The Travelers Property Casualty Company of America v. Anda, Inc. , 658 F. App'x 955 ( 2016 )

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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 15-11510
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 0:12-cv-62392-KMM
THE TRAVELERS PROPERTY CASUALTY COMPANY OF AMERICA, ST.
PAUL FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY, FEDERAL
INSURANCE COMPANY and GREAT NORTHERN INSURANCE COMPANY,
Plaintiffs-Counter Defendants-Appellees,
versus
ANDA, INC. and WATSON PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.,
Defendants-Counter Plaintiffs-Appellants,
versus
GEMINI INSURANCE COMPANY,
Counter Defendant, Appellee.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
_______________________
(August 26, 2016)
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Before WILLIAM PRYOR and JILL PRYOR, Circuit Judges, and STORY, *
District Judge.
STORY, District Judge:
This case involves an insurance coverage dispute arising out of a state court
action seeking to hold Appellants liable for damages in connection with wide-
spread prescription drug abuse in West Virginia. The district court held that
Appellees have no duty to defend in the underlying action and granted summary
judgment for Appellees. We affirm.
Defendants-Counter Plaintiffs-Appellants Anda, Inc. and Watson
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (collectively, “Anda”) distribute pharmaceuticals. The State
of West Virginia sued Anda and other pharmaceutical companies in West Virginia
state court setting forth various causes of action related to the epidemic of
prescription drug abuse and its costs to the State of West Virginia.
Anda purchased a number of general commercial liability insurance policies
from Plaintiffs-Counter Defendants-Appellees The Travelers Property Casualty
Company of America (“Travelers”), St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company
(“St. Paul”), Federal Insurance Company (“Federal”), and Great Northern
Insurance Company (“Northern”) and Counter Defendant-Appellee Gemini
Insurance Company (“Gemini”) (collectively, the “Insurers”) between 2001 and
* Honorable Richard W. Story, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia,
sitting by designation.
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2013. Anda sought defense and indemnification in the West Virginia Action. The
Insurers initiated this suit against Anda, seeking a declaratory judgment that they
have no duty to defend or indemnify Anda in the underlying action in West
Virginia state court. Federal and Gemini reached settlements with Anda on the
eve of oral argument. Accordingly, we address only the issue of whether Anda is
afforded coverage under the policies issued by Travelers and St. Paul. Because of
the products exclusion clauses in those policies, we conclude that the policies
provide no coverage for Anda.
I. BACKGROUND
Anda is a wholesale pharmaceutical distributor. The State of West Virginia
has sued Anda and other pharmaceutical companies in West Virginia state court,
requesting an injunction against their distribution practices and seeking
compensation for expenses the state alleges it has incurred as a result of the
proliferation of “Pill Mills” and the attendant “opioid epidemic.” State of West
Virginia ex rel. Darrell V. McGraw Jr. v. Amerisourcebergen Drug Corp., et al.,
No. 12-C-141 (W. Va. Cir. Ct., Boone Cty.) (the “West Virginia Action”). The
State alleges that, as a result of Anda’s conduct, it has been forced to dedicate
significant resources to law enforcement and police operations, hospitals and
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emergency rooms, and jails and prisons. The costs imposed by the opioid
epidemic have diverted funds that the State would have used for other purposes.
A. The West Virginia Action
The Amended Complaint in the West Virginia Action alleges that Anda and
other pharmaceutical distributors are “an integral part of the Pill Mill process.”
The State alleges that pharmaceutical distributors, including Anda, knowingly or
negligently flood the West Virginia market with commonly-abused drugs. The
State claims that it has suffered myriad harms as a result of the over-supply of
Anda’s products in the market, the proliferation of Pill Mills, and the attendant
opioid epidemic. Those harms include increased crime, congested hospitals and
emergency rooms, exhausted law enforcement resources, overcrowded jails and
prisons, and court dockets over-crowded with prescription drug-related cases and
crimes committed by addicts. The State alleges that Anda’s distribution of its
products not only damages the health and safety of West Virginians, but also
imposes massive economic damages on the State itself.
B. The Declaratory Judgment Action
The Insurers issued general commercial liability insurance policies to Anda
between 2001 and 2013, with Traveler’s and St. Paul’s policies issuing between
2006 and 2013. Under these policies, the Insurers have the duty to defend and
indemnify Anda in lawsuits seeking damages for or because of bodily injury.
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These policies exclude, however, coverage for damages included within products-
completed provisions. The Travelers policy excludes coverage for injuries “arising
out of” “[a]ny goods or products . . . manufactured, sold, handled, distributed[,] or
disposed of by . . . You” (the “Travelers Products Exclusion”). Similarly, the St.
Paul policy states: “We won’t cover bodily injury or property damage that results
from your products or completed work” (the “St. Paul Products Exclusion”).
The Insurers initiated the suit below, seeking a declaration that they have no
duty to defend or indemnify Anda in the West Virginia Action. Travelers Prop.
Cas. Co. of Am. et al. v. Anda, Inc. et al., Case No. 0:12-cv-62392-KMM (S.D.
