Opinion ID: 767887
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Coverage under the Fidelity Provision

Text: 73 F&D argues in the alternative that if we find that the district court erred in its analysis pertaining to the discovery issue, we should uphold the district court's order for summary judgment because the RTC cannot establish at trial that the Northwest loss falls within the narrow scope of coverage the bond provides. F&D's overarching argument is that the fidelity provision of the Standard Form No. 22 bond provides coverage in very limited instances, and by its terms only insures against a specific type of risk. From that initial premise, it claims that the loss City Federal incurred on the Northwest loan does not fall within the narrow parameters of coverage. 74 The RTC contends that the district court's disposition of these issues is not before us because F&D did not file a cross-appeal from the January 29, 1998 order for summary judgment. We disagree with the RTC's position that F&D was required to cross-appeal in order to advance these arguments for our consideration, as it is clear that we may affirm the judgment on grounds alternative to those on which the district court relied. See Rite Aid, Inc. v. Houstoun, 171 F.3d 842, 853 (3d Cir. 1999) (dismissing cross-appeals and stating we point out that[appellees] are not by their cross-appeals seeking additional relief. . . . Rather, they advance the issue as an alternative ground to affirm the summary judgment and injunction.); E.F. Operating Corp. v. American Bldgs., 993 F.2d 1046, 1048 (3d Cir. 1993) (It is also well established that an appellee may, without taking a cross-appeal, support the judgment as entered through any matter appearing in the record, though his argument may attack the lower court's reasoning or bring forth a matter overlooked or ignored by the court.); Cospito v. Heckler, 742 F.2d 72, 78 n.8 (3d Cir. 1984). Accordingly, we will consider F&D's arguments as alternative grounds to affirm the judgment. 75 The bond does not afford coverage under its fidelity provision for all losses resulting directly from fraudulent and dishonest employee conduct. The fidelity provision sets forth a subclass or type of dishonest or fraudulent conduct that may be covered under the bond. It promises to indemnify the insured for: 76 (A) Loss resulting directly from dishonest or frau dulent acts of an employee committed alone or in collusion with others. 77 Dishonest or fraudulent acts as used in this Insuring Agreement shall mean only dishonest or fraudulent acts committed by such Employee with the manifest intent: 78 (a) to cause the Insured to sustain such loss, and 79 (b) to obtain financial benefit for the Employee or for any other person or organization intended by the employee to receive such benefit, other than salaries, commissions, fees, bonuses, promotions, awards, profit sharing, pensions or other employee benefits earned in the normal course of employment. 80 App. at 562 (emphasis added). Broken down into its components, this provision requires that the following elements be present in order for a loss to constitute a covered event: (1) the insured must incur a loss; (2) the loss must have result[ed] directly from dishonest or fraudulent acts of an employee or employees; (3) the employee must have committed the acts with the manifest intent to cause the insured to suffer the loss sustained (which we call subsection (a)'s requirement); and (4) the employee must have committed the acts with the manifest intent to obtain a financial benefit for the employee or a third party, and the financial benefit obtained must not be of the type covered by the exclusionary clause (which we call subsection (b)'s requirement). See Jeffrey M. Winn, Fidelity Insurance and Financial Institutions in the PostFIRREA Era, 109 Banking L.J. 149, 151-52 (Mar.-Apr. 1992). If F&D can establish, as a matter of law, that at least one of those requirements is not satisfied in this case, it would not be required to indemnify City Federal because the Northwest loss would not constitute a covered event. In that circumstance, we would affirm the district court's order for summary judgment on this alternative basis. 81 F&D concedes that the RTC established that City Federal suffered a loss on the Northwest account, but contends that the remaining elements necessary for coverage under the fidelity provision are absent in this case. Specifically, its arguments may be broken down into two broader categories. First, F&D asserts that there is insufficient evidence from which a jury could conclude that the individual defendants acted with the manifest intent (1) to obtain for themselves or a third party a type of financial benefit covered by the bond, and in turn (2) to cause City Federal to sustain the Northwest loss. Second, F&D maintains that there is insufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that the Northwest loss result[ed] directly from the individual defendants' dishonest and fraudulent actions that form the basis for this lawsuit. 82 We will address these arguments in the following manner. In subsection (1) below, we first must ascertain the correct definition of the term manifest intent as it is used in the fidelity provision. We then must decide whether the RTC has presented sufficient evidence that the employees acted with the manifest intent to obtain a financial benefit for themselves or a third party that does not fall within the category of benefits specifically excluded by subsection (b), as that inquiry informs the remainder of our analysis. We will conclude by examining whether there is sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could find that the employees acted with the manifest intent to cause City Federal to sustain a loss on the Northwest credit line. In subsection (2), we will address separately F&D's causation argument, and consider whether thereis sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that the Northwest loss result[ed] directly from the individual defendants' dishonest and fraudulent acts. As we will explain in greater detail below, we have concluded, based on the bond's language and the proofs the RTC presented at the summary judgment proceedings, that there are genuine issues of material fact pertaining to each element described above. Therefore, while we reach our conclusion on different grounds than those on which the district court relied, we agree with its ultimate determination which we described above, that a jury could find that the Northwest loss falls within the narrow parameters of coverage. 83 1. Whether the individual defendants committed dishonest and fraudulent acts with the manifest intent to cause City Federal to sustain the Northwest loss and to obtain a certain type of financial benefit for themselves or a third party 84
85 In order to determine if the RTC has presented sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that the individual defendants acted with the manifest intent to cause the Northwest loan loss and to obtain a certain type of financial benefit for themselves or a third party, we must begin by defining the term manifest intent in the fidelity insurance context. Initially, we point out that it is rather obvious that the term manifest intent refers to the employee's state of mind in engaging in the allegedly dishonest or fraudulent acts which the insured claims to have caused it a loss covered by the fidelity bond. Inasmuch as the Supreme Court of New Jersey has not identified the meaning of the term under New Jersey law, our task is to predict how that court would decide this issue. 11 See McKenna v. Ortho Pharm. Corp., 622 F.2d 657, 661 (3d Cir. 1980). And, as is evident from our discussion that follows, the answer is not resolved easily, as it appears that there has been considerable debate among various state and federal courts concerning the proper formulation of the standard. See Christopher Kirwan, Mischief or Manifest Intent? Looking for Employee Dishonesty in the Unchartered World of Fiduciary Misconduct, 30 Tort & Ins. L.J. 183, 186 (Fall 1994) (In the eighteen years since its introduction the term `manifest intent' has become the major battlefield in dishonesty coverage disputes.). 86 In virtually all of the cases we have found, courts have interpreted the term manifest as meaning that the intent of the employee must be apparent or obvious. See, e.g., Oldenburg, 34 F.3d at 1539; FDIC v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 942 F.2d 1032, 1035 (6th Cir. 1991); North Jersey Savs. & Loan Ass'n v. Fidelity & Deposit Co., 660 A.2d 1287, 1291 (N.J. Super. Ct. Law. Div. 1993); see also 11 Lee R. Russ and Thomas F. Segalla, Couch on Insurance 3d S 161:3 (1998). The divergence of opinion, however, stems from the issue of whether the intent aspect of the phrase manifest intent requires an inquiry into the employee's actual purpose in engaging in the conduct at issue. While the fidelity provision covers only those dishonest or fraudulent acts undertaken with the manifest intent both to (1) cause the insured (who is also the employer) to sustain a loss, and (2) obtain a certain type of financial benefit, the question of the meaning of intent usually arises in the context of determining whether the proofs show that the former requirement has been satisfied. Indeed, in virtually all of the cases interpreting the term intent, the analysis has focused on whether the evidence showed that the employees possessed a manifest intent to cause the insured's loss. Of course, this is not surprising, given the fact that most cases turn on this element, as it presents difficult proof problems for the insured. 87 Following this method of analysis, succinctly stated, the initial question is whether the insured must establish that the employee acted with the specific purpose or desire to cause the insured to sustain the loss that it did. The related issue then is the type of circumstantial evidence relevant to the insured's burden of proof on this point. 