Winters v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co.

73 F.3d 224
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedDecember 29, 1995
DocketNo. 93-56412
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 73 F.3d 224 (Winters v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Winters v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., 73 F.3d 224 (9th Cir. 1995).

Opinion

ORDER

The memorandum disposition filed June 9, 1995, is redesignated as an authored opinion by Judge Jones. The mandate has already issued in this matter and no petitions for rehearing will be entertained.

OPINION

ROBERT E. JONES, District Judge:

Plaintiff Jack Winters appeals the district court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of defendant State Farm Fire & Casualty Company (“State Farm”). At issue in this diversity action for breach of contract is the interpretation of various provisions of Winters’ business insurance policy, which was issued by State Farm.

Winters is an attorney. His client, Douglas Brown, was injured while using an electric-powered handsaw that Brown’s father purchased from J.C. Penney, Inc. (the “Penney saw”), for approximately $49.00. Winters represented Brown in a personal injuiy lawsuit against J.C. Penney.1

Winters purchased five exemplar handsaws for $433 for use at trial. Winters kept the exemplar saws and the Penney saw in his law office. The saws were stolen before trial and were never recovered. The trial resulted in a defense verdict.

As pertinent to this appeal, Winters submitted claims for theft of the saws and lost income associated with the theft to State Farm under his business insurance policy. State Farm adjusted the property loss under the business personal property portion of the policy, paying Winters the actual cash value of the saws, less a deductible. State Farm denied Winters’ loss of income claim.

Winters commenced this action for breach of contract against State Farm in state superior court in San Diego County, California. State Farm removed the action to federal district court. State Farm then moved for partial summary judgment on Winters’ claims under the business policy, arguing that it had fully satisfied its obligations to Winters under that policy.

The district court concluded that the business personal property loss provision covers only the value of the property involved, and does not cover the insured’s potential legal liability to third parties in contract or in tort. The court determined that the policy limited Winters’ recovery to the actual cash value of the Penney saw or its replacement cost. Because Winters had not replaced the saw, the court found that “[State Farm] rightfully paid [Winters] the cash value of the saws minus his deductible.”2

With respect to Winters’ claim for loss of income, the court determined that Winters must demonstrate that loss of the saws directly prevented him from continuing his law practice, which he could not do. The court also determined that Winters’ claimed losses did not qualify as recoverable “extra expenses” because the losses were not incurred [227]*227during a “period of restoration” as required by the policy language.

After the district court entered summary judgment in favor of State Farm on Winters’ claims under the business policy, the parties stipulated to dismissal of Winters’ remaining claims to permit an immediate appeal.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review the district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo. Jones v. Union Pacific R. Co., 968 F.2d 937, 940 (9th Cir.1992); T.W. Elec. Service v. Pacific Elec. Contractors Ass’n, 809 F.2d 626, 629 (9th Cir.1987). Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Winters, we must determine whether there are any issues of material fact and whether the district court correctly applied the relevant substantive law. Tzung v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co., 873 F.2d 1338, 1339-40 (9th Cir.1989).

DISCUSSION

1. The Business Personal Property Loss Claim

The district court interpreted the business personal property insuring clause to limit coverage to replacement cost or actual cash value of the Penney saw. The policy language at issue provides:

This policy covers Business Personal Property owned by the insured at the premises described in the Declarations for which a limit of liability is shown ... This policy covers similar property held by the insured and owned in whole or part by others. The limit of the Company’s liability shall not exceed the amount for which the insured is legally liable....

Winters asserts that the phrase “amount for which the insured is legally liable” covers his potential liability to Brown as bailee of the Penney saw, a liability he claims must be measured by the alleged value of Brown’s case if the saw had not been stolen (asserted to be $1 million). Winters argues that summary judgment was improper because the value of the Penney saw is a disputed issue of material fact. Winters also argues that the term “legally liable” is ambiguous and must be construed against State Farm.

Under California law, which applies in this case, a court faced with an argument for .coverage based on “assertedly ambiguous policy language must first attempt to determine whether coverage is consistent with the insured’s objectively reasonable expectations.” Bank of the West v. Superior Court, 2 Cal.4th 1254, 1265, 10 Cal.Rptr.2d 538, 833 P.2d 545 (1992). The court must “interpret the language in context, with regard to its intended function in the policy.” Id. Language in a contract cannot be found to be ambiguous in the abstract. Id.

Courts interpreting language nearly identical to State Farm’s business personal property loss provision have concluded that the policy language affords coverage only to the extent of the value of the bailed property, and does not cover liability to third parties in tort or contract. See, e.g., Penn v. Commercial Union Fire Ins. Co. of New York, 233 Miss. 178, 101 So.2d 535 (1958) (the phrase “property for which the insured is liable” points to insurance on the property, not on the insured’s potential liability to third parties); see also 10A Couch on Insurance 2d § 42:345 (rev. ed. 1982), which states:

In the absence of a clause covering property “held in trust” or in similar custody, a number of cases have found that policy provisions covering property contained in specified places and “for which the insured is liable” were intended to insure against loss of the property and not to indemnify the insured against his legal responsibility in tort or by contract to the owners of the property. That is, the term “liable” as used in the policy was not intended to describe a particular fixed legal liability which would require a showing that the insured was responsible by contract or in tort for the fire loss, but instead referred to his liability or “responsibility” as a bail-ee. (Emphasis added; footnotes omitted.)

The “Conditions” portion of the property coverage section of the policy (Section I) plainly requires property loss to be adjusted on the basis of replacement cost or actual cash value.

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73 F.3d 224, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/winters-v-state-farm-fire-casualty-co-ca9-1995.