The additional insured was not covered under a property policy for an injury occurring after work was completed. Lewark v. Davis Door Servs., 2014 Wash. App. LEXIS 341 (Wash. Ct. App. Feb. 10, 2014).
Public Storage, Inc. hired Davis Door Service Inc. to perform work at its facilities. The master agreement required Davis Door to maintain a CGL policy that insured Public Storage "during the entire progress of the work." Davis Door secured a CGL policy with American Economy. It also took out an umbrella liability policy with American States.
After Davis Door completed work on a door, Terrie Lewark injury her back opening the door. She sued Public Storage and Davis Door. Lewar and Public Storage settled. Public Storage assigned to Lewark its rights under the umbrella policy with American States. Lewark then sued Davis Door and American States. The trial court found that Public Storage was not an additional insured under the American States umbrella policy.
The umbrella policy provided that insured entities included any person or organization "for which an insured is required by virtue of a written contract . . . to provide the kind of insurance that is offered by this policy." Public Storage argued that the language, "the kind of insurance that is afforded by this policy," was ambiguous. The policy did not specify whether it was referring to a CGL policy or an umbrella policy. Whether both policies provided CGL coverage did not create an ambiguity. The master agreement required a CGL policy. Davis Door complied with the requirement. The umbrella policy was excess coverage, providing coverage in excess of the limits of the CGL policy and in excess of the amounts required by the master agreement. Coverage under the umbrella policy was not required by the master agreement.
Further, Lewark's underlying claim was based on an injury more than two months after the repairs to the door had been completed. The master agreement required Davis Door to maintain insurance "during the entire progress of the work." This language did not require completed operations coverage. Therefore, Public Storage was not covered under the umbrella policy as an additional insured.
