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Spaulding Composites Co.12/26/2001
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
Argued: October 10, 2001
Plaintiff Spaulding Composites Company sought a declaration that the non-cumulation clause in the insurance policies of Liberty Mutual and certain other defendants did not apply to its claims resulting from environmental property damage. The trial judge granted plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment, and issued an order declaring that "the non-cumulation" clause is inapplicable as a matter of law. We granted leave to appeal from this order. We conclude the contract language of the non-cumulation clause is clear and should be enforced.
We glean the following facts from the limited record on appeal. Spaulding allegedly sent lead-containing waste to a site in Fairfield Township from 1958 to 1973. Spaulding received notice of its potential liability in 1990, and filed bankruptcy in 1993. Subsequently, the bankruptcy court modified the automatic stay to permit the Caldwell Trucking PRP Group (Caldwell Group) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to maintain an action in the United States District Court of New Jersey for a declaratory judgment, and to recover insurance proceeds from Spaulding's insurers. The Caldwell Group filed such an action in July 1994. See Caldwell Trucking PRP Group v. Spaulding Composites Co., 890 F. Supp. 1247, 1250 (D.N.J. 1995).
The insurers' moved to dismiss the Caldwell Group's direct action against them, and that motion was granted. Ibid. The district court found Spaulding could maintain its own action against its insurers. In July 1995, Spaulding filed a complaint in the Law Division against defendants who had issued primary or excess liability policies to Spaulding or its predecessors during the relevant period. Spaulding sought a judgment declaring that the insurers were obligated to undertake its defense in the Caldwell Group action, and to reimburse Spaulding for its costs in defending that action.
Spaulding eventually filed a motion for partial summary judgment against Liberty Mutual Insurance Company for a declaration that the non-cumulation clause in Liberty's insurance policies was inapplicable. One of Spaulding's attorneys, Robert Chesler, certified that Spaulding had purchased nine consecutive policies of primary insurance from Liberty covering the years 1975 to 1984. The first policy had a limit of $500,000, and the other eight policies each had a limit of $1 million. Each of the policies had a version of the clause commonly known as a non-cumulation clause. Further, Chesler certified that during this same period, Spaulding purchased between $23 million and $100 million of excess coverage each year.
Liberty opposed Spaulding's motion and included copies of its insurance policies issued during the nine-year period. Each of the policies issued by Liberty contained a non-cumulation clause entitled "Limits of Liability." The pertinent portion of each policy provided:
LIMITS OF LIABILITY
It is agreed that Section IV of the policy jacket, LIMITS OF LIABILITY, is deleted and replaced by the following:
LIMITS OF LIABILITY
Regardless of the number of (1) insureds under this policy, (2) persons or organizations who sustain personal injury or property damage, (3) claims made or suits brought on account of personal injury or property damage to which this policy applies, the Company's liability is limited as follows:
PERSONAL INJURY LIABILITY AND PROPERTY DAMAGE LIABILITY
(A) The limit of liability stated in the schedule as applicable to 'each occurrence is the total limit of the company's liability for all
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