88 In determining the appropriate construction of the manifest intent state of mind requirement, a review of the purpose and history behind its inclusion in bonds of this type is instructive. The Surety Association introduced the manifest intent language in its standard form bond in 1976 to ameliorate the effect of previous cases in which the courts expanded the concept of employee dishonesty to the point where the term included any act of the employee (or any failure to act), regardless of motive. See Michael Keeley, Employee Dishonesty Claims: Discerning the Employee's Manifest Intent, 30 Tort & Ins. L.J. 915, 919 (Summer 1995); see also Winn, supra at 152 (According to an influential subcommittee report issued by the Surety Association of America in January 1976, insurers added the definition of dishonesty because [a] major factor in poor results . . . has been a well-established pattern by the courts to expand the concept of dishonesty to the point where the term now seems to include any act . . . regardless of motive, which results in an injury to the employer.) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Surety Ass'n of Am. Sub-Committee, Revision of the Dishonesty Insuring Agreement of Form 24, at 1 (1976)). Thus, as one commentator explained: Insuring Agreement A [which contains the manifest intent requirement] was revised to clarify the Surety Association's long-standing intent, dating back to Standard Form No. 1 in 1916, to limit loan losses to claims in which the culpable employee acted with the intent or purpose to gain a benefit at the expense of his employer--in other words, when the employee intended to defraud the insured bank of money. Keeley, supra at 919. 89 Against this background, we must examine the different standards courts have adopted in defining the bond's manifest intent requirement. To date, the Courts of Appeals for the Sixth, Seventh and Tenth Circuits have adopted the following standard of culpability: Although the concept of manifest intent does not necessarily require that the employee actively wish for or desire a particular result, it does require more than a mere probability. . . . Manifest intent exists when a particular result is substantially certain to follow from conduct. See Peoples Bank & Trust Co. v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 113 F.3d 629, 635 (6th Cir. 1997) (applying Virginia law and quoting St. Paul Fire & Marine, 942 F.2d at 1035) (internal quotation marks omitted); Oldenburg, 34 F.3d at 1539 (citing FDIC v. United Pac. Ins. Co., 20 F.3d 1070, 1078 (10th Cir. 1994)) (applying Utah law); United Pac., 20 F.3d at 1078 (interpreting manifest intent under general principles of federal common law); Heller Int'l Corp. v. Sharp, 974 F.2d 850, 857-59 (7th Cir. 1992) (applying Illinois law and quoting St. Paul Fire & Marine, 942 F.2d at 1035); St. Paul Fire & Marine, 942 F.2d at 1035. But cf. First Fed. Savs. & Loan Ass'n v. Transamerica Ins. Co., 935 F.2d 1164, 1167 (10th Cir. 1991) (affirming order of summary judgment for insurer, explaining that employee did not possess a manifest intent to injure the bank, his employer, where evidence pointed to only one conclusion: that employee arranged transactions that hopefully would be beneficial to both the bank and borrowers). This standard, which requires only that the loss was substantially certain to follow from the employee's conduct, was articulated by the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in St. Paul Fire & Marine, see 942 F.2d at 1035, which in turn relied on language from Hanson PLC v. National Union Fire Insurance Co., 794 P.2d 66, 72 (Wash. Ct. App. 1990). 90 In stating that the manifest intent standard is satisfied either by proof of the employee's desire to cause a loss or by proof that the loss was substantially certain to result, these cases embraced a different, and less culpable mental state, than if the standard required that the evidence show that it was the employee's specific purpose or desire to cause the insured to sustain the loss and obtain a financial benefit at the insured's expense. Indeed, one commentator described this substantially certain to follow standard as requiring, in essence, a level of mental culpability equivalent to the general intent concept embodied in the area of criminal and tort law. See Keeley, supra at 937; see also Affiliated Bank/Morton Grove v. Hartford Accident & Indem. Co., No. 91-C-4446, 1992 WL 91761, at -5 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 23, 1992) (stating that the definition of intent that it adopted, i.e., that an employee acts with the manifest intent when the evidence demonstrates either (1) that the purpose was to achieve the particular result or (2) that the person knows that the particular result is substantially certain to follow from his or her conduct, is consistent with concept of intent in tort law); see also United Pac., 20 F.3d at 1078 (stating that jury instructions 36 and 37 provided general intent standard that was a correct explication of the meaning of manifest intent); Hanson PLC, 794 P.2d at 72. Moreover, the concept of general intent is synonymous with the Model Penal Code's mental state knowingly, as a person acts knowingly under the Model Penal Code if he or she is aware that  `a result is practically certain to follow from his conduct, whatever his desire may be as to the result.'  See Keeley, supra at 923-24. 91 Thus for example, in United Pacific, the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld jury instructions stating, inter alia: the concept of manifest intent does not require that the employee wish or desire for a particular result, but it does require that the result be substantially certain to happen' ;  `You may consider it reasonable to draw the inference and find that a person intends the natural and probable consequences of acts knowingly done or knowingly omitted' ; and  `There was an intent to cause the bank to sustain a loss if the natural result of [the employee's] conduct would be to injure the Bank even though it may not have been his motive.'  Id. at 1077-78 (citing Heller, 974 F.2d at 859; St. Paul Fire & Marine, 942 F.2d at 1035; First Nat'l Bank v. Lustig, 961 F.2d 1162, 1166 (5th Cir. 1992)); see also Oldenburg, 34 F.3d at 1539 (citing United Pac., 20 F.3d at 1078). 92 In contrast to the construction of manifest intent adopted by the Courts of Appeals for the Sixth, Seventh and Tenth Circuits, the Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fourth and Fifth Circuits have applied the term manifest intent differently, and we read those cases as requiring that the insured establish that the employee acted with the specific purpose or desire to both injure the insured and obtain a benefit. See General Analytics Corp. v. CNA Ins. Cos., 86 F.3d 51, 54 (4th Cir. 1996); Lustig , 961 F.2d at 1166-67; Glusband v. Fittin Cunningham & Lauzon, Inc., 892 F.2d 208, 210-12 (2d Cir. 1989) (reversing judgment for insured's receiver and entering judgment for insurer, stating that there was insufficient evidence that the employee acted with the manifest intent to cause a loss and obtain a financial benefit; court explained that manifest intent language limits coverage to losses caused by embezzlement and embezzlement-like acts, and that the evidence showed only that the employee intended to benefit the company rather than cause it a loss); Leucadia, Inc. v. Reliance Ins. Co., 864 F.2d 964, 972-74 (2d Cir. 1988) (affirming judgment for insurer where the only reasonable conclusion that could be drawn from the evidence introduced at trial was that the employee's dishonest actions were the result of attempts to save the employer from sustaining a large loss). 12 In this regard, the manifest intent requirement thus may be analogized loosely to the concept of specific intent in the criminal law context. See Keeley, supra at 942 (advocating the adoption of a specific intent standard for purposes of defining manifest intent); Judy L. Hlafesak, Comment, The Nature and Extent of Subrogation Rights of Fidelity Insurers Against Officers and Directors of Financial Institutions, 47 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 727, 731-32 (1986) (stating that manifest intent language of 1976 form rider required proof of the employee's specific intent to cause a loss). 93 An instructive example of this approach is found in the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit's opinion in General Analytics. See 86 F.3d at 54. There the insured, General Analytics Corp. (GA), sought coverage under a fidelity bond for losses it incurred as a result of an employee's actions in altering incoming purchase orders sent by the insured's customer, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), for computer products. Not realizing that the purchase orders had been altered, GA personnel filled the IRS's requests by ordering parts from a third-party supplier. When GA delivered the parts to the IRS, it refused acceptance, causing GA to sustain a large loss. The district court granted summary judgment to GA against its insurer, finding that the evidence showed beyond any factual dispute that the employee acted with the manifest intent to benefit a third party. See id. at 52-53. 94 The court of appeals reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment to GA, finding that reasonable minds could differ as to whether the loss was caused by employee misconduct undertaken with the manifest intent to obtain a financial benefit for a third party. Because the parties disputed the district court's construction of the term manifest intent, the court of appeals analyzed its meaning in the fidelity bond context. The court recognized that employee dishonesty policies are designed to provide coverage for a specific type of loss characterized by embezzlement, which involves the direct theft of money. Id. at 53. The court then explained that: 95 Because employee dishonesty policies like CNA Insurance's require proof that the employee have acted to accomplish a particular purpose, they require that the insured establish a specific intent, analogous to that required by the criminal law. Thus, if a dishonest act has the unintended effect of causing a loss to the employer or providing a benefit to the employee, the act is not covered by the policy. . . . 