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Washington Casualty Co. v. Doctors' Co.2/19/2002
quiry as the trial court. Simpson Tacoma Kraft Co. v. Dept. of Ecology, 119 Wn.2d 640, 646, 835 P.2d 1030 (1992). Facts and all reasonable inferences therefrom are considered in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, and summary judgment will be upheld only where, from all the evidence, this court finds that reasonable minds could have reached but one conclusion. Bulman v. Safeway, Inc., 144 Wn.2d 335, 351, 27 P.3d 1172 (2001).
The Doctors' Company specifies in its policy that it will pay only for claims made during the policy period:
{The Doctors' Company} will pay, on your behalf, all sums which you become legally obligated to pay for a claim . . . subject to the per-claim limit of liability, the annual aggregate limit of liability, exclusions, limitations, the Declarations Page, endorsements, deductibles, and all the terms of this policy, but only if . . .
1. the claim is first reported . . . during the policy period . . .
The policy defines 'you' as 'any person or entity afforded coverage under this policy.' An insured must give written notice during the policy period of a claim that may be made by a patient against the insured: b. You or your legal representative's written notice to the {Doctors' Company}, which is first reported during the policy period, that a demand, cross-claim, lawsuit, an arbitration proceeding or screening panel, which alleges: injury ; disability; sickness; disease; or death to a patient arising from your rendering or failing to render professional services . . . may be made against you by the patient or the patient's legal representative . . .
The policy's General Provisions section sets forth the affirmative duties of an insured in the event of a claim. The provisions require that an insured must first notify The Doctors' Company by telephone and then in writing, either by filling out The Doctors' Company forms or by completing a written report containing all of the information required by the policy:
If you believe that your rendering or failing to render professional services or that the use of your professional office premises may subsequently result in a claim being made against you under either Section I or Section II of this policy, you agree to notify the {Doctors' Company} by telephone immediately and then in writing: (1) by filling out the form sent to you by the Claims Department; or (2) by sending the {Doctors' Company} a written report which includes the following information:
1. Identification of any person or entity insured under your policy involved in the potential claim.
2. Date, time and place of the potential claim.
3. Description of what happened.
4. Description of the potential claim.
5. Name, address and age of the patient or injured person.
6. Names of other treating physicians, witnesses, and the hospital or other medical or surgical facility, if one is involved.
Washington Casualty argues that The Doctors' Company had four sources of notice that there was a potential claim against Dr. McKenna: (1) the call from the clinic's office manager to The Doctors' Company reporting a request for Migliuri's medical records, (2) Dr. Bachhuber's completed form 'Report of Claim or Incident', (3) The Doctors' Company's retention of counsel in the original lawsuit, and (4) the Migliuris' original complaint.
In the alternative, Washington Casualty contends that these sources provided The Doctors' Company with knowledge of facts from which the insurer could have reasonably inferred a potential claim against Dr. McKenna.
The clinic's call to The Doctors' Company
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