GARY M. GAERTNER, JR., Judge.
Appellants Cook's Fabrication and Welding, Inc. (Cook's), and Greystone, Inc. (Greystone), appeal the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Mid-Continent Casualty Co. (Mid-Continent), finding no coverage for business losses caused by Cook's' negligence under the commercial general liability (CGL) policy issued to Cook's by Mid-Continent. We reverse and remand.
Continental Equipment Company (Continental) hired Cook's to install two mast radial stackers at quarries owned by LaFarge North America, Inc. (LaFarge).
Subsequently, in 2006, LaFarge and Continental filed a products liability suit against Greystone in federal district court alleging damages of "lost business, lost business opportunities, lost profits, and expenses." Greystone filed a counterclaim which included counts against Cook's for indemnification and contribution, alleging that Cook's had negligently installed the stackers.
At the time of each stacker's collapse, Cook's was insured under a CGL policy issued by Mid-Continent. This policy contained a Products-Completed Operations Aggregate limit of liability of $2,000,000. Mid-Continent initially agreed to defend Cook's in the federal lawsuit, but shortly thereafter withdrew its defense, determining that coverage for this incident was excluded by the CGL policy's "Damage To Your Work" exclusion. In April 2008, Cook's filed a declaratory judgment action in the Circuit Court of St. Charles County, Missouri, asking that the court declare any liability assigned to Cook's in the federal lawsuit to be covered by the CGL policy and that Mid-Continent had a duty to defend Cook's in the underlying federal lawsuit.
In November 2008, Greystone paid LaFarge $380,000 in settlement of the federal suit. Greystone then initiated suit in St. Charles County against Cook's for indemnification of this amount, again alleging that Cook's negligently installed the stackers and was responsible for the damages to LaFarge. Greystone alleged the money it paid satisfied LaFarge's damages for lost profits during the time the stackers were inoperable and under repair, and reduced production due to inability of replacement equipment for a period of time. Mid-Continent again declined defense of Cook's in this state lawsuit. The trial court found in Greystone's favor in December 2009 and ordered Cook's to indemnify Greystone for the full amount paid to LaFarge.
Following this, during the pendency of Cook's' declaratory judgment action, Greystone filed a cross-claim in that suit for equitable garnishment against Mid-Continent in February 2010.
We review a trial court's grant of summary judgment de novo. ITT Commercial Fin. Corp. v. Mid-Am. Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo. banc 1993). The propriety of summary
Cook's raises three points on appeal, the latter two relating to Mid-Continent's duty to defend Cook's in the underlying litigation. Greystone's sole point on appeal is essentially the same as Cook's first point, so we address them together as Point I.
Greystone and Cook's (collectively referred to as "Appellants") argue the trial court erred in determining that the CGL policy excluded coverage for damages caused by the collapse of the mast radial stackers at issue. Specifically, Appellants make two arguments: 1) the policy exclusion at issue, "Damage To Your Work," does not apply; or alternatively, 2) the policy is ambiguous in that the exclusion renders coverage illusory. First, we examine the policy language itself, and then we apply it to the facts here to determine whether the trial court correctly concluded that the policy excludes coverage for damage to LaFarge's business as a result of the stackers' collapses.
When interpreting insurance policies, we read individual provisions in the context of the policy as a whole. Columbia Mut. Ins. Co. v. Schauf, 967 S.W.2d 74, 77 (Mo. banc 1998). We give the policy language its ordinary meaning unless another is plainly intended. Id. "An ambiguity exists when there is duplicity, indistinctness, or uncertainty in the meaning of the language in the policy. Language is ambiguous if it is reasonably open to different constructions." Burns v. Smith, 303 S.W.3d 505, 509 (Mo. banc 2010) (internal quotations omitted).
The interpretation dispute here is focused on comparing the relevant coverage provision with the "Damage To Your Work" exclusion. First, the CGL policy defines a Products-Completed Operations Hazard (PCOH) as follows:
The parties agree that the collapse of the stackers and subsequent damage caused fall under this PCOH definition, because it constitutes "property damage" under the policy definition,
However, Mid-Continent argues, and the trial court agreed, that the following CGL policy exclusion applies in this instance:
Mid-Continent focuses on the phrase "arising out of," arguing that because all damages at issue arose out of Cook's' work, they are not covered. Appellants respond that the exclusion applies only to "damage to your work" (emphasis added), and that to read the policy as Mid-Continent urges would be to render PCOH coverage illusory. We agree.
A plain reading of these two policy provisions reveals that while the PCOH definition in the instant case encompasses certain "`property damage' ... arising out of... `your work,'" the exclusion addresses only the portion of that same property damage which was actually caused to "your work." Both contain the same language concerning property damage arising from the insured's work, and both clearly address property damage falling within the definition of PCOH. However, the exclusion contains the qualifying phrase "to your work," thereby removing from coverage property damage that falls within the PCOH definition, but that actually occurred to the insured's work. Any remaining property damage meeting the definition of PCOH but occurring to property that was not the insured's work, it follows, would be covered. We find no ambiguity in these provisions.
