TetraVue v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Casualty Co.
Plaintiffs TetraVue, Inc. (TetraVue) and Paul Banks appeal from a judgment entered in favor of defendant St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company (St. Paul) after the trial court granted St. Paul's motion for summary judgment and denied the plaintiffs' cross-motion for summary judgment. TetraVue and Banks sued St. Paul in a declaratory relief action, seeking a determination that St. Paul owed them a duty of defense in an underlying lawsuit against Banks and TetraVue brought by third party General Atomics by way of a cross-complaint in an action that Banks originally filed against General Atomics. TetraVue and Banks contended that the General Atomics cross-complaint raised claims that were potentially covered by the property damage provision and/or the advertising injury provision of a general liability policy that TetraVue had purchased from St. Paul. The plaintiffs and St. Paul filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The trial court granted St. Paul's motion for summary judgment and denied TetraVue and Banks's joint motion for summary judgment after determining that there was no potential for coverage of the claims under either the property damage provision or the advertising injury provision. The court thereafter granted judgment in favor of St. Paul.
On appeal, TetraVue and Banks argue that the trial court erred in entering judgment in favor of St. Paul because General Atomics's cross-complaint suggests a claim that is potentially covered by the St. Paul policy under the coverage for advertising injury. We conclude that TetraVue and Banks demonstrated the existence of a potential for coverage under the policy under the advertising injury provision, and that St. Paul failed to establish the absence of any potential for coverage. St. Paul thus had a duty to defend TetraVue and Banks in the underlying action. We therefore reverse the judgment of the trial court, and direct the trial court to enter judgment in favor of TetraVue and Banks.
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