Personal Injury Newsroom

The Coverage Dispute In This Declaratory Judgment Action Has Its Genesis In Eischeid’s Pending Personal Injury Action

This matter comes before the court on the plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment, filed June 9, 2003. On February 6, 2003, the plaintiff, State Auto Mutual Insurance Company (“State Auto”) filed a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment. In a separate action pending before this court, James Eischeid (“Eischeid”) has sued the defendant in this case, Dover Construction, Inc. (“Dover”), as well as his employer, Woods Masonry, Inc. (“Woods”), for injuries arising out of the collapse of a concrete wall at a construction site where Eischeid was working.  Woods was the subcontractor on that job, and Dover was the general contractor.

The plaintiff is this action, State Auto, was Woods’s general liability insurer at the time Woods and Dover entered into a subcontract agreement. Pursuant to that agreement between Dover and Woods, Woods assumed, among other things, a duty to defend Dover for certain liabilities arising out of their business relationship. For that reason, when Eischeid filed suit against Dover, as Woods’s insurance carrier, State Auto undertook Dover’s defense in Eischeid’s personal injury action. In this action, State Auto seeks a declaration that it has no duty to provide a defense for Dover in Eischeid’s personal injury action for claims arising out of Dover’s own negligence and a declaration that it has no duty to provide coverage for any judgment against Dover in the personal injury case arising out of Dover’s own negligence. 

A. Pertinent Factual Background

The parties agree that the material facts in this case are undisputed. The coverage dispute in this declaratory judgment action has its genesis in Eischeid’s pending personal injury action. In that lawsuit, C00-4100-MWB, Eischeid asserts claims arising from an accident at a construction site on March 17, 1999. Eischeid was working at the site as an employee of Woods, which was, in turn, a subcontractor for masonry work on the construction project for the general contractor, Dover. Eischeid was seriously injured when an unbraced, ungrouted wall under construction on the project collapsed, apparently under the force of gusty winds.

Prior to beginning work on the project, Woods and Dover entered into a subcontract agreement. The agreement required Woods to obtain insurance, the types and amounts of which Dover approved prior to the commencement of work at the Spencer, Iowa job site. Woods’s general liability insurer at the time was State Auto. Pertinent to this lawsuit, the Subcontract Agreement included the following indemnity provision, captioned as “HOLD HARMLESS AGREEMENT