intentional acts in deliberately excavating a parcel of land adjacent to an individual’s property despite warnings of possible damage could be considered an "accident.” The Court of Appeals adopted a "transaction as a whole” test in determining whether the term "accident” is applicable to a given situation and concluded that although the acts complained of were intended the resulting damage to the plaintiffs building was not, and therefore, the damage was an "accident”.

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Bluebook (online)
75 A.D.2d 254, 429 N.Y.S.2d 230, 1980 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/willets-point-contracting-corp-v-hartford-insurance-group-nyappdiv-1980.