96 As a state of mind, intent is often difficult to prove. And because it is abstract and private, intent is revealed only by its connection with words and conduct. . . . Thus, evidence of both words and conduct is probative of intent, . . . and, because context illuminates the meaning of words and conduct, evidence of the circumstances surrounding such words or conduct, including the motive of the speaker or actor, similarly is admissible. 97 Id. at 54 (citations omitted). 98 The court in General Analytics required proof of the employee's specific intent or purpose to cause the insured loss and to obtain a certain type of financial benefit for herself or a third party, but in adopting that state of mind requirement as the standard for manifest intent, it recognized that the employee's subjective intent may be proven circumstantially by reference to evidence of the employee's words, conduct, and the context in which his or her actions took place. See also Lustig, 961 F.2d at 1166 (When an employee obtains fraudulent loans with reckless disregard for a substantial risk of loss to the bank, a jury may infer from his reckless conduct and surrounding circumstances that he intended to cause the loss. . . . The jury should be instructed that in answering the question of intended loss, it should consider the range of evidentiary circumstances, including the relationship between the borrowers and the employee, the employee's knowledge of the likelihood that the loans would not be repaid, and all other surrounding circumstances bearing on the employee's purpose.) (citations and quotation marks omitted) (emphasis added). 99 Thus in General Analytics the court permitted consideration of both the reckless nature of the employee's conduct, and the likelihood that a loss would result from the employee's conduct (i.e., the employee's knowledge of the substantial likelihood of the result), in determining whether the employee acted with the manifest intent to cause the insured to sustain a loss. But the court tied the significance of those circumstances to a standard of employee culpability that required proof that the employee acted with the specific purpose to achieve the desired result, i.e., a specific intent to cause the loss and obtain a financial benefit for herself or a third party. See also Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc. v. National Union Fire Ins. Co., 659 A.2d 991, 998 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1995) ([W]e hold that the `manifest intent' of the employee should be ascertained by deciding his true purpose in causing the loss. In deciding what the purpose was, both direct and circumstantial evidence should be considered, including the employee's own testimony as to his purpose as well as any evidence indicating the employee knew the loss was substantially certain to be the result of his acts.). 100 A review of the different approaches reveals the obvious distinction between the two lines of cases. As is evident from our discussion, under either approach, evidence tending to show that the employee acted knowingly would support a jury finding that the employee intended the consequences of his actions. Nevertheless, under the rationale explicitly adopted in General Analytics, proof of an employee's recklessness, or an employee's knowledge that a result was substantially certain to occur from the conduct, are objective indicia--manifestations--of the employee's specific purpose or intent. But neither an employee's recklessness or his knowledge that a result was substantially certain to occur would satisfy the language of the policy, absent that inference of specific intent. Cf. Peoples Bank, 113 F.3d at 636 (Like our sister circuits, we recognize that reckless conduct might be evidence--a manifestation--of intent. But recklessness itself, without an inference of intent, would clearly not satisfy the language of the policy, any more than recklessness alone would create culpability for a crime requiring specific intent.) (citing General Analytics, 86 F.3d at 54). In contrast, those courts that have equated the term intent with the mental state knowingly would find that the employee acted with the manifest intent where the loss and the benefit were substantially certain to follow, regardless of whether the employee desired such results. 101 Interestingly in this case, regardless of the standard we choose to adopt, we believe that the proofs are sufficient to demonstrate a genuine issue of material fact concerning the employees' manifest intent. Nevertheless, in view of the circumstance that we must remand this case to the district court for trial, we believe that it is appropriate at this juncture to state specifically which standard we adopt as reflecting what we think the Supreme Court of New Jersey would hold so as to give guidance to the district court. 102 We agree with the approach espoused by the Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fourth and Fifth Circuits, and hold that the term manifest intent as it is used in the fidelity provision requires the insured to prove that the employee engaged in dishonest or fraudulent acts with the specific purpose, object or desire both to cause a loss and obtain a financial benefit. Inasmuch as we equate the substantially certain to result standard with the mental state knowingly, we are of the view that purposefully rather than knowingly better captures the meaning of intent as it used in the fidelity provision, given the history that prompted its inclusion in the dishonesty definition and its stated purpose. Indeed, we believe that our construction strikes an appropriate balance because it comports with the drafters' obvious intent to limit the types of employee misconduct covered by this provision but ensures that proof of the employee's recklessness and the substantial likelihood of loss factor into the ultimate inquiry into the employee's subjective state of mind. See Keeley, supra at 925 (noting that the Model Penal Code's definition of specific intent supports equating manifest intent with specific intent); Winn, supra at 152 (We are ready and willing to insure against dishonesty, i.e., against improper acts of employees committed with an intent to deprive their employer of funds or property. We cannot insure against violations of instructions or poor business judgment.); see also Jane Landes Foster, et al., Does a Criminal Conviction Equal Dishonesty? Criminal Intent Versus Manifest Intent, 24 Tort. & Ins. L.J. 785, 800 (Summer 1989) (Defining manifest intent in terms of purpose is also more in keeping with the intent of the fidelity industry. This clause represented a specific response to a growing number of decisions that judicially expanded the definition of dishonesty by recognizing claims based on reckless misconduct. Thus, it is clear that the drafters intended to limit coverage by requiring proof of a more particularized intent to harm.). 103 We emphasize, however, that by recognizing that the term manifest intent requires proof of the employee's purpose in engaging in the dishonest or fraudulent acts, we are cognizant that the employee's actual subjective state of mind virtually is impossible to prove absent resort to circumstantial evidence--objective indicia of intent. The Courts of Appeals for the Fourth and Fifth Circuits have recognized this proof problem, and permitted the insured to prove the employee's subjective purpose by introducing objective evidence of the employee's intent. See Lustig, 961 F.2d at 1166; General Analytics, 86 F.3d at 54; see also Susquehanna Bancshares, 659 A.2d at 998. And inasmuch as proof of recklessness and/or the employee's knowledge of the likelihood that a loss was to result both serve as manifestations of the employee's specific purpose or design, we hold that a jury may consider those factors, along with any other objective indicia of intent, in ascertaining the employee's state of mind in engaging in the wrongful conduct. See Couch 3d, supra S 161:3 (stating that manifest intent language meant an intent that was apparent or obvious, and indicating that in determining the employee's intent or purpose, the court should consider the employee's testimony as to what his or her purpose was in engaging in the acts, and whether the employee was substantially certain that a particular result would be achieved, together with external indicia of subjective intent). 104 In reaching our conclusion, we recognize that our task here is limited to deciding the meaning of the term manifest intent as we believe it would have been decided by the Supreme Court of New Jersey had the case arisen in the New Jersey courts. See Robertson v. Allied Signal, Inc., 914 F.2d 360, 378 (3d Cir. 1990). Thus, in addition to relying on cases from other jurisdictions, we have considered the well-established rules for contract interpretation as they have developed under New Jersey law. We note, in particular, that New Jersey adheres to the principle of contra proferentum, which requires any ambiguities in an insurance contract to be resolved in favor of the insured. See Pittston Co. Ultramar Am. Ltd. v. Allianz Ins. Co., 124 F.3d 508, 520 (3d Cir. 1997). Nevertheless, [w]hen the terms of an insurance contract are clear, . . . it is the function of a court to enforce it as written and not make a better contract for either of the parties. New Jersey v. Signo Trading Int'l, Inc., 612 A.2d 932, 938 (N.J. 1992) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Thus, we must not torture the language of a contract to create ambiguity where none exists in order to impose liability, and we must construe the words of an insurance policy so as to adhere to their ordinary meaning. See Longobardi v. Chubb Ins. Co., 582 A.2d 1257, 1260 (N.J. 1990). Under New Jersey law, ambiguity exists in an insurance contract where the phrasing of the policy is so confusing that the average policyholder cannot make out the boundaries of coverage. Weedo v. Stone-E-Brick, Inc., 405 A.2d 788, 795 (N.J. 1979). 