Everest Nat'l Ins. Co. v. Gessner Eng'g, LLC

325 F.Supp.3d 760

EVEREST NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff,

v.GESSNER ENGINEERING, LLC, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. H-17-2981

United States District Court, S.D. Texas, Houston Division.

Signed July 10, 2018

Stephen Olan Venable, Walker Wilcox Matousek LLP, Houston, TX, for Plaintiff.

Derek Wesley Anderson, Hugh Galen Connor, II, Whitney Deason Beckworth, Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP, Fort Worth, TX, John Zavitsanos, Ryan A. Hackney, Ahmad Zavitsanos Anaipakos Alavi Mensing, Houston, TX, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

NANCY F. ATLAS, SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This insurance coverage case is before the Court for a decision regarding whether Everest National Insurance Company ("Everest") owes a duty to defend in a pending lawsuit by St. Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Monastery, Inc. ("Monastery") against Everest's insured Gessner Engineering, LLC ("Gessner"). Specifically pending before the Court is the Motion for Partial Summary Judgment [Doc. # 15] filed by Defendant Monastery and the Motion for Partial Summary Judgment [Doc. # 18] filed by Defendant Gessner Engineering, LLC ("Gessner"). Defendants argue that Everest owes Gessner a duty to defend. Everest filed a consolidated Response [Doc. # 26] to the two motions. The Monastery filed a Reply [Doc. # 28], and Gessner filed a separate Reply [Doc. # 31].

Also pending is Everest's Motion for Final Summary Judgment [Doc. # 17], in which it argues that it does not owe Gessner a duty to defend. The Monastery filed a Response [Doc. # 22], and Gessner filed a separate Response [Doc. # 23]. Everest filed a Reply [Doc. # 29].¹

Having reviewed the record and applicable legal authorities, the Court denies Everest's Motion for Summary Judgment and grants the Motions for Partial Summary Judgment filed by Gessner and the Monastery.

I. BACKGROUND

Everest issued an Architects and Engineers Professional Liability Insurance Policy ("Policy") to Gessner for the policy period August 1, 2015 to August 1, 2016. See Policy, Joint Exh. 1 [Doc. # 20-3]. Everest subsequently issued a virtually identical Policy for the policy period August 1, 2016 to August 1, 2017. See Policy, Joint Exh. 2 [Doc. # 20-4].² The Policy provides coverage for claims made against Gessner for "wrongful acts arising out of the performance of professional services" if certain conditions are satisfied. See Policy, Section I(A) and I(B). The Policy requires Everest to defend Gessner against "any covered claim, even if such claim is groundless, false or fraudulent." See id. , Section I(C).

The Monastery hired Gessner to provide civil, geotechnical, and structural engineering for a dining hall construction project referred to as the "Trapeza Project." Construction began in late February 2013.

Beginning in the spring of 2014, the Monastery noticed intermittent water seepage near the walls in the basement area of the dining hall building. In February 2015, the Monastery filed a lawsuit against Gessner and various contractors on the Trapeza Project. See Original Petition in Cause No. 35694, Exh. C to Complaint.³ The Monastery voluntarily nonsuited and dismissed Gessner from the lawsuit. In January 2016, the Monastery filed a First Amended Petition in Cause No. 35694, again naming Gessner as a defendant. In February 2016, the Monastery nonsuited Cause No. 35694.

In 2015, the Monastery noticed water infiltration into the basement from underneath the slab. On February 18, 2016, the Monastery filed a second lawsuit against Gessner, Cause No. 35918. Based on the Monastery's failure to attach the correct certificate of merit to the Original Petition in that case, Gessner moved to dismiss the lawsuit. On March 31, 2016, the state court dismissed Cause No. 35918 without prejudice.

On April 1, 2016, the Monastery filed a new lawsuit against Gessner, Cause No. 35961. On May 2, 2016, Gessner filed its Original Answer and Plea in Abatement in Cause No. 35961. On July 17, 2017, the Monastery filed its Second Amended Petition in Cause No. 35961. On September 14, 2016, Gessner notified Everest of Cause No. 35961 and requested a defense and indemnity under the Policy.⁴ Everest agreed to provide a defense for Cause No. 35961 subject to a reservation of rights.

On October 5, 2017, Everest filed this lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that it does not owe Gessner a duty to defend in Cause No. 35961. Everest named Gessner and the Monastery as Defendants. Gessner filed a Counterclaim [Doc. # 9], seeking a declaratory judgment that Everest owes it a duty to defend. The parties then filed the pending motions for summary judgment, which have been fully briefed and are now ripe for decision.

