Opinion
C19-1952JLR
03-09-2023
MATCONUSA LP, Plaintiff, v. HOUSTON CASUALTY COMPANY, et al., Defendants.
MINUTE ORDER
The following minute order is made by the direction of the court, the Honorable James L. Robart:
Before the court is Defendant Houston Casualty Company's (“Houston”) motion for partial summary judgment regarding Plaintiff Matcon USA LP's (“Matcon”) claim for indemnity benefits and Matcon's response thereto. (Mot. (Dkt. # 212); Resp. (Dkt. # 215).) Houston asserts that Matcon cannot prove that non-party Graham Construction & Management, Inc.'s (“Graham”) damages in the underlying King County Superior Court lawsuit were the result of “property damage” within the meaning of the parties' insuring agreement because “[t]here is no admissible evidence from the City [of Seattle] that it shut down the Project due to [Matcon's] duct bank strikes.” (Reply (Dkt. # 221) at 6; see also id. (asserting that none of the evidence cited in Matcon's response establishes that any indemnity liability arose from the duct bank strikes).)
The operative version of Houston's reply is attached to a praecipe to correct a previously-filed version of its reply. (See Praecipe (Dkt. # 221).) When citing Houston's reply, the court refers to the page numbers that appear in the footer of the reply.
The court notes, however, that the parties jointly admitted in their agreed pretrial order that:
By or before October 25, 2018, Seattle City Light had ordered a “shutdown” of the Project as a result of the ductbank strikes, and it was not willing to lift the shutdown until they had a redesign that showed the tie-backs missing all of the utilities under the street.
(Pretrial Order (Dkt. # 183) at 8, ¶ 22 (emphasis added).) Neither Matcon nor Houston, however, cited this admission in their briefing on Houston's motion for partial summary judgment. (See generally Mot.; Resp.; Reply; Matcon Surreply (Dkt. # 226); Houston Surreply (Dkt. # 234).)
The court ORDERS Houston and Matcon to file concurrent supplemental briefs addressing the effect, if any, of their joint admission regarding Seattle City Light's reason for shutting down the Project on Houston's motion for partial summary judgment. The parties shall file supplemental briefs of no more than 1050 words in length by no later than Wednesday, March 15, 2023. The court DIRECTS the Clerk to re-note Houston's motion for partial summary judgment (Dkt. # 212) for March 15, 2023.
Filed and entered