376 F. Supp. 2d 10

ONEBEACON INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. GEORGIA-PACIFIC CORPORATION, Defendant.

No. CIV.A.03-11913 JLT.

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

June 14, 2005.

Lynda A. Bennett, Michael Dore, Low-enstein Sandler, PC, Roseland, NJ, Michelle Chassereau Jackson, Nutter, McClennen & Fish, Boston, MA, Martin C. Pentz, Foley Hoag LLP, Boston, MA, for Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Defendant.

Eric B Hermanson, Choate, Hall & Stewart, Boston, for Travelers Indemnity Company, Movant.

John E. Matosky, Prince, Lobel Glovsky & Tye LLP, Boston, MA, Rhonda L. Rit-tenberg, Joseph S. Sano, Prince, Lobel Glovsky & Tye LLP, Boston, MA, for One Beacon Insurance Company, Plaintiff.

MEMORANDUM

TAURO, District Judge.

OneBeacon Insurance Company (“Plaintiff’) seeks a declaration that the aggregate limit of the insurance policy issued to Georgia-Pacific Corporation (“Defendant”) by Plaintiffs predecessor, Employers Surplus Lines Insurance Company (“ESL-IC”), is $2.5 million for the three-month period of the policy. Defendant contends that the aggregate limit for the three-month policy is $10 million. Both parties have moved for partial summary judgment.

*11Background

On February 8, 1967, ESLIC issued a three-year excess umbrella policy (“Policy”) to Defendant, with a term from January 1, 1967 to January 1, 1970.1 The Policy indicates that “the aggregate for each annual period during the currency of this Policy” is $10 million dollars.2 The limit for “each occurrence” is also $10 million dollars.3 Excluding taxes and fees, Defendant paid $10,000 for the Policy.

In April of 1967, after deciding to obtain different coverage from the Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania (“ICSOP”), Defendant cancelled the Policy.4 The cancellation endorsement shows that ESLIC returned $8,700 of the premium to Defendant, and the effective date of cancellation was April 1, 1967.5 In addition, the cancellation endorsement indicates that “ALL OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS REMAIN UNCHANGED.” 6 Decades after cancelling and shortening the Policy, Defendant presented Plaintiff “with thousands of continuing occurrence asbestos products liability losses.”7

Discussion

Under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, summary judgment is appropriate only if the record reveals that there is “no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party [has demonstrated an] entitle[ment] to a judgment as a matter of law.”8 Here, both parties have conceded that the Policy’s language is unambiguous and that this court “neéds to go no further than the four corners of the Policy” to resolve the dispute.9

A federal court sitting in diversity applies the choice-of-law rules of the forum state.10 “[I]n Massachusetts, the court must apply the law of the state with • the ‘most significant relationship’ with the suit.”11 The parties have indicated that Oregon, Washington, and Massachusetts may be interested jurisdictions.12 Yet, because the result in this case will not be *12affected by the choice of law, this court “may simply bypass the choice.” 13

The interpretation of insurance policy language is a question of law.14 The intent of the parties “is determined by looking to the terms and conditions of the policy.”15 The terms of the policy are afforded their plain meaning.16 Any ambiguity is construed “against the drafter of the policy.”17

Plaintiff argues that the $10 million aggregate coverage of the Policy should be prorated to $2.5 million to reflect Defendant’s decision to cancel and limit the original one year “annual period” of the policy to three months.18 Plaintiff insists that allowing Defendant to receive $10 million of aggregate coverage for the cancelled Policy would nullify the “annual period” language.19 Plaintiff also asserts that prorating the aggregate coverage is consistent with the Parties’ intent because Defendant replaced the remainder of the cancelled Policy with the ICSOP policy.20 Moreover, Plaintiff contends that equity requires pro-ration to prevent Defendant from recovering the aggregate limits for both the can-celled Policy and the ICSOP policy.21

Although Plaintiff’s arguments are reasonable, the Policy’s plain and unambiguous language does not support its interpretation. The Policy’s language provides Defendant with $10 million of aggregate coverage “for each annual period during the currency of this Policy.” 22 Defendant paid $10,000 for three annual periods of coverage from January 1, 1967 to January 1, 1970.23 When Defendant decided to cancel and shorten the Policy, the cancellation endorsement documented the change. The Policy’s original period, January 1, 1967 to January 1, 1970, was changed to January 1, 1967 to April 1, 1967.24 Plaintiff also returned $8,700 of the premium to Defendant for the cancelled coverage.25 Other than these changes, the cancellation endorsement indicates that “ALL OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS REMAIN UNCHANGED.”26 The Policy’s $10 million aggregate coverage, therefore, remains “unchanged.” Defendant, however, may only recover for occurrences within the Policy’s shortened period.

This holding also avoids the internal inconsistency, which Plaintiffs interpretation would create, of having a policy with an occurrence limit of $10 million, but an aggregate limit of only $2.5 million. Like the other terms and conditions, the occurrence limit remains unchanged following Defendant’s cancellation of the Policy. Plaintiff is simply being held to its contract.27

*13Conclusion

Plaintiffs motion for partial summary-judgment is DENIED. Defendant’s motion for summary judgment on the limits issue is ALLOWED. The aggregate limit for the cancelled Policy is $10 million.

AN ORDER WILL ISSUE.

OneBeacon Insurance v. Georgia-Pacific Corp.
376 F. Supp. 2d 10

Case Details

Name
OneBeacon Insurance v. Georgia-Pacific Corp.
Decision Date
Jun 14, 2005
Citations

376 F. Supp. 2d 10

Jurisdiction
United States

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