II. LEGAL PRINCIPLES FOR DUTY TO DEFEND

An insurer owes its insured a duty to defend if, in the underlying lawsuit, "the plaintiff's factual allegations potentially support a covered claim." Zurich Am. Ins. Co. v. Nokia, Inc. , 268 S.W.3d 487, 490 (Tex. 2008) (citing GuideOne Elite Ins. Co. v. Fielder Rd. Baptist Church, 197 S.W.3d 305, 310 (Tex. 2006) ). In deciding whether an insurer has a duty to defend, the Court must follow the "eight-corners rule" that provides that the duty to defend is determined solely by reviewing the insurance policy and the plaintiff's pleadings in the underlying lawsuit. See id. at 491 ; see also LCS Corrections Servs., Inc. v. Lexington Ins. Co. , 800 F.3d 664, 668 (5th Cir. 2015) ; Test Masters Educ. Servs., Inc. v. State Farm Lloyds , 791 F.3d 561, 564 (5th Cir. 2015). The focus is on the factual allegations in the underlying complaint, not on the legal theories asserted. See Test Masters , 791 F.3d at 564 (citing Ewing Constr. Co. v. Amerisure Ins. Co., Inc. , 420 S.W.3d 30, 33 (Tex. 2014) ). The Court must consider the factual allegations in the underlying complaint "without regard to their truth or falsity and resolve all doubts regarding the duty to defend in the insured's favor." Id. (internal quotations and ellipse omitted). If the underlying complaint "potentially includes a covered claim, the insurer must defend the entire suit." Id. (quoting Nokia , 268 S.W.3d at 491 ).

If the complaint in the underlying lawsuit clearly alleges facts that would exclude coverage under the insurance policy, there is no duty to defend. See Northfield Ins. Co. v. Loving Home Care, Inc. , 363 F.3d 523, 528 (5th Cir. 2004) (citing Fidelity & Guar. Ins. Underwriters, Inc. v. McManus , 633 S.W.2d 787, 788 (Tex. 1982) ). If, however, it is unclear from the complaint in the underlying lawsuit whether the factual allegations fall within the policy's coverage, the "insurer is obligated to defend if there is, potentially, a case under the complaint within the coverage of the policy." See Nokia , 268 S.W.3d at 491 ; Gore Design Completions, Ltd. v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co. , 538 F.3d 365, 368 (5th Cir. 2008). The Court may not "(1) read facts into the pleadings, (2) look outside the pleadings, or (3) imagine factual scenarios which might trigger coverage." Test Masters , 791 F.3d at 564 (quoting Gore Design , 538 F.3d at 369 ).

III. ANALYSIS

A. The Eight Corners

The Policy provides coverage for "damage that the Insured becomes legally obligated to pay because of claims made against the Insured for wrongful acts arising out of the performance of professional services for others." See Policy, Section I(A). The Policy provides further that the "insurance applies to a wrongful act only if all of the following conditions are satisfied" and lists four separate conditions. See id. , Section I(B). One of the conditions is that "no insured had knowledge of such wrongful act and had no basis to reasonably anticipate a claim that would be made" prior to the inception of the Policy. See id. , Section I(B)(2). Another condition is that the "claim arising out of the wrongful act is first made against any Insured during the policy period."⁵ See id. , Section I(B)(3).

The Policy defines a "claim" to mean "a demand received by the Insured for money, damages, or professional services alleging a wrongful act arising out of the performance of professional services." See id. , Section IV(C). The Policy defines "professional services" to mean "those services that the Insured is legally qualified to perform for others in the Insured's capacity as an" engineer. See id. , Section IV(J). A "wrongful act" is defined in the Policy to mean "any actual or alleged negligent act, error or omission." See id. , Section IV(M).

The state court petition in Cause No. 35961 was filed on April 1, 2016, within the policy period. The Monastery alleges in the state court petition that it learned at some point in 2015 that Gessner's engineering services had been deficient, causing water to seep into the dining hall basement through the foundation slab. See Second Amended Petition in Cause No. 35961, Joint Exh. 30 [Doc. # 20-32], ¶ 15. There is no allegation in Cause No. 35961, however, that the Monastery gave Gessner notice of this belief prior to the Policy inception date of August 1, 2015. There are no allegations that Gessner, prior to the inception date of the Policy, had knowledge of the wrongful act discovered by the Monastery in early 2015 or that Gessner had a basis to reasonably anticipate that the Monastery would assert a claim based on that wrongful act involving water seeping through the foundation slab. Indeed, although the Monastery alleges that it began to notice intermittent water seepage in the basement area of the dining hall in the spring of 2014, one of the Monastery's allegations is that Gessner failed "to identify the role of its own error in causing the water infiltration problems." See id. , ¶ 14. There is no mention in Cause No. 35961 that the Monastery filed prior lawsuits against Gessner. Cf. Reeves Cnty. v. Houston Cas. Co. , 356 S.W.3d 664, 673 (Tex. App. – El Paso 2011, no pet.) (petition that was the focus of the eight-corners rule mentioned the prior claim).

The allegations in Cause No. 35961 raise the potential that the Monastery first gave...