105 We have not overlooked the possibility that one could argue that given the divergence of opinion concerning the correct standard for determining the employee's manifest intent, the term is ambiguous, thus requiring us to invoke the principle of contra proferentum. See, e.g., Oritani Savs. & Loan Ass'n v. Fidelity & Deposit Co., 821 F. Supp. 286, 290 (D.N.J. 1991) (rejecting that argument in the context of determining appropriate construction of manifest intent). If that were the case, we would be compelled then to find that the term intent requires only that the loss be substantially certain to result, as it is a more lenient standard of employee culpability. Here, however, we do not believe that the Insuring Agreement is ambiguous because we cannot conclude that the phrasing of the policy is so confusing that the average policyholder cannot make out the boundaries of coverage. Weedo, 405 A.2d at 795. Rather, we find that the principle that courts `should not write for the insured a better policy of insurance than the one purchased'  applies squarely to the facts of this case. Longobardi, 582 A.2d at 1260 (quoting Walker Rogge, Inc. v. Chelsea Title & Guar. Co., 562 A.2d 208, 214 (N.J. 1989)). 106 Moreover, we further observe that in performing our task of predicting how the New Jersey Supreme Court would decide this issue, we have reviewed two cases from other courts which applied the manifest intent requirement under New Jersey law in a manner that supports our result. See McKenna, 622 F.2d at 662. First, in Oritani, the district court held that the term manifest intent requires the employee to possess the subjective intent to cause the employer loss. See 821 F. Supp. at 291. In reaching its conclusion, the court found persuasive the insurer's argument that the fidelity provision covers only those losses that were caused by deliberate conduct motivated by a deliberate intent. See id. at 288. The court granted the insurer's motion for summary judgment because it was undisputed that the employee was not a knowing participant in the scheme that caused the loss. See id. at 291. 107 We find the court's requirement of a subjective intent particularly noteworthy because the court could have reached the same result by adopting the knowingly standard given the facts of the case, but it chose instead to state the standard as requiring an inquiry into the employee's motive and subjective state of mind. Thus, the court determined that proof of the employee's recklessness or negligence would not suffice under the subjective standard it adopted, so long as the circumstances suggested only that the employee exercised poor business judgment and acted with a pure heart. See id. 108 Similarly in North Jersey, the New Jersey Superior Court, Law Division, granted summary judgment to the insurer in a fidelity bond dispute because the evidence submitted pertaining to the question of manifest intent showed only that the employee exercised poor judgment. See 660 A.2d at 1292-93. The North Jersey court, citing, inter alia, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit's opinion in Leucadia, held that the evidence did not permit a reasonable inference that the employee's motive or purpose was to cause a loss to his employer. See id. 109 In light of the foregoing, we hold that the term manifest intent requires the insured to demonstrate that it was the offending employee's purpose or desire to obtain a financial benefit for himself or a third party, and to cause the insured to sustain a loss. And given that a jury could infer such an intent based on circumstantial evidence, an insured may survive a motion for summary judgment by proffering evidence suggesting that the employee acted knowing that it was substantially certain that his or her conduct would cause the insured to sustain a loss that would inure to the employee's benefit, see Lustig, 961 F.2d at 1166-67, and by offering any other proof tending to establish the employee's intent. See also General Analytics, 86 F.3d at 54 (stating that an employee's words and conduct are probative of intent, and that the context in which the words and conduct occurred also is relevant). 110 b. Whether there is evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that the employees acted with the manifest intent to obtain a financial benefit for themselves or a third person (subsection b's requirement) 111 Given the standard of manifest intent described above, we turn our analysis to the specific requirements of subsection (a) and subsection (b) of the fidelity provision. As previously mentioned, the plain language of the fidelity provision covers only those losses caused by employee misconduct undertaken with the manifest intent (1) to cause a loss, and (2) obtain a certain type of financial benefit for the employee or a third person. Wefirst will address in this section the scope of the latter requirement, found in subsection (b) of the fidelity provision, because it informs the remainder of our analysis of the coverage issues raised in this appeal. 112 At the outset, it is important to note that the plain language of that subsection indicates that an insured may meet its requirements in two ways. First, the insured may satisfy subsection (b) by demonstrating that the dishonest employee acted with the purpose of obtaining for himself or herself a financial benefit other than salaries, commissions, fees, bonuses, promotions, awards, profit sharing, pensions or other employee benefits earned in the normal course of employment. Alternatively, the insured may meet the requirements of subsection (b) by showing that the dishonest employee acted for the purpose of obtaining for a third party a financial benefit not included within the list just enumerated. F&D contends that it is entitled to summary judgment because the individual defendants' actions do not satisfy either aspect of subsection (b). We will address its arguments separately below. 113 i. Whether the evidence could support a finding that the individual defendants acted with the manifest intent to obtain a financial benefit for themselves other than salaries, commissions, fees, bonuses, promotions, awards, profit sharing, pensions or other employee benefits earned in the normal course of employment 114 In the district court, the RTC contended that Hurst, Merkle and Ridder committed their fraudulent or dishonest acts because they were motivated by a desire to obtain the golden handcuff payments, and that DeVany was motivated by his desire to receive a $1,000 payment at the close of the HonFed sale. See SA at 206-07. It also asserted that Hurst, Ridder and Merkle acted with the intent to obtain lucrative employment opportunities with HonFed. In response, F&D claims that there is no evidence indicating that Ridder, Hurst and Merkle acted with the manifest intent to obtain for themselves employment opportunities with HonFed or signing bonuses with that company. Focusing next on the plain language of the exclusionary clause in subsection (b), F&D argues that both the golden handcuff payments and the $1,000 payment constitute bonuses or awards. From that premise, F&D contends that because the plain language of subsection (b) excludes coverage for losses resulting from employee misconduct motivated by a desire to receive, inter alia, bonus payments and other forms of compensation from the insured, the employees' desire to obtain the handcuff payments does not provide a basis for indemnity. 115 To reiterate, subsection (b) of the fidelity provision requires that the employee engage in the dishonest or fraudulent conduct with the manifest intent to obtain financial benefit for the Employee . . . , other than salaries, commissions, fees, bonuses, promotions, awards, profit sharing, pensions or other employee benefits earned in the normal course of employment. App. at 562. As a matter of contract construction, it is evident that the clause beginning with other than is exclusionary. Thus, if the employee committed the fraudulent or dishonest act motivated only by a desire to gain one of the enumerated financial benefits for himself or herself, the insured could not recover under the fidelity provision, as the requirements of subsection (b) would not be satisfied. 116 The district court held that the golden handcuff payments were not the type of financial benefits excluded under subsection (b) by adopting the following construction of the relevant language: 117 It is clear that the uniquely final `one-time only' nature of these payments prevents them from being classified as bonuses `earned in the normal course of employment.' F&D maintains that the clause precludes coverage for acts done with the intent to obtain any type of bonus, not just those earned in the normal course of business. Although grammatically the phrase `earned in the normal course of employment' modifies `other employee benefits,' it is at least unclear whether this clause intended to exclude coverage for dishonest acts committed with an intent to obtain a one-time payment such as the handcuff bonus in the context of the generic thrust of excluded types of remuneration. The litany of compensation kinds excluded from coverage are all payments which are generally received on a regular basis as part of an employee's compensation scheme. The handcuff payments certainly do not fall within that category. 118 Op. at 26. Invoking the well-settled principle that courts resolve ambiguities in an insurance contract in favor of coverage and construe exclusions narrowly, the court found that the clause did not bar coverage for dishonest or fraudulent acts committed with the manifest intent to obtain the handcuff payments. 119 In support of its construction of the exclusionary clause, F&D points out that [c]ourts uniformly have construed the Bond's exclusion language for financial benefits to mean any payment that the insured voluntarily pays to an employee, even if those payments are fraudulently earned. Br. at 39. It explains that [r]ecovery under a fidelity bond is barred if the employer `knowingly paid the disputed funds directly to the employees on the belief that the employees were entitled to the payments as compensation for honest work.'  