Keene Corporation v. Insurance Company of North America Aetna Casualty and Surety Company, Keene Corporation v. Insurance Company of North America Keene Corporation v. Insurance Company of North America, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company,appellant. Keene Corporation v. Insurance Company of North America, Aetna Casualty and Suretycompany

This case arises out of the growing volume of litigation centering upon manufacturers' liability for disease caused by asbestos products. In this action, Keene Corporation (Keene) seeks a declaratory judgment of the rights and obligations of the parties under the comprehensive general liability policies that the defendants issued to Keene or its predecessors1 from 1961 to 1980. Specifically, Keene seeks a determination of the extent to which each policy covers its liability for asbestos-related diseases.2

Between the years 1948 and 1972, Keene manufactured thermal insulation products that contained asbestos. As a result, Keene has been named as a codefendant with several other companies in over 6000 lawsuits alleging injury caused by exposure to Keene's asbestos products. Those cases typically involve insulation installers or their survivors alleging personal injury, or wrongful death, as a result of inhaling asbestos fibers over the course of many years. The plaintiffs in the underlying suits allege that they contracted asbestosis, mesothelioma, and/or lung cancer as a result of such inhalation.3

From 1961 to the present, Insurance Company of North America (INA), Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (Liberty), Aetna Casualty and Surety Company (Aetna), and Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company (Hartford) issued comprehensive general liability (CGL) insurance policies to Keene. From December 31, 1961 through August 23, 1968, INA insured Keene; from August 23, 1967 through August 23, 1968, Liberty insured Keene;4 from August 23, 1968 through August 23, 1971, Aetna insured Keene; from August 23, 1971 through October 1, 1974, Hartford insured Keene; and from October 1, 1974 through October 1, 1980, Liberty insured Keene.5 The policies that these companies issued to Keene were identical in all relevant respects. The coverage language of the policy that Hartford issued to Keene from 1971 to 1974 is typical. It states that

(t)he company will pay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injury ... to which this insurance applies, caused by an occurrence, and the company shall have the right and duty to defend any suit against the insured seeking damages on account of such bodily injury ... even if any of the allegations of the suit are groundless, false or fraudulent....

E.g., J.A. II at 627. "Bodily injury" is defined as "bodily injury, sickness or disease sustained by any person," id. at 663; and "occurrence" is defined as "an accident, including injurious exposure to conditions, which results, during the policy period, in bodily injury ... neither expected nor intended from the standpoint of the insured. Id. at 664.6

Keene tendered the asbestos-related damage cases to its insurance companies for defense and indemnification. Each company, however, either denied all responsibility for the suits or accepted only partial responsibility. Memorandum op. at 2 (J.A. IX at 3532).

On June 6, 1978, Keene filed this suit for a declaratory judgment and damages in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Keene contended that any stage in the progression of an asbestos-related disease triggers coverage of Keene's entire liability under each of the policies. Aetna, INA, and Liberty argued that coverage is triggered only when bodily injury manifests itself during a policy period. Hartford took an intermediate position, arguing that coverage is triggered by the inhalation of asbestos fibers, but that each company's coverage is determined by the ratio of exposure years during its policy period to the entire period of inhalation.

Keene and Hartford filed motions for partial summary judgment based on their respective theories of coverage, and Aetna filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that no case or controversy had been presented. On January 30, 1981, the district court granted Hartford's motion; it granted in part and denied in part Keene's motion; and it denied Aetna's motion. 513 F.Supp. 47. The district court held that indemnification and defense costs should be prorated among the insurance companies according to the relative extent of exposure during their respective policy periods. The district court also held that Keene is liable for a pro-rata share of the costs when exposure occurred during a period in which Keene was uninsured. J.A. IX at 3537-38.

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) (1976), the district court, sua sponte, certified its order for interlocutory appeal. INA, Liberty, Aetna, and Keene filed Petitions for Leave To Appeal, and on February 20, 1981, this court granted those petitions and ordered that the appeals be consolidated and expedited. We reverse the district court's order and remand the case to trial on the issues of damages and on the issue of the applicability of Liberty's 1967 policy.7

Aetna argues that Keene's declaratory judgment action does not present a case or controversy. Aetna asserts that Keene must raise insurance coverage issues in the context of a particular case in which an insurance company has refused to defend or indemnify Keene. We disagree.

The standard for finding a justiciable "case or controversy" in a declaratory judgment action is no less demanding than the standard in any other type of action. Alabama State Federation of Labor v. McAdory, 325 U.S. 450, 461, 65 S.Ct. 1384, 1389, 89 L.Ed. 1725 (1945); Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Haworth, 300 U.S. 227, 240-41, 57 S.Ct. 461, 463-64, 81 L.Ed. 617 (1937). The dispute "must be a real and substantial controversy admitting of specific relief through a decree of a conclusive character, as distinguished from an opinion advising what the law would be upon a hypothetical state of facts." Aetna, supra, 300 U.S. at 241, 57 S.Ct. at 463. This standard was illuminated by Justice Murphy in Maryland Casualty Co. v. Pacific Co., 312 U.S. 270, 61 S.Ct. 510, 85 L.Ed. 826 (1941), where he stated that "the question (of justiciability) in each case is whether the facts alleged, under all the circumstances, show that there is a substantial controversy, between parties having adverse legal interests, of sufficient immediacy and reality to warrant the issuance of a declaratory judgