Court Opinion

ID: 8890898
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-26 23:12:22.264658+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:07:12.667463
License: Public Domain

ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
PER CURIAM:
It is ordered that the petition for rehearing filed on behalf of Home Indemnity Company, Appellee in the above entitled and numbered cause be and the same is hereby denied.
ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
PER CURIAM:
In its petition for rehearing, Yo-Ro Diesel Service, Inc. raises four points. The first three concern the reasonableness of its opportunity to defend, the fact finding that there was oil on the catwalk, and the construction of the exclusionary clause in the Travelers insurance policy. We think our original opinion adequately disposes of these issues.
Point four of the petition, however, raises the issue of costs of the defense, including attorney’s fees. The district court had awarded these costs against Travelers and allowed the parties sixty days from the date of the judgment to agree on their amount. In the absence of an agreement, any party was invited to apply to that court for a hearing to determine the amount. We have reversed as to the liability of Travelers and as to the nonliability of Home, but we have not dealt with the issue of the costs as a matter of contractual liability under the policies.
*309Both the Home and the Travelers policies contain clauses obligating the insurers to bear the costs of defense to suits on claims covered by the policies. It is probable that both insurers are therefore liable for the costs of this suit, including attorney’s fees, even though only Home has beeii held liable for the basic claim, since there was a reasonable possibility that each policy might have covered this claim. See J. Appleman, Insurance Law and Practice, § 4683 (1962). Although this issue has been raised by Yo-Ro in its brief, neither Home nor Travelers has argued it. We could, of course, grant the petition for rehearing on this point, hear further argument on it, and remand to the district court for a determination of the amount of any defense costs we determined might be allowable. In the interests of judicial economy, however, we feel that the most expeditious way to handle this whole issue is to remand to the district court for a hearing on both the existence of liability for costs on the part of either Home or Travelers or both and the amount of those costs.
The petition for rehearing is DENIED and the case is REMANDED for a hearing on these issues.