Court Opinion

ID: 998411
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 17:10:45.049299+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:36:03.150226
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

ICAROM, PLC, Enterprise House
Blackrock Company,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
                                                                No. 97-2576
v.

HOWARD COUNTY, MARYLAND,
Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore.
Andre M. Davis, District Judge.
(CA-94-2414-AMD)

Argued: March 2, 1999

Decided: April 16, 1999

Before WILKINS, NIEMEYER, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

ARGUED: J. Marks Moore, III, WILSON, ELSER, MOSKOWITZ,
EDELMAN & DICKER, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant. Wil-
liam Fitts Ryan, Jr., WHITEFORD, TAYLOR & PRESTON, L.L.P.,
Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Samuel M. Riley,
WILSON, ELSER, MOSKOWITZ, EDELMAN & DICKER, Balti-
more, Maryland, for Appellant. Howard R. Feldman, WHITEFORD,
TAYLOR & PRESTON, L.L.P., Baltimore, Maryland; Barbara M.
Cook, Katherine L. Taylor, Louis P. Ruzzi, Ellicott City, Maryland,
for Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Icarom, PLC appeals an order of the district court declaring that
Howard County, Maryland is entitled to coverage for contamination
of groundwater underneath three landfills owned by the County pur-
suant to the terms of an insurance policy issued by Icarom. Finding
no error, we affirm.

The County owns three landfills: Carr's Mill, New Cut, and Alpha
Ridge. The groundwater underneath each of the landfills is contami-
nated as a result of the byproducts of decomposing waste; contamina-
tion at the Carr's Mill site may be exacerbated by hazardous waste
leaking from drums illegally deposited on the property.

Icarom brought this declaratory judgment action seeking a determi-
nation of its duty to insure the County for losses due to the contami-
nation of the groundwater beneath the landfills pursuant to a policy
issued by Icarom covering all risks to real and personal property
owned or leased by the County. As pertinent here, Icarom argued that
the losses were not covered by the policy because they were not fortu-
itous.

Having had the benefit of oral argument and the parties' briefs, and
after careful consideration of the record and the applicable law, we
conclude that the district court correctly determined that the loss was
fortuitous. Accordingly, we affirm on the reasoning of the district
court. See Icarom, PLC v. Howard County, Md., 981 F. Supp. 379,
387-90 (D. Md. 1997).

AFFIRMED

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