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Queen City Farms Inc. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co.9/9/1994
e definition of the word it means nothing more than "unexpected". See e.g. Claussen v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 259 Ga. 333, 335, 380 S.E.2d 686 (1989); Just v. Land Reclamation, Ltd., 155 Wis. 2d 737, 746, 157 Wis. 2d 507, 456 N.W.2d 570 (1990). In reaching this conclusion, courts have construed "sudden" in isolation without recognizing the significance of the companion word "accidental". Lumbermen's, at 571. A number of these courts have found an ambiguity by simply finding more than one dictionary definition for the word "sudden". These courts have failed to evaluate the term in the context of the remaining exclusion language. See, e.g., Just v. Land Reclamation, Ltd., at 745-46; Outboard Marine, at 120-21; Claussen, at 338. When analyzed in context, unless the term "sudden" is accorded a temporal meaning, the "sudden and accidental" exclusionary exception becomes "unexpected and unintended" and the term "accidental" itself means "unexpected and unintended". Thus, the word "sudden" is rendered superfluous under this approach.
Although the Majority in this case at least acknowledges the importance of reviewing the terms of a policy in context, it never answers the above concern. Instead, the Majority argues that even though the term "sudden" may sometimes be unambiguous, in the context of the pollution exclusion the term is ambiguous (citing Anderson & Middleton Lumber Co. v. Lumbermen's Mut. Cas. Co., 53 Wash. 2d 404, 333 P.2d 938 (1959)). Majority, at 40. In that case "sudden" was held by this court to be ambiguous.
There are a number of problems with relying on Anderson for the proposition that "sudden" is ambiguous in the context of the pollution exclusion. First, it is obvious that Anderson did not involve a pollution exclusion. Rather, the appeal in that case involved the interpretation of a boiler and machinery policy. Second, the court there was struggling with the meaning of "accidental" to determine coverage in the context of "accident" based coverage. In fact, the court stated,
There is no suggestion that the policy was not meant to cover breakage resulting from latent defects in the machinery or from fatigue. The cause is not, nor is the result, one which it is claimed is excluded. It is only contended that the result, in order to be within the coverage of the policy, must have happened instantaneously.
Anderson, at 408.
In the policy at issue there the term "sudden" was used to define, in part, the meaning of the term "accidental". The term "accidental" was defined as "the sudden and accidental breaking of the bandsaw wheel, or any part thereof, into two or more separate parts while it was in use or connected for use". Anderson, at 405. In that context the court's holding that "sudden" did not mean instantaneous makes sense since, as the court pointed out, "the risk to the insurer would be the same, whether a break was instantaneous or began with a crack which developed over a period of time until the final cleavage occurred . . .". Anderson, at 408.
In contrast, "sudden" is used here in a pollution exclusion. Moreover, "sudden" is not used to define "accidental". Instead the exclusion employs both the words "sudden" and "accidental" in the conjunctive. The Anderson court did not answer the question of whether "sudden" appearing in the conjunctive with "accidental" would have a temporal meaning. The usefulness of Anderson as an analogy is further limited by the fact that the risk to the insurers in the case of pollution damage is much greater than that caused by the break at issue in Anderson, particularly in this case where the contaminants were released over a thirty-year pe
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