Opinion ID: 2617139
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Does Coverage Hinge on Form of Action or on the Character of the Claims?

Text: The insurers contend that even if personal injury damages arising from the torts of trespass, nuisance, and interference fall within the personal injury coverage of the policies provided to Kitsap County, coverage is precluded under the personal injury provisions of the policies because the essential character of the plaintiffs' claims against the County, recovery for damages to health and property caused by exposure to pollutants, governs coverage. To allow characterization of the claim in the complaint to govern coverage, the insurers argue, is to elevate the form of the underlying pleadings over their substance. Br. of Certain Insurers at 30. Kitsap County counters this argument by citing cases from other jurisdictions which stand for the proposition that in determining whether coverage is afforded by the personal injury provisions of a policy, one must look to the type of offense that the insured is alleged to have committed and not the nature of the damages sought in the action. Martin Marietta Corp. v. Insurance Co., 40 Cal.App.4th 1113, 47 Cal.Rptr.2d 670, 676, 677 (1995), review denied (1996); see generally 7A JOHN ALAN APPLEMAN, INSURANCE LAW AND PRACTICE § 4501.14 (Walter F. Berdal ed., 1979). The County calls particular attention to Great Northern Nekoosa Corp. v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 921 F.Supp. 401, 416 (N.D.Miss.1996), in which the court said, Personal injury liability is a theory-based insurance coverage. It defines its coverage in terms of offenses, or theories of liability, not in terms of the injury sustained by the plaintiff. In contrast, the County contends, one must look to the nature of the injury or damage sustained by the claimant who is suing the insured in order to determine if coverage is available under the bodily injury and property damage provisions of a policy. Great Northern, 921 F.Supp. at 416. While there is apparently no published decision from a court in this state which addresses whether personal injury coverage is dependent on the theory underlying the claim or the nature of the injury that is alleged, we are inclined to agree with the courts in other jurisdictions that in determining whether personal injury coverage exists we must look to the type of offense that is alleged. Here, all of the parties who sued Kitsap County claimed that their damages arose from actions of the County which constituted a trespass and/or nuisance. Some claimed, in addition, that the County interfered with their use and enjoyment of their property. If those claims are analogous to claims for the offenses of wrongful entry, wrongful eviction, or other invasion of the right of private occupancy then there is coverage under the personal injury provisions of the policies in question unless coverage is excluded by other provisions in the policy. A determination of whether the County committed any of the offenses would, of course, ultimately determine the obligation of any insurer to pay. That would be a factual determination for the federal court and is not an issue before us.