Fla.). In an omnibus order deciding cross-motions for summary judgment, the
district court concluded that because the State did not assert claims “for bodily
injury” or “because of bodily injury,” the Travelers and St. Paul policies did not
afford coverage. The district court found that the Travelers and St. Paul Products
Exclusions were not triggered because no “bodily injury” was alleged. Anda
moved for reconsideration of the court’s grant of summary judgment for the
Insurers. The district court denied that motion and this appeal followed.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
We review a district court’s order granting a motion for summary judgment
de novo. Lindley v. F.D.I.C., 733 F.3d 1043, 1050 (11th Cir. 2013). We may
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affirm the district court’s judgment for any reason supported by the record, even if
the court below did not rely upon the same reasoning. See Williams v. Bd. of
Regents, 477 F.3d 1282, 1301 (11th Cir. 2007).
III. DISCUSSION
In reaching its decision below, the district court relied on the policy
language that required the insurers to defend or indemnify claims “because of” or
“for” “bodily injury.” Travelers Prop. Cas. Co. of America, et al. v. Anda, Inc., et
al., Case No. 0:12-cv-62392-KMM (Mar. 9, 2015). The district court concluded
that the St. Paul and Travelers policies did not afford coverage because the State’s
Amended Complaint in the West Virginia Action asserted claims “for” and
“because of” economic harm to the State rather than “bodily injury.”
We decline to reach the question of whether the State’s claims in the West
Virginia Action are “for” or “because of” bodily injury. We think the better
conclusion is that the St. Paul and Travelers policies do not afford coverage
because of the policies’ Products Exclusions. The St. Paul and Travelers policies
contain a “Products and Completed Work Exclusion” and a “Products Exclusion,”
respectively, that preclude coverage. Accordingly, St. Paul and Travelers have no
duty to defend or indemnify.
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The Travelers and St. Paul policies are general commercial liability policies
that specifically exclude coverage for products liability. The Travelers Products
Exclusion omits coverage for bodily injury “arising out of” Anda’s products while
the St. Paul Products Exclusion eliminates coverage for damage that “results from”
Anda’s products.
Each of these policies is governed by California law. California law
interprets “arising out of” and “results from” similarly, and requires only a minimal
causal connection or link between the products sold or distributed by an insured
and the alleged injury. Pension Trust Fund v. Fed. Ins. Co., 307 F.3d 944, 952-53
(9th Cir. 2002) (collecting cases); Cont’l Cas. Co. v. City of Richmond, 763 F.2d
1076, 1080 (9th Cir. 1985) (“‘Arising out of’ are words of much broader
significance than ‘caused by.’ They are ordinarily understood to mean ‘originating
from,’ ‘having its origin in,’ ‘growing out of’ or ‘flowing from’ or in short,
‘incident to, or having a connection with.’”).
The injuries alleged by the State in the West Virginia Action have, at the
very minimum, a “connection with” Anda’s products. In that action, the State
seeks to enjoin the way Anda distributes its products. It also seeks monetary
damages arising from the injuries—whether they be “bodily” or not—caused by
these products. At bottom, the State claims that Anda and other pharmaceutical
distributors have so flooded the market with their products that West Virginia
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suffers from an opioid epidemic. As a result of that epidemic, the State has
suffered monetary losses that it now seeks to recover. The causal connection
between Anda’s products and the injuries alleged by the State is sufficient to meet
the low bar set by California law. Accordingly, we conclude that all the
underlying claims, if covered at all, are embraced within the Travelers and St. Paul
Products Exclusions, which render any coverage inapplicable.
This holding is in line with our previous ruling in Taurus Holdings, Inc. v.
U.S. Fidelity and Guaranty Co., 367 F.3d 1252 (11th Cir. 2004). In that case, we
considered a question of insurance coverage for a similar underlying suit. There,
government municipalities sued Taurus—which manufactures, sells, and
distributes firearms—for expenses incurred as a result of gun violence in their
communities. Id. at 1252. Taurus’s commercial general liability insurance
policies, like Anda’s here, excluded coverage for damages included within a
“products-completed operations hazard” provision. Id. at 1253. That provision
similarly excluded coverage for “bodily injury and property damage . . . arising out
of your product or your work.” Id. (emphasis removed). On appeal, we
considered whether, under Florida law, the products-completed operations hazard
exclusion applied to the underlying lawsuits against Taurus. We certified the
question to the Florida Supreme Court, which held that the cost of medical and
other services the municipalities incurred as a result of gun violence “arise out of”
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the use of guns. Taurus Holdings, Inc. v. U.S. Fid. & Guar. Co., 913 So. 2d 528,
540 (Fla. 2005).
In so holding, the Florida Supreme Court defined the term “arising out of”
broadly, meaning “‘originating from,’ ‘having its origin in,’ ‘growing out of,’
‘flowing from,’ ‘incident to’ or ‘having a connection with.’” Id. at 532-33
(quoting Hagen v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 675 So. 2d 963, 965 (Fla. 5th DCA
1996)). We conformed our holding in Taurus to the opinion of the Florida
Supreme Court. We held that the products-completed operations hazard exclusion
found in the commercial general liability policies Taurus purchased excluded
coverage for the claims raised against Taurus in the underlying municipal suits.
Taurus Holdings, Inc. v. U.S. Fid. & Guar. Co., 431 F.3d 765, 766 (11th Cir.
2005). The “arising out of” language in the Anda policy exclusions has the same
meaning as that in the Taurus policies. As in Taurus, we interpret the exclusionary
language here broadly and impose a low bar for causation. Accordingly, the
commercial liability policies issued by Travelers and St. Paul exclude coverage for
the claims raised against Anda in the West Virginia Action. The judgment of the
district court is affirmed.
IV. CONCLUSION
We AFFIRM the summary judgment in favor of Travelers and St. Paul.
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