Opinion ID: 1277337
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Continental

Text: We first address Continental's claim that Dutton breached its duties under the notice requirements of the contract. Continental does not allege any prejudice from any lack of notice prior to its 1992 denial of liability. The 1992 letter to Dutton clearly stated that it was disclaiming coverage. The letter stated that it was doing so because Continental had concluded that the EPA's claim failed to constitute a claim for property damage as defined by the policy. While the letter also referred to the lack of a suit, as defined by the policy, the reason for there being no suit was explained as follows: It is Continental's position that an administrative order or action does not constitute a 'suit.' Under such reasoning, Dutton could safely assume that the eventual filing against it by the EPA would not change Continental's position. Accordingly, we conclude that there is an issue of fact precluding summary judgment as to whether the 1992 letter constituted a denial of liability such that Dutton could reasonably believe that any further notification or forwarding of documents would be fruitless. Assuming the letter did reasonably induce Dutton to believe that further correspondence would be useless, Dutton's notification duties under the contract were waived and could not be used by Continental as a basis for nonperformance.