The Missouri Supreme Court has stated that CGL policies are written with an intent to allocate business risks, related to the quality of an insured's work, to the business owner rather than the insurer. Schauf, 967 S.W.2d at 77. In this light, "courts have interpreted such policies as insuring the risk of the insured causing damage to other persons and their property, but not insuring the risk of the insured causing damage to the insured's own work." Id. The policy at issue in Schauf contained an exclusion to coverage for damage arising out of work the insured was performing, to "the particular part" of property upon which the insured was working at the time of the damage. Id. As in Schauf, the exclusion at issue here is limited to damage inflicted upon a particular item or items, namely, the "work" performed by Cook's.
In fact, an ambiguity is present only when reading the policy as Mid-Continent does. If the exclusion in fact addresses all property damage arising from "your work" and "included in the PCOH definition," then the exclusion would remove coverage for all property damage included in the PCOH definition, rendering the latter provision illusory. Such a conclusion would not be warranted even if the wording was as Mid-Continent suggests. See Cano v. Travelers Ins. Co., 656 S.W.2d 266, 271 (Mo. banc 1983).
We find that the policy language is unambiguous in that coverage is granted in the PCOH definition for certain property damage arising from Cook's' work, but among this property damage, any that ensued upon Cook's' work itself is excluded from coverage.
Because we have determined that the key distinction between covered PCOH
It is clear that the work or operation Cook's performed was installation of the mast radial stackers.
Accordingly, because the money damages here have already been paid by Greystone, our remaining question is whether the damages paid were for property damage to the stackers and related equipment installed by Cook's or to other property. Greystone's motion for summary judgment alleges that the $380,000 paid to LaFarge "included the loss of production capacity and property damage/loss of use of its Defiance facility as a result of the collapse of the stackers." The trial court in its judgment ordering Cook's to indemnify Greystone in the amount of $380,000, which was attached to Greystone's motion for summary judgment, found that LaFarge had suffered "lost profits as a result of periods of (i) stopped production due to collapse, removal and repair or replacement of the stacker, and (ii) reduced production due to inability of replacement equipment...." The court also found that LaFarge suffered damage in the form of inability to access materials and substantial portions of the quarry after the stacker collapsed.
These allegations taken as true describe damage to property falling under the definition of PCOH, but property that is not part of the mast radial stackers or the installation thereof. This would therefore not be excluded by the "Damage To Your Work" policy exclusion, rather these damages would be covered by the PCOH definition in the policy.
The second point raised by Cook's is that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Mid-Continent because Mid-Continent had a duty to defend Cook's in both the federal and state lawsuits. We agree.
LaFarge's petition in federal court alleged that LaFarge's damages included "without limitation, their lost business, lost business opportunities, lost profits, and expenses." These broad statements do not confirm with certainty whether the damage would fall under PCOH or the "Damage To Your Work" exclusion. Because there was a possibility for potential liability, Mid-Continent's duty to defend was present.
Additionally, Greystone's petition in state court stated that the damages Greystone paid to LaFarge "included the loss of production capacity and loss of use of its facility as a result of the collapse of the stackers." Based on our foregoing discussion, this clearly alleged a loss falling under the policy's PCOH definition, but not the "Damage To Your Work" exclusion. As this was a potentially covered claim, Mid-Continent had a duty to defend unless it otherwise showed no possibility of coverage existed.
As Mid-Continent's motion for summary judgment asserted no duty to defend based solely on the exclusion of coverage, which we have found to be inapplicable, the trial court erred in granting Mid-Continent's motion for summary judgment on this point. Point II granted.
Cook's argues in Point III that the trial court erred in denying its motion for summary judgment. We do not have jurisdiction to review this denial.
The denial of a summary judgment motion is interlocutory, and thus not a final appealable order. Wilson v. Hungate, 434 S.W.2d 580, 583 (Mo.1968). This Court has recognized the ability to review such an order in the limited circumstance where the merits of the motion are inextricably intertwined with the issues of an appealable order of summary judgment in favor of another party. See Kaufman v. Bormaster, 599 S.W.2d 35, 38 (Mo.App. E.D. 1980). However in Kaufman, while this Court also considered dual motions for summary judgment, as we do here, in reversing and remanding the grant of summary judgment, this Court found that the two motions were not sufficiently intertwined to merit review of the denied motion for summary judgment. Id.
We have determined the CGL policy here would cover the damage that took place here to property other than Cook's' "work," but that claims related to damage to Cook's' work would be excluded. We do not find Cook's' motion, which requests declaration of Mid-Continent's duty to defend and indemnify in all past, present, and future suits related to the failure of the stackers, to be sufficiently intertwined with the issues we have considered to merit our review. Point denied.
The trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Mid-Continent because the CGL policy's exclusion for "Damage To Your Work" did not apply to
CLIFFORD H. AHRENS, P.J., and ROY L. RICHTER, J., concur.