Id. at 40 (quoting FDIC v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 738 F. Supp. 1146, 1160 (M.D. Tenn. 1990), aff'd in relevant part, 942 F.2d 1032 (6th Cir. 1991)). F&D also points to Auburn Ford Lincoln Mercury, Inc. v. Universal Underwriters Insurance Co., 967 F. Supp. 475 (M.D. Ala.), aff'd, 130 F.3d 444 (11th Cir. 1997) (table), where the court rejected the insured's argument that the phrase earned in the normal course of employment permits coverage under subsection (b) if the commissions the employee earned from his conduct were not earned in the normal course of employment in the sense that they were obtained fraudulently. See id. at 478-79 (noting that the phrase in the normal course of employment serves only to define the type of excluded benefits andfinding that [t]his phrase does not mean that allegedly dishonestly obtained commissions are included within the policy). 120 We agree with F&D's argument that the district court erred in finding that the phrase earned in the normal course of employment could be construed as precluding the one-time payments provided for in the closing agreements. In this regard, we believe that the district court's construction of the last phrase of subsection (b) `strain[s] the language of the policy to find an ambiguity where there is none in order to grant coverage that does not exist.'  Oritani Savs. & Loan Ass'n v. Fidelity & Deposit Co., 989 F.2d 635, 639 (3d Cir. 1993) (citation omitted). In our view, the phrase earned in the normal course of employment is unambiguous, and thus, the presumption of construing the exclusion in the contract narrowly does not apply here. This conclusion compels us to find that the handcuff payments fall squarely within the definition of bonuses or awards, or alternatively qualify as a type of benefit earned in the normal course of employment. Accordingly, the RTC cannot satisfy subsection (b) by establishing that Ridder, Hurst and Merkle acted with the manifest intent of obtaining the golden handcuff payments for themselves. 13 121 Our analysis begins with a review of the plain language of subsection (b). First, we note that the position of the phrase earned in the normal course of employment strongly indicates that that phrase was meant to modify the language other employee benefits, as the modifying language directly follows that phrase and describes the types of employee benefits falling within the exclusion. See id.; Hartford Accident & Indem. Ins. Co. v. Washington Nat'l Ins. Co., 638 F. Supp. 78, 83 (N.D. Ill. 1986) (quoting Berger v. Fireman's Am. Loss Control Co., No. 508, slip op. (Md. Ct. App. Dec. 16, 1982)). Moreover, as there is no comma between the two phrases, it is clear that they should be read together, so that the earned in the normal course of employment modifies only the general phrase other employee benefits rather than the other specific types of employee benefits previously enumerated. See Hartford Accident, 638 F. Supp. at 83. As one article explains:Attempts to limit the exclusion to financial benefits [such as salaries and commissions] earned in the normal course of employment have been rejected. The words `earned in the normal course of employment' do not modify the enumerated exclusions that precede them, but are intended to include in the list of excluded benefits other benefits typically earned by employees. 122 Foster, et al., supra at 789. Thus, under the plain language of the bond, the phrase earned in the normal course of employment cannot be viewed as a limitation on the exclusion. Rather, it is reasonable to conclude that the drafters included the phrase to provide a broader exclusion, thereby shrinking the bounds of coverage under the fidelity provision. This construction clearly undermines the district court's reliance on the last phrase of the exclusionary clause to conclude that the handcuff payments were not within the exclusion. See Hartford Accident, 638 F. Supp. at 83; see also Morgan, Olmstead, Kennedy & Gardner, Inc. v. Federal Ins. Co., 637 F. Supp. 973, 977 (S.D.N.Y.) (interpreting similar language and reaching same conclusion), aff'd, 833 F.2d 1003 (2d Cir. 1986) (table). 123 While recognizing that earned in the normal course of employment did not modify bonuses or awards per se, the district court found that language informative and demonstrative of the types of financial benefits that came within the exclusion. By relying on the phrase earned in the normal course, its appears that the district court concluded that the one-time, final payments were not within the excluded financial benefits. The court's holding on this point thus rests upon its conclusion that the unique, one-time nature of the payment distinguished it from the types of employee benefits set out in the exclusionary clause. 124 We cannot agree with the district court's reasoning. Put simply, a review of the case law interpreting the purpose of the exclusionary language and the meaning of the phrase earned in the normal course of employment demonstrates that the court's conclusion on this point is contrary to most (if not all) of the decisions addressing this issue. Extrapolating from the cases we have found on point, we understand the exclusion found in subsection (b) to eliminate coverage where the insured's theory is that the employee's purpose in engaging in the misconduct that caused the loss was to receive some type of financial benefit that, generally speaking, the insured provides knowingly to its employees as part of its compensation scheme and as a result of the employment relationship. 14 125 Following this approach, courts have explained that payments qualifying as payoffsor kickbacks fall outside the exclusionary clause, as well as financial benefits obtained as a result of the employee's interest in an entity that benefits from the improper transaction, because the payments in those instances clearly are not salaries, commissions, fees, bonuses, promotions, awards, profit sharing, pensions or other employee benefits earned in the normal course of employment. See Lustig, 961 F.2d at 1167 ($40,000 loan from borrower to employee); First Bank v. Hartford Underwriters Mut. Ins. Co., 997 F. Supp. 934, 937-38 (S.D. Ohio 1998), aff'd on other grounds, 198 F.3d 245 (6th Cir. 1999) (table); Estate of K.O. Jordan v. Hartford Accident & Indem. Co., 844 P.2d 403, 413 (Wash. 1993) (en banc). Moreover, courts have rejected the argument that the exclusion precludes coverage only for losses caused by an employee's desire to obtain, for example, honestly earned commissions, finding that the term earned encompasses financial benefits both fraudulently obtained and honestly earned from the employer. See Municipal Sec., Inc. v. Insurance Co. of N. Am., 829 F.2d 7, 9-10 (6th Cir. 1987); Auburn Ford, 967 F. Supp. at 479; Mortell v. Insurance Co. of N. Am., 458 N.E.2d 922, 929 (Ill. App. Ct. 1983). 126 Thus, contrary to the district court's construction of the exclusion found in subsection (b), courts addressing its scope have held that the earned in the course of employment language is descriptive of the character of the payment at issue rather than the frequency with which the payment is received or the timing of its receipt. Indeed, this construction makes sense in view of the fact that each of the eight nouns preceding the last phrase other employee benefits . . . share the singular characteristic that they are all financial benefits provided knowingly by an insured, in its capacity as an employer, to its employees as a form of compensation and as a result of the employment relationship. 127 We also point out that the very nature of bonuses and awards, both of which are excluded financial benefits under subsection (b), undermines the district court's limitation of the exclusion to only those payments received with frequency, or at a minimum more than once. Webster's Third New International Dictionary defines a bonus as something given or received that is over and above what is expected. Id. at 252. Similarly, Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines an award as something that is conferred or bestowed: prize. Id. at 61. Thus, if presented in the employment context, bonuses and awards are given by an employer to its employee as rewards based on job-related performance. By their very nature, those rewards are bestowed sparingly, perhaps only once in an employee's career. Nevertheless, under the plain language of the bond, a loss motivated by a desire to obtain such benefits falls squarely within the exclusion found in subsection (b). 128 Thus, we cannot agree with the district court's reasoning that the last phrase earned in the normal course indicates that the excluded benefits are limited to those forms of compensation that are given by the employer to the employee on a regular basis. Rather, we hold that the exclusion covers payments knowingly made by the insured to the employee as a consequence of their employment relationship and in recognition of the employee's performance of job-related duties. Applying this standard here, we find that the golden handcuff payments fall squarely within the exclusion set forth in subsection (b), whether it be because they are considered a bonus, award, or simply a financial benefit that the employees earned in the normal course of employment. 129 We point out that the closing agreements describe the payments there under as compensation for the employees' assistance in City Collateral sale, SA at 153, which suggests to us that the payments were bestowed once and only to certain employees in recognition of their job-related performance. We also note that the fact that the closing agreements provided for a singular, lump-sum payment actually supports the finding that the payments qualify as a bonus or award, given the ordinary meaning of those terms. Moreover, these payments clearly are distinguishable from the those financial benefits which have been held to fall outside the category of excluded benefits, namely payoffs or embezzled funds, as City Collateral voluntarily signed the agreements knowing that the payments would be made if the sale eventually occurred. Indeed, City Federal paid the employees once the HonFed deal closed. Compare St. Paul Fire & Marine, 738 F. Supp. at 1160-61; Morgan, Olmstead, 637 F. Supp. at 978 (noting that bribes would not qualify as salary, commissions, fees or other emoluments, which was the operative exclusionary language). 