Court Opinion

ID: 9555172
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-11 00:00:36.580951+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:41:38.531934
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-30114        Document: 00516854009             Page: 1      Date Filed: 08/10/2023

             United States Court of Appeals
                  for the Fifth Circuit
                                     ____________                              United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                        Fifth Circuit

                                                                                      FILED
                                      No. 23-30114                              August 10, 2023
                                    Summary Calendar
                                    ____________                                 Lyle W. Cayce
                                                                                      Clerk
   Kim Kool, Incorporated,

                                                                    Plaintiff—Appellant,

                                            versus

   Progressive County Mutual Insurance Company,

                                               Defendant—Appellee.
                     ______________________________

                     Appeal from the United States District Court
                        for the Western District of Louisiana
                               USDC No. 2:21-CV-432
                     ______________________________

   Before Dennis, Elrod, and Wilson, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
         Appellant Kim Kool (“Kool”) appeals the district court’s determina-
   tion that damages awarded to Kool are not covered under an insurance policy
   issued by Appellee Progressive County Mutual Insurance Company (“Pro-
   gressive”). Kool sued Cobra Trucking, LLC (“Cobra”) and Progressive
   based on damage to Kool’s heat exchanger incurred while Cobra was

         _____________________
         *
             This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-30114     Document: 00516854009           Page: 2   Date Filed: 08/10/2023

                                    No. 23-30114

   transporting the heat exchanger. After a bench trial, the district court found
   that while Cobra was contractually liable to Kool for the damage to the heat
   exchanger, those damages were not covered by the insurance policy Cobra
   had with Progressive because the policy explicitly excluded coverage for the
   negligence of Avery Belcher, the Cobra driver responsible for the damage.
          “The standard of review for a bench trial is well established: findings
   of fact are reviewed for clear error and legal issues are reviewed de novo.”
   Bd. of Trs. New Orleans Emp’rs Int’l Longshoremen’s Ass’n v. Gabriel, Roeder,
   Smith & Co., 529 F.3d 506, 509 (5th Cir.2008) (quoting Water Craft Mgmt.,
   LLC v. Mercury Marine, 457 F.3d 484, 488 (5th Cir.2006)). “The interpreta-
   tion of an insurance contract, including the question of whether the contract
   is ambiguous, is a legal determination meriting de novo review.” National
   Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, Penn. v. Kasler, 906 F.2d 196, 197 (5th
   Cir.1990).
          Kool argues on appeal that the district court erred in finding that the
   named driver exclusion precluded coverage because three policy endorse-
   ments cover the damage to the heat exchanger. Yet the main policy explicitly
   stated that “none of the insurance coverages afforded by this policy, or any
   related endorsements, shall apply while an insured auto or any other motor
   vehicle is operated by the following drivers: ‘AVERY BELCHER.’” The
   plain meaning of the policy thus excluded coverage for damages caused by
   Belcher, regardless of any policy endorsements. Puckett v. U.S. Fire Ins. Co.,
   678 S.W.2d 936, 938 (Tex. 1984) (“When there is no ambiguity, it is the
   court’s duty to give the words used their plain meaning.”). Accordingly, the
   district court properly found that the damages Cobra owes to Kool are not
   covered by the Progressive insurance policy.
          The district court’s judgment is AFFIRMED.

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