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American Indemnity Co. v. Foy Trailer Rentals11/28/2000
operations. CGL policies are not "all-risk" policies; rather, these policies provide the insured with coverage up to the policy limits for damages for which the insured becomes liable as a result of tort liability to a third party. When facing coverage questions, the essential elements of a CGL policy should be construed in the following order: the declarations, insuring agreement and definitions, exclusions, conditions, and endorsements. See Standard Fire Ins. Co., 972 S.W.2d at 7. The insuring agreement reflects the limits of an insurer's liability. If coverage is not found in the insuring agreement, it will not be found elsewhere in the policy. Exclusions are read in terms of the insuring agreement to which they apply, and they can only decrease coverage. See id.
In "Coverage A." of the policy issued to Foy, the insuring agreement states as follows:
COVERAGE A. BODILY INJURY AND PROPERTY DAMAGE LIABILITY
1. Insuring Agreement
a. We will pay those sums that the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of "bodily injury " or "property damage" to which this insurance applies[.] We will have the right and duty to defend the insured against any "suit" seeking those damages. However, we will have no duty to defend the insured against any "suit" seeking damages for "bodily injury" or "property damage" to which this insurance does not apply. . . .
b. This insurance applies to "bodily injury " and "property damage" only if:
(1) The "bodily injury " or "property damage" is caused by an "occurrence" that takes place in the "coverage territory"; and
(2) The "bodily injury " or "property damage" occurs during the policy period.
The present dispute concerns whether the allegations made by Ms. Johnson in her federal complaint constitute an "occurrence" causing her "bodily injury ." It is undisputed that the claims against the Appellants arose during the coverage period and in the coverage territory.
Section V of the policy defined "bodily injury " as "bodily injury, sickness or disease sustained by a person, including death resulting from any of these at any time." "Occurrence" was defined as "an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions." Accordingly, American Indemnity Company's policy covers only those sums Foy becomes legally obligated to pay for bodily injury, sickness or disease resulting from an accident or continuous exposure to a harmful condition. American Indemnity Company claims that there is no "bodily injury" alleged in Ms. Johnson's complaint. American Indemnity Company proposes that Ms. Johnson's allegations of "embarrassment, humiliation, mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering . . . and serious mental injury" do not rise to the level of "bodily injury" as contemplated in the CGL policy, and it proposes that Ms. Johnson's allegations of "episodic crying and hair loss," are symptoms of emotional distress, and thus are not "bodily injuries."
In Bituminous Fire and Marine Insurance Company v. Izzy Rozen's, Inc., 493 F.2d 257, 261 (6th Cir. 1974), a case arising out of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, the court cited Provident Life & Accident Insurance Company v. Campbell, 79 S.W.2d 292 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1934), for the proposition that an insurance policy contemplates "some injury to the body of a physical nature in order to come within the definition of `bodily injury.'" Additionally, in Guardian Life Insurance Company of America v. Richardson, 129 S.W.2d 1107 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1939), this court stated that
he word "disease," unrestricted by anyth
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