130 Nevertheless, given our construction of the exclusion, it appears that it would not preclude coverage under the theory that Ridder, Hurst and Merkle engaged in dishonest and fraudulent acts with the manifest intent to secure future lucrative employment opportunities, salaries and signing bonuses from HonFed--a third party to their employment relationship with City Collateral. 15 Indeed, F&D apparently concedes that even under its construction of the exclusionary clause, which we found persuasive, benefits such as future employment, salaries and bonuses from HonFed would not fall within the exclusionary clause in subsection (b). Instead, it argues that the inference that the employees acted with the manifest intent to obtain different and more lucrative employment is factually unsupportable because it is undisputed that HonFed did not seek their employment with the company until November 1988. Thus, as we understand F&D's argument, it challenges the district court's assessment of the sufficiency of the RTC's evidence to survive summary judgment on this theory. 131 We disagree with F&D's argument that no reasonable jury could conclude, based on the evidence, that Ridder, Hurst, and Merkle acted with the purpose of obtaining for themselves more lucrative employment elsewhere, including large salaries and bonuses with the prospective purchaser. Indeed, we believe that a reasonable jury could find that these employees, in engaging in their course of concealment and misrepresentation, intended to secure employment bonuses and future employment with City Collateral's purchaser. As the district court noted, Hurst testified that the officers sought to  `maximize their rewards' in connection with the sales effort and targeted potential purchasers who would likely employ them after the transaction. Op. at 25. Put simply, the fact that Ridder, Hurst and Merkle did not learn until November 1988, that they in fact obtained what they had hoped for all along (in terms of lucrative employment, salaries and bonuses with the purchaser) is not logically inconsistent with the proposition that they engaged in a course of concealment and misrepresentation prior to that date to secure that ultimate result. 132 We also point out that there is a suggestion in the record that as of late October or early November 1988, Ridder, Hurst and Merkle were confident that HonFed was going to purchase City Collateral, and that they began negotiating the terms of their future employment with the company around the same time period. In determining the employees' manifest intent to obtain future employment and signing bonuses, the jury certainly could consider the events that occurred subsequently to that date, in particular the December 9, 1988, memorandum to HonFed, and the fact that the individual defendants continued their course of concealment through the date of the sale. These events would be particularly probative on this issue, given the circumstance that as of that time frame, Ridder, Hurst and Merkle were certain to gain future employment, substantial salaries and signing bonuses if the sale occurred smoothly and on terms that were favorable to HonFed. In that sense, then, Merkle, Ridder and Hurst's chances for financial prosperity were tied to HonFed's ultimate success, which inevitably would come at City Federal's expense. 133 Accordingly, we hold that at trial, the RTC may seek to establish coverage under the bond by proving that in engaging in the various acts of concealment and misrepresentation, Ridder, Hurst, and Merkle acted with the purpose of securing for themselves lucrative employment opportunities, salaries and bonuses with City Collateral's eventual purchaser. However, it cannot seek to establish coverage by arguing that these employees acted with the intent to secure the golden handcuff payments from City Collateral, as those payments qualify as financial benefits falling within the exclusionary clause in subsection (b). 134 ii. Whether a reasonable jury could conclude that the individual defendants acted with a manifest intent to secure a financial benefit for a third party 135 We noted at the outset of our discussion that subsection (b) of the fidelity provision could be satisfied in two ways. The second way that an insured could obtain coverage is if the loss resulted directly from the employee's desire to obtain a financial benefit for a third party, in this instance HonFed. F&D contended before the district court that it was illogical to assume that the individual defendants began their course of conduct in May 1988 with the manifest intent to benefit HonFed because HonFed did not come into the picture until November 1988, long after the individual employees allegedly began their dishonest and fraudulent conduct. The district court agreed with F&D's argument, holding as follows: 136 In addition, no rational juror could find that the officers fraudulently concealed information from City Federal beginning in May 1988 with the manifest intent to benefit HonFed, a potential purchaser which only expressed interest in City Collateral months later. Although the December 9 memorandum was likely motivated by the desire to ensure that City Collateral passed to HonFed on favorable terms, the entire course of dishonesty and concealment perpetuated by the officers during the prior months cannot be attributed to this purpose. 137 Op. at 24. 138 The RTC does not challenge this ruling on appeal. For our purposes, we need not address whether the district court's analysis on this point was correct because we already have determined that the RTC may establish coverage under subsection (b) by proving that Ridder, Hurst, and Merkle acted with the manifest intent to secure future employment and bonuses with HonFed. Therefore, we will not disturb the district court's finding on this point. 139 c. Whether there is sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that the employees acted with the manifest intent to cause City Federal to sustain a loss on the Northwest account (subsection (a)'s requirement) 140 F&D asserts alternatively that there is insufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that the individual defendants acted with the manifest intent to cause City Federal to incur a loss on the Northwest account. F&D points out that the quintessential example of an employee who undoubtedly possesses a manifest intent to cause the insured's loss is the embezzling employee-the thief--because in that situation the employee's gain is always at the employer's expense. It contends that the only conclusion permitted by the evidence is that the employees hoped to save City Federal from large losses on the Northwest account. Accordingly, it asserts that we should affirm the district court's order of summary judgment because, as a matter of law, the evidence could not support the conclusion that the employees intended to cause City Federal's loss. 141 The district court found that there was a triable issue concerning the employees' manifest intent to injure City Federal, explaining that the evidence supports an inference that the employees concealed the true problematic status of the Northwest credit line to induce City Federal to approve extensions of the credit line and to consent to the advancement of additional funds from April to December 1988. Op. at 22. Moreover, the court pointed out that the evidence demonstrated that the individual defendants, either individually or collectively, were well aware of the nature and severity of the problems with the credit line, yet took affirmative steps to misrepresent and conceal them from City Federal. Relying also on the other circumstantial evidence of intent, including the concealment of the Movroydis admission, the alteration of the customer history, and the advisory memorandum to HonFed on the eve of sale, the court found that a fact finder could certainly conclude that the employees knew that the significant losses were `substantially certain to follow' from their conduct and that they acted with total disregard for these inevitable consequences. Id. 142 F&D contests the court's holding on two grounds. First, it contends that the district court's reasoning is unsound because it makes no sense that the employees would cause [City Federal] to lose millions of dollars because that loss would assist the employees in obtaining the financial benefits. Br. at 48. It contends that creating a loss would not have assisted the employees in receiving their bonuses from [City Federal.] If anything, and by the FDIC's own admission, the Employees could have been terminated if they had been caught purposely creating a loss on the Northwest loan. See id. at 49. 143 Second, F&D argues that the district court ignored the undisputed evidence in the case demonstrating that the individual defendants extended the Northwest credit line beyond its initial maturity date in an attempt to minimize the losses that City Federal would incur. Moreover, F&D points out that the evidence also shows that over the course of the summer of 1988, the credit line showed some improvement, thus demonstrating that the employees acted solely with the best interests of City Federal in mind. In addressing the alleged acts of concealment, F&D contends that they do not undercut the other evidence of the employees' good intentions, as the RTC has failed to show how the employees intended to harm City Federal by hiding these problems. See id. at 49. 