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Stateline Steel Erectors12/9/2003
Hillsborough-southern judicial district
Argued: November 5, 2003
The plaintiff, Stateline Steel Erectors, Inc. (Stateline) appeals an order of the Superior Court (Groff, J.) granting summary judgment to the defendants, William Shields, and the insurance agency for which he worked, Shoff-Darby Insurance Agency, Inc., upon negligence and breach of contract claims brought on Stateline's behalf. We reverse and remand.
The relevant facts follow. This appeal concerns the defendants' provision of insurance services to Stateline in 1995. At that time, Stateline provided steel erection services to subcontractors. Stateline's contracts routinely required it to indemnify the subcontractors for claims arising out of its work. Stateline sought insurance coverage from the defendants, who obtained insurance for Stateline from Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. Unbeknownst to Stateline, the insurance policy excluded coverage for claims arising out of Stateline's contracts. In addition, it provided only $100,000 of relevant coverage.
In November 1995, one of Stateline's employees was severely injured while working on a Stateline project. The employee successfully sued the project's general contractor, the provider of the project's structural steel, and the project's steel erector (collectively, the contractors), for damages. This suit was settled. The contractors sought to be indemnified by Stateline for their costs in defending and settling the employee's lawsuit.
Stateline and Liberty Mutual entered into a settlement agreement with the contractors and their insurers. Pursuant to this agreement, Stateline stipulated that it was liable for a substantial judgment upon the contractors' indemnification claims. Stateline assigned to the contractors any claims it had for liability arising from the employee's accident, including any claims regarding the provision of insurance coverage to Stateline. Stateline promised to cooperate in the prosecution of the assigned claims. Stateline further agreed to pay the contractors, through its insurer, the amount of the stipulated judgment that did not exceed its insurance coverage.
In exchange, the contractors agreed "not to attempt to satisfy the remainder of the stipulated judgment in any way against Stateline" or its insurer. They promised to satisfy the stipulated judgment only through the payment from Stateline's insurer and the prosecution of the assigned claims. The contractors further agreed not to "sue, continue with or bring further litigations against" Stateline arising out of the employee's accident or the contractors' indemnification claims.
Stateline signed a separate stipulation of judgment that provided, in pertinent part, that it agreed to a payment "by its insurance carrier in full satisfaction of the judgment." The stipulation further stated that the contractors would "not attempt to satisfy the remainder of the stipulated judgment in any action against [Stateline]."
The contractors subsequently filed negligence and breach of contract claims, in Stateline's name, against the defendants. The defendants moved for summary judgment. The trial court ruled in their favor, finding neither claim viable because Stateline suffered no loss due to the defendants' alleged failure to procure adequate insurance coverage. The court found that because the contractors agreed not to sue Stateline to recover the excess judgment, Stateline "was never liable for a judgment that exceeded its available insurance coverage." Thus, the court reasoned, Stateline was never damaged by the defendants' alleged negligence or breach of contract.
In reviewing the trial court's grant of summary
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