Opinion ID: 201603
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Duty-to-Defend Claim Against Integrand

Text: 50 Barquet contends that the district court erred in granting Integrand summary judgment on Barquet's claim that Integrand, Barquet's commercial liability insurer, had a duty to defend Barquet against the lawsuit brought by the co-plaintiff jewelers (Astoria, Shah, and Eclipse) and their insurers. Barquet has not appealed the district court's finding that Integrand need not pay to indemnify Barquet for its liability in this underlying action; Barquet commendably admits, in fact, that the depositum contract theory that the district court used to grant relief falls under a policy exemption because it presupposes that the lost jewelry was under Barquet's care, custody, or control when taken. 51 Under Puerto Rico law, the duty to defend is measured by the allegations in a plaintiff's complaint — if any of these allegations, read liberally, state facts that would be covered by a liability policy if proven true, then the insurer must provide a defense for the insured defendant. See, e.g., Martinez Perez v. Universidad Central de Bayamon, Inc., 143 P.R. Dec. 554, 562, 1997 WL 394355 (1997) (Official Translation); Pagán Caraballo v. Silva Delgado, 122 P.R. Offic. Trans. 98, 102-03, 1988 WL 580770 (1988). 52 Barquet argues that, aside from the depositum contract claim, the complaint of the co-plaintiff jewelers and their insurers also alleges a separate claim of tort-law negligence. The complaint cannot reasonably be read this way. The co-plaintiffs were only seeking relief on a depositum contract theory. The references to negligence are located within the complaint's discussion of this contract count, and are intended merely as references to the standard of care under a depositum contract. Barquet briefly argues that we can go beyond the allegations in the complaint to look at extrinsic evidence in determining whether Integrand had a duty to defend. Puerto Rico has never adopted such an approach. See, e.g., Martinez Perez, 143 P.R. Dec. at 562 ([I]f the allegations clearly exclude the damages claimed from the coverage of the policy, the duty to defend cannot be imposed upon the insurance company.) The district court's ruling that Integrand had no duty to defend was correct.