144 We have made a complete study of the record of this case to determine whether there is sufficient evidence from which a jury could conclude that Ridder, Hurst, and Merkle acted with the purpose or desire of causing City Federal to sustain a loss on the Northwest account. While we do not set forth at this point all of the evidence the RTC presented on this issue and explain our analysis of it, we are in complete agreement with the district court's ultimate conclusion that the circumstances present a genuine issue of material fact concerning their manifest intent to cause City Federal to sustain the Northwest loss. Given the unique facts of this case, there are many possible conclusions that could be drawn concerning the employees' purpose. For example, there is evidence tending to show that Ridder, Hurst and Merkle acted with the desire of benefitting themselves, and consequently also desired to cause City Federal's loss, inasmuch as City Federal's loss would inure to their benefit. Clearly, HonFed's last minute decision to exclude the Northwest account from the purchase was beneficial to them because it ensured that their new employer would not be saddled with the loss with which they arguably were involved on some level. On the other hand, the jury could conclude that the loss was the unfortunate result of a series of poor business decisions, or that in seeking to obtain future employment and associated benefits with HonFed, Ridder, Hurst and Merkle only intended to benefit themselves and that the injury to City Federal was an unintended consequence. Moreover, we cannot discount the possibility that at some point, their motivation and desires changed. In any event, the evidence pertaining to the employees' intent is mixed, and coverage therefore is a disputed issue of fact that should be left for the jury. See Lustig, 961 F.2d at 1166-67. 145 Inasmuch as we have held that a jury may consider evidence tending to establish an employee's reckless behavior, as well as circumstantial proof of the substantial likelihood of a loss, and infer from those circumstances an intent to cause a loss, we believe that the facts of this case are such that a reasonable jury could draw the conclusion that the employees intended for City Federal to be saddled with the Northwest loan loss. Indeed, as we have explained, we simply cannot state with certainty what the employees intended in engaging in the acts that they did. Accordingly, we agree with the district court's ultimate conclusion that summary judgment on this issue was inappropriate. 146 We have considered in this regard F&D's argument that the district court ignored the circumstantial evidence supporting the conclusion that the employees' actions were not undertaken with the manifest intent to cause City Federal's loss on the Northwest account. To be sure, F&D is correct that a reasonable jury could conclude, based on certain evidence in the record, that the employees only hoped to save City Federal from incurring a substantial loss in connection with the overflow of shipped and warehoused loans. Nevertheless, there is other evidence in the record, namely the various acts of concealment, which supports the opposite conclusion. Put simply, a jury would be required to consider all of the evidence in reaching its ultimate finding regarding the employees' subjective intent in engaging in the conduct that they did, and we will not pretermit the jury's ability to do so. 147 Similarly, we have considered F&D's alternative argument, namely that it makes no sense that the employees would cause [City Federal] to lose millions of dollars because that loss would assist the employees in obtaining the financial benefits. Br. at 48. It claims that logically, if the individual defendants purposely created a loss on the Northwest account, it would not have benefitted them at all personally because it would be likely that City Federal would have fired them if it discovered that they purposely did so. In that event, Ridder, Hurst, and Merkle would not have been able to obtain lucrative employment with HonFed or collect on their closing agreements with City Collateral. See id. 148 This assertion does not persuade us that no reasonable jury could find that these employees acted with the manifest intent to cause City Federal to sustain a loss. First, we note that this argument, in essence, asks us to view the facts in the light most favorable to F&D, and draw subjective conclusions in its favor, a task that we cannot perform at this juncture. We believe, however, that F&D's contention is best left for the jury's consideration. We also point out that this argument is premised on F&D's assumption that the RTC's theory is that the individual defendants purposely created a loss on the Northwest account. But it seems clear to us that the RTC does not claim that individual defendants created a loss in the sense that they assisted Movroydis in his kiting scheme. Rather, the RTC's position is that the employees caused the loss to City Federal because their acts of concealment and various misrepresentations led HonFed to exclude the loan from the sale, which in turn resulted in City Federal being put in the unfavorable position of having to deal with a delinquent account that was certain to result in a significant loan loss. Inasmuch as subsection (a) of the fidelity provision requires only that the employees acted with the manifest intent to cause the insured to sustain the loss that it did, the RTC's theory of coverage falls squarely within its relatively narrow parameters. 149 In sum, we are convinced that the evidence is not so onesided so as to compel the conclusion that, as a matter of law, Ridder, Hurst and Merkle did not intend to benefit themselves and cause City Federal to sustain a loss. Consequently, we will not disturb the district court's conclusion that summary judgment on this issue was inappropriate. 150 2. Whether there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the Northwest loss is a loss resulting directly from the employees' dishonest or fraudulent acts 151 As its final argument, F&D contends that the district court erred in concluding that a reasonable jury could find that the employees' misconduct caused the Northwest loan loss. The district court construed the causation language-resulting directly from--as meaning that the bond covers losses that would not have occurred but for the dishonest conduct. See Op. at 23 (citing Lustig, 961 F.2d at 181 [sic]). The court found that the evidence was sufficient to survive F&D's summary judgment motion on this point because it suggested that the extensions of credit and the additional loans made after the original maturity date at the very least enhanced the losses City Federal suffered. Id. The court concluded that while the deteriorating financial condition of Northwest and Movroydis's kiting scheme certainly contributed to the losses, a fact-finder could reasonably conclude that the concealment by the officers of the problematic status of the credit line in order to induce the approval of future loans and extensions directly resulted in a covered loss. Id. 152 F&D does not contend that the district court's but for standard was incorrect, but instead maintains that the RTC has not produced any evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that the employees' misconduct was the cause in fact of the loss, given the reality that it was likely that City Federal would have sustained the same or similar loss absent the fraudulent and dishonest actions. F&D asserts that, under general principles of tort law, an actor's conduct cannot be said to be a cause in fact of the resulting damage if the evidence shows that the injury would have resulted anyway even in the absence of the conduct at issue. In support of applying this rule to bar coverage in this case, F&D relies on tort cases discussing the concept that a plaintiff asserting a fraud claim must demonstrate that the fraudulent conduct caused an injury, and it analogizes to cases which held that there is no tort without an injury. See id. at 56 (citing Midwest Commerce Banking Co. v. Elkhart City Ctr., 4 F.3d 521, 524-25 (7th Cir. 1993); Stromberger v. 3M Co., 990 F.2d 974, 976-77 (7th Cir. 1993); Citibank, N.A. v. K-H Corp., 968 F.2d 1489, 1496 (2d Cir. 1992); Schroth v. Coal Operators Cas. Co., 73 A.2d 67, 68 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1950)). 153 From this premise, F&D argues that the RTC failed to meet its evidentiary burden at summary judgment because it did not introduce any evidence tending to show that, absent the individual defendants' pattern of concealment and misrepresentation, City Federal would have avoided the loss on the Northwest account. Br. at 55-63. F&D points to the fact that the RTC's expert could not quantify with a reasonable degree of certainty what funds were available to pay off the advances outstanding on the Northwest loan at any particular time. F&D's argument thus is premised on its belief that the district court's factual cause or but for analysis was flawed in that no reasonable jury could conclude that the employees' dishonest or fraudulent conduct played any part in the loan loss that forms the basis of the RTC's indemnification claim. 154 Our analysis of this issue must begin by determining the appropriate causation standard, given the plain language of the bond. That finding will permit us to consider whether the evidence in record is sufficient to establish that there is a jury issue on causation. 155 As to the first issue, we do not share F&D's view that the phrase losses resulting directly from requires only an inquiry into the factual cause of the loss. Indeed, it appears that in assuming that the language resulting directly from requires only a but for or cause-in-fact standard of causation, F&D has not considered our opinion in Jefferson Bank v. Progressive Casualty Insurance Co., 965 F.2d 1274 (3d Cir. 1992), which addressed the appropriate construction of the identical phrase under Pennsylvania law. There we construed the resulting directly from causation language in Insuring Agreement E--the forgery provision--and concluded that that phrase meant losses proximately caused by. See id. at 1280-81. In reaching our conclusion, we specifically noted the insured's argument that the bond's language indicated that the causation standard was broader than proximate cause, and that the standard was a more lenient one, requiring only that the forgery be the cause-in-fact or the but-for cause of the loss. See id. at 1280-81 & n.10. Our analysis rejected the insured's broader construction, as we found that the conventional proximate cause standard was the correct formulation. We also rejected the insurer's argument that the language of the bond required the plaintiff to prove not only proximate cause, but also some additional closeness in space and time between the loss and the cause of the loss. See id. at 1280-81 & n.11. 