Summary
explaining that "it is well settled that an insurer's duty to defend is broader than its duty to indemnify and that a contract of insurance will be strictly construed in favor of the insured."
Summary of this case from AT&T Corp. v. Clarendon America Insurance Co.Opinion
September 18, 1990
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Beverly Cohen, J.).
By lease dated September 1, 1980, plaintiff 30 West 15th Street Owners Corp., the cooperative housing corporation which is the owner in fee of the land and building located at 30 West 15th Street, New York, and the individual plaintiffs, members of its board of directors, leased the building's ground-floor store premises to 30 West 15th Street Associates (Associates), the sponsor and commercial tenant, for a period of 99 years, commencing September 1, 1980 and expiring on August 31, 2079, with the lease providing an unqualified right of Associates to sublease the store without the plaintiffs' consent. Subsequently, Associates subleased its store premises to Chelsea Lighting, Inc. for a term of five years commencing on February 1, 1986, for use as a distribution and storage facility for lighting fixtures and electrical apparatus.
On July 7, 1987, defendant Travelers Insurance Company issued a cooperative directors officers liability insurance policy to the plaintiffs, providing coverage on a "claims-made" basis, which stated, in pertinent part, that:
"The Company will pay on behalf of the Insured all sums, in excess of the deductible amount, which the Insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of any Wrongful act resulting in a claim to which this insurance applies, first made against the Insured and reported to the Company during the coverage period. * * *
"E. COVERAGE PERIOD
"This insurance applies only to Wrongful acts committed:
"1. during the coverage period shown in the Declarations of this Supplement but only if claim is first made against the Insured and reported to the Company during the coverage period and if shown in the declarations;
"2. During the retroactive period shown in the Declarations of this Supplement provided that the Insured, at the effective date of this supplement, did not and could not have reasonably foreseen that such Wrongful act would result in a claim, and provided that the claim is first made against the Insured and reported to the company during the coverage period".
In the declarations, the "Coverage Period" and the "Retroactive Period" were the same, July 15, 1987 to July 15, 1988, indicating that no "Retroactive" claims-made coverage had been purchased by the plaintiffs.
On or about December 11, 1987, during the coverage period afforded by the policy in question, plaintiffs were sued by the sponsor, Associates, based upon various disputes which arose immediately after Associates had subleased its store premises to Chelsea Lighting, Inc., including failure to make certain repairs and refusal to sign an application to the Buildings Department to permit certain architectural work, which failure and refusal, according to Associates and plaintiffs, continued through the date of Associates' complaint, in December of 1987.
Contrary to plaintiffs' contentions on the present appeal, the IAS court did not err in determining that defendant Travelers Insurance Company was not obligated to defend or indemnify the plaintiffs herein under the "claims-made" liability policy in question for wrongful acts which occurred prior to the effective date of coverage.
Although, as plaintiffs correctly note, it is well settled that an insurer's duty to defend is broader than its duty to indemnify and that a contract of insurance will be strictly construed in favor of the insured (Seaboard Sur. Co. v. Gillette Co., 64 N.Y.2d 304, 310; International Paper Co. v. Continental Cas. Co., 35 N.Y.2d 322, 326), nevertheless, it is equally well settled that the obligation of an insurer to defend does not extend to claims which are not covered by the policy or which are expressly excluded from coverage. (See generally, Sanabria v. American Home Assur. Co., 68 N.Y.2d 866; Schiff Assocs. v. Flack, 73 A.D.2d 329, 332, affd 51 N.Y.2d 692, 698.)
We find that the wrongful acts which form the basis of the underlying claim by 30 West 15th Street Associates against the plaintiffs were neither committed during the "Coverage Period" nor the "Retroactive Period" as set forth in the liability policy, running from July 15, 1987 to July 15, 1988, but rather arose and occurred in 1986 as a result of Associates subleasing its store premises to Chelsea Lighting, Inc.
Accordingly, since the liability policy in question did not provide coverage for a risk which occurred prior to July of 1987, and since the underlying litigation between 30 West 15th Street Associates and the plaintiffs herein arose from differences and disputes between the commercial tenant and the residential owners of the building which predate the coverage period afforded by the Travelers policy, we find as did the IAS court, that defendant Travelers Insurance Company was not obligated to defend or indemnify the plaintiffs herein.
Concur — Ross, J.P., Rosenberger, Kassal, Wallach and Rubin, JJ.