Well-insured copper.

January 23, 2014

BAL Metals stored roughly $500,000 of copper in a warehouse operated by Mundell Terminal Services.  Thieves stole the copper.  BAL Metals’ insurance carrier paid the claim and then sued the warehouse as BAL’s subrogee.  United Nat’l Ins. Co. v. Mundell Terminal Servs., Inc., No. 13-50052 (Jan. 23, 2014). The warehouse asked its carrier for defense and indemnity, coverage litigation ensued, and the district court granted summary judgment for the warehouse’s carrier.  It reasoned that because a bailor is presumed to insure a bailee’s interest as well as its own under Texas law, the policy was “other insurance” to BAL’s coverage.  The Court noted that the warehouse had a first-party property damage policy rather than liability coverage.  The Court also concluded that another coverage argument, about the characterization of the metal under the policy’s definition of “property,” had been waived because it was not presented with enough specificity to the district court.

 

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