156 Our research reveals that the New Jersey Supreme Court has not addressed the meaning of the phrase losses resulting directly from as it is used throughout the various Insuring Agreements contained in the Standard Form No. 22 bond at issue in this case, and in particular has not construed the meaning of that language as it is used in the fidelity provision. Nevertheless, our review of several New Jersey cases interpreting and applying similar causation language in other types of insurance agreements indicates to us that the New Jersey Supreme Court would follow our opinion in Jefferson Bank and apply the proximate causation standard to the resulting directly from language found in the fidelity provision of this bond. See, e.g., CruzMendez v. ISU/Ins. Servs., 722 A.2d 515, 525 (N.J. 1999) (stating that statute, in using the terms caused and by reason of, contemplates proof of proximate causation) (citing Westchester Fire Ins. Co. v. Continental Ins. Cos., 312 A.2d 664, 669 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1973), aff'd, 319 A.2d 732 (N.J. 1974) (per curiam), which observed that phrases caused by and resulting from in insurance contracts convey idea of proximate cause); Search EDP, Inc. v. American Home Assurance Co., 632 A.2d 286, 289-90 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1993) (applying proximate cause standard where errors and omissions policy covered damages resulting from wrongful act where wrongful act arises out of conduct of insured's business) (citing Franklin Pack'g Co. v. California Union Ins. Co., 408 A.2d 448 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1979)); Stone v. Royal Ins. Co., 511 A.2d 717, 719-20 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1986) (interpreting language describing coverages and exclusions under homeowner's insurance policy where policy covered direct loss . . . caused by, inter alia, accidental discharge or overflow of water, and excluded losses directly or indirectly from water damage; court applied proximate cause standard to determine if water damage was covered by policy, and determined that last event contributing to the damage--the ruptured hose on the sump pump--was a covered risk); see generally Karadontes v. Continental Ins. Co., 354 A.2d 696, 697 n.1 (Bergen County Dist. Ct. 1976) (noting that direct loss as used in fire insurance policies has been construed to have essentially the same meaning as proximate cause); Stephen M. Brent, Annotation, What Constitutes Direct Loss Under Windstorm Insurance Coverage, 65 ALR 3d 1128 (1975) (noting that courts have equated direct result with proximate cause of loss); 7 Couch 3d, supra S 101:53 (The term `direct loss' is generally held to be the equivalent of both `proximate cause,' and `direct cause.' ) (citations omitted). 157 Indeed, our result in Jefferson Bank was predicated upon our review of Pennsylvania case law addressing the meaning of a similar causation standard utilized in a different type of insurance contract, see Jefferson Bank, 965 F.2d at 1281, and our construction of the language losses resulting directly from comports with other jurisdictions addressing this issue in the fidelity insurance context. See, e.g., Mid-America Bank v. American Cas. Co., 745 F. Supp. 1480, 1485 (D. Minn. 1990) (utilizing proximate cause principles in addressing defendant's argument that the losses caused by the renewal of loans are not losses directly resulting from the employee's dishonest or fraudulent acts); Hanson PLC, 794 P.2d at 73 (stating that trial court did not err in instructing jury that result directly language in fidelity bond may be defined as proximate cause). But see Fidelity & Deposit Co., 45 F.3d at 976 (Lustig requires that the FDIC show that a loan would not have been made `but for' the fraudulent conduct of the employee.); Lustig, 961 F.2d at 1167 (A loss is directly caused by the dishonest or fraudulent act within the meaning of the bond where the bank can demonstrate that it would not have made the loan in the absence of fraud.); see generally William T. Bogaert, Andrew F. Caplan, Computing the Amount of Compensable Loss under the Financial Institution Bond, 33 Tort & Ins. L.J. 807, 813-14 & nn.29 & 33 (Spring 1998) (criticizing approach in Jefferson Bank as adopting causation standard that was too lenient given the plain language of bond which required that the connection between the loss and the conduct be direct, and noting still that the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit's approach in Lustig departed even further from the contractual language by allowing recovery based upon mere `but for' or factual causation in apparent disregard of the direct loss requirement and the proximity of the covered conduct and the loss). 158 Thus, as a matter of logic, we see no reason why the New Jersey Supreme Court would adopt a different interpretation of the language, given the fact that the phrases in the two Insuring Agreements are identical, and our reasoning in Jefferson Bank supports an application of the proximate causation standard in this context. Accordingly, we hold, in accordance with our reasoning in Jefferson Bank, that the phrase losses resulting directly from requires, for purposes of indemnification, that the losses be proximately caused by the fraudulent or dishonest acts of the employee which form the basis for the insured's coverage claim. 159 As previously mentioned, the district court, following Lustig, held that there was evidence suggesting that the dishonest and fraudulent acts were the cause in fact of the Northwest loan loss. The court stated that there was evidence suggesting that the extensions and additional loans, at the very least, enhanced the losses City Federal suffered. Op. at 23. Thus, it appears from the language it used that the district court applied a less-demanding standard of causation than that which we have adopted today. See Jefferson Bank, 965 F.2d at 1281 n.10. 160 Nevertheless, we do not believe that the district court's error in this regard necessitates reversal of the district court's conclusion that there were genuine issues of material fact concerning the question of causation presented on the facts of this case. Indeed, we agree with the district court's ultimate finding that a jury must determine the cause of the Northwest loss that City Federal sustained, and in particular, whether those specific dishonest and fraudulent acts upon which the RTC bases its claim of indemnification proximately caused the loss. Under New Jersey tort law, which we find instructive on the proximate cause analysis required under the bond, see Jefferson Bank, 965 F.2d at 1281, a proximate cause need not be the sole cause of harm. It suffices if it is a substantial contributing factor to the harm suffered. Perez v. Wyeth Labs. Inc., 734 A.2d 1245, 1261 (N.J. 1999); see also Jefferson Bank, 965 F.2d at 1281 (stating that under Pennsylvania law, a cause is proximate if it is merely a substantial cause of the harm) (citations and quotation marks omitted). Based on the record before us, we cannot find, as a matter of law, that a jury could not conclude that the employees' actions were a substantial factor in bringing about the Northwest loan loss that eventually resulted. Allowing the jury to decide the issue of proximate cause is consistent with New Jersey's approach to resolving causation issues. See Perez, 734 A.2d at 1261 (citing Martin v. Bengue, Inc., 136 A.2d 626 (N.J. 1957)). 161 We further point out that in reaching our conclusion on the causation issue, we are unpersuaded by F&D's suggestion that as the non-movant at summary judgment proceedings, the RTC had to produce evidence demonstrating that the Northwest loan loss would have been avoided if the employees' misconduct had not occurred. Importantly, F&D's position in this regard is premised on cases which are not on point factually and fail to address the relevant legal concept here--that of proximate causation. Indeed, it appears from its brief that F&D's argument conflates the tort concepts of proximate causation and lack of compensable injury. See Br. at 56-59 (citing Midwest, 4 F.3d at 524; Stromberger, 990 F.2d at 976-77; Citibank, 968 F.2d at 1495; W. Page Keeton et al., Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts S 41, at 265 (5th ed. 1984)). Given this analytical flaw, F&D has not persuaded us that the facts pertaining to the issue of proximate causation are so one-sided so as to require judgment as a matter of law in its favor. See Jefferson Bank , 965 F.2d at 1285 (finding genuine issue of material fact concerning whether forged signature proximately caused loss where the evidence suggested that the bank would have refused to enter the transaction had not an individual purporting to be a notary signed the instrument); accord Lustig, 961 F.2d at 1167-68 (finding that relevant question pertaining to causation issue was whether the loan committee relied on [the employee's] misrepresentations in making at least some of the disputed loans, and determined that there were material disputed issues of fact on that point; court stated that the bond does not require the bank to rule out all reasons the loan was not repaid before it can obtain coverage). Accordingly, we will affirm the district court's ruling on the causation issue, as we see no basis for concluding, as a matter of law, that the dishonest and fraudulent actions did not cause the Northwest loss.