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Contoocook Valley School Dist. v. Graphic Arts Mutual Insurance Co.12/31/2001
Hillsborough-northern judicial district
The defendant, Graphic Arts Mutual Insurance Company, appeals from the Superior Court's (Conboy, J.) denial of its motion for summary judgment upon the claim by the plaintiffs, Contoocook Valley School District and School Administrative Unit No. 1, for indemnification under their insurance policy. The trial court ruled that the indemnification claim was not barred by exclusion 2(h) of the policy. We affirm.
The relevant undisputed facts follow. In 1996, a former teacher in the Contoocook Valley Regional School District sued the plaintiffs for discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12112 (1994), 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1994), and various other State and federal statutes and constitutional provisions. In her complaint, the teacher sought compensatory damages, attorney's fees and costs, and any other equitable relief the court deemed just.
The plaintiffs demanded that the defendant provide them a defense and insurance coverage in connection with the teacher's lawsuit. In September 1996, the defendant agreed to provide the plaintiffs with a defense and to pay the teacher's legal fees if they were part of a court-ordered award or judgment. The defendant stated that it would not, however, pay any other part of a judgment that might be rendered against the plaintiffs in the teacher's lawsuit.
The parties settled the case in July 1999, and the plaintiffs subsequently sought reimbursement under the policy for the money they paid to settle the case and for additional expenses incurred in defending the action. The settlement sums included damages for wages and benefits, compensatory and punitive damages, interest, and attorney's fees and costs. The defendant provided coverage in the form of a defense, but denied reimbursement. The plaintiffs filed a writ in superior court requesting that the court order the defendant to reimburse them.
The defendant argues that the superior court erroneously found that exclusion 2(h) was ambiguous. We disagree.
"When reviewing the denial of a motion for summary judgment, we consider the pleadings and any accompanying affidavits, and all proper inferences drawn from them, in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party." Nault v. N & L Dev. Co., 146 N.H. ___, ___, 767 A.2d 406, 407 (2001) (quotation omitted). Summary judgment may be granted only when there are no genuine issues of material fact, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id.
"The interpretation of insurance policy language is ultimately a question of law for this court to decide. We construe the language of an insurance policy as would a reasonable person in the position of the insured based on a more than casual reading of the policy as a whole." Ross v. Home Ins. Co., 146 N.H. ___, ___, 773 A.2d 654, 656 (2001). "When we interpret insurance policies, the general rule is that will honor the reasonable expectations of the policyholder." Funai v. Metropolitan Prop. & Cas. Co., 145 N.H. 642, 644 (2000) (quotation and brackets omitted).
An insurance company is free to limit its liability through clear and unambiguous policy language. Weeks v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 140 N.H. 641, 643 (1996). Such language must be so clear, however, as to create no ambiguity that might affect the insured's reasonable expectations. Gelinas v. Metropolitan Prop. & Liability Ins. Co., 131 N.H. 154, 170-71 (1988). We will deem a policy term ambiguous as to coverage when the parties may reasonably differ about their interpretation and will construe the ambiguity in favor of the insured. Funai, 145 N.H. at 644. " nterpreting the lan
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