William Powell Co. v. OneBeacon Ins. Co.

Citations

• 162 N.E.3d 927
• 2020 Ohio 5325

Syllabus

INSURANCE – EXCESS POLICY – HORIZONTAL EXHAUSTION – VERTICAL EXHAUSTION – ALLOCATION : The trial court did not err in denying a motion for summary judgment and proceeding to a trial where genuine issues of material fact precluded summary judgment. The trial court erred in finding that excess insurance policies supported a horizontal-exhaustion method of insurance coverage such that the excess policies were not attached until all underlying insurance policies covering different time periods from the excess policies were exhausted, where the language of the excess policies instead supported a vertical-exhaustion method of insurance coverage such that excess policies were attached when only the underlying insurance in the same time period was exhausted. The trial court erred in determining that an insurer did not breach its insurance policy with its insured where the insurer's excess policy was attached and triggered to provide coverage to the insurer pursuant to the terms of the excess policy. The trial court erred by permitting an insurer to collect contribution from its insured, but did not err in permitting under a theory of restitution an insurer to collect sums that it was not required to pay under its excess policy that were not attached. The trial court erred by permitting an insurer to collect contribution or restitution from its insured where the insurer's excess policy was attached and the insurer was required to pay and defend claims on the insured's behalf. The trial court did not err in determining that an insured has the right to allocate all sums expended in relation to an individual claimant to any single triggered insurance policy up to that policy's limit, pursuant to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 95 Ohio St.3d 512, 2002-Ohio-2842, 769 N.E.2d 835, where the right to allocate was not waived.