Date: 01-07-2022

Case Style:

National American Insurance Company v. New Dominion, LLC

Case Number:

Judge: Rowe

Court: Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals on appeal from the District Court of Lincoln County

Plaintiff's Attorney:

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Defendant's Attorney: Andrew C. Jayne and Jason McVickers

Description: Chandler, Oklahoma insurance law lawyers represented Plaintiff, which sued Defendant seeking a declaratory judgment about the Plaintiff's obligation to pay Defendant's claims.

" National American Insurance Company ("NAICO") brought suit against New Dominion, LLC, seeking declaratory judgment that four consecutive commercial general liability policies it had issued to New Dominion did not provide coverage for bodily injury and property damage claims asserted in a number of separate lawsuits ("the Earthquake Lawsuits"). These claims allegedly arose out of seismic activity caused by New Dominion's oil and gas operations. New Dominion filed a counterclaim alleging breach of contract, seeking defense and indemnity, and asserting equitable claims for estoppel and reformation. The trial court bifurcated the issues pleaded, conducting separate bench trials for the contract interpretation questions and the equitable claims. Following the first bench trial, the court issued a declaratory judgment holding that the Total Pollution Exclusions and the Subsidence and Earth Movement Exclusions in the commercial general liability policies clearly and unambiguously precluded coverage for the claims asserted in the Earthquake Lawsuits. Following the second trial, the court estopped NAICO from denying claims for bodily injury during one of the four policy periods but denied all other equitable claims. Both parties appealed, raising a litany of issues with the trial court's orders. We retained both matters and made them companion cases. We hold that (1) the Total Pollution Exclusions do not clearly and unambiguously preclude coverage; (2) the Subsidence and Earth Movement Exclusions clearly and unambiguously preclude coverage; and (3) there is no basis for New Dominion's estoppel or reformation claims."

Outcome: We find that the Total Pollution Exclusions are ambiguous insofar as the phrase "irritant or contaminant" is reasonably susceptible to more than one interpretation. The trial court's finding to the contrary is reversed. The trial court's finding that the Subsidence and Earth Movement Exclusions in all four policy periods clearly and unambiguously preclude coverage for the Earthquake Lawsuits is affirmed. As for New Dominion's claims for estoppel and reformation claims, we find no basis for either. The trial court's finding that NAICO should be estopped from denying coverage for claims asserted in the Earthquake Lawsuits that arose during Policy Periods 3 and 4, where the denial is based on the Total Pollution Exclusions, and its finding that NAICO should be estopped from denying coverage for bodily injury claims asserted in the Earthquake Lawsuits that arose during Policy Period 3, are both hereby reversed. The trial court's denial of New Dominion's reformation claims for Policy Periods 3 and 4 is affirmed. These causes are remanded to the trial court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

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Kent Morlan, Esq.
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