Opinion ID: 1831358
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Stone I

Text: Stone, a contractor, asserted cross-claims against Star, its subcontractor, in an action filed against Stone by one of its employees, Dennis Cline, and his wife, for injuries Dennis suffered on the job site on August 6, 1991. Upon learning of the Clines' claims, Stone notified Star and requested that Star provide Stone a defense, pursuant to an indemnity agreement contained in the parties' contract. [1] Star and its insurer, Pennsylvania National Insurance Company, refused to provide Stone a defense. Stone eventually entered into settlement negotiations with the Clines and notified Star of those negotiations; Star declined to participate in those negotiations. Stone settled the Clines' claims for $495,000. In its cross-claims, Stone contended that Star had breached three duties it undertook in its subcontract with Stone: the duty to obtain liability insurance covering Stone; the duty to indemnify Stone for sums it might pay (and, in fact, subsequently paid), in settlement of, or as damages for, claims for job-site injuries suffered by third parties like Cline; and the duty to indemnify Stone for the expenses of its defense of such claims. While the Clines' action against Stone was pending, the Clines sued Star directly, asserting claims of negligence and wantonness. Those claims were tried before a jury. At trial, the court granted Star a judgment as a matter of law on the wantonness claim and the jury returned a verdict in favor of Star on the negligence claim. Based on that verdict, the trial court entered a summary judgment for Star on Stone's claims for indemnification. Stone appealed from the trial court's summary judgment in favor of Star. In Stone I, we affirmed in part and reversed in part the summary judgment entered in favor of Star on Stone's cross-claims and remanded the case. The Stone I Court affirmed the summary judgment as to Stone's claim that Star had breached its duty to obtain liability insurance covering Stone, finding that Stone had waived the contractual requirement that Star obtain such liability insurance. Stone I, 796 So.2d at 1089. However, the Stone I Court reversed the summary judgment as to Stone's claim that Star had breached its duty to indemnify Stone for the sums it had paid in settlement of the Clines' claims. The Stone I Court also reversed the summary judgment as to Stone's claim that Star had breached its duty to indemnify Stone for the defense of the Clines' claims. The Stone I Court found that genuine issues of material fact precluded a summary judgment on those claims. Although Stone argued that the Court should render a judgment in its favor on the indemnity claim, [2] this Court in Stone I remanded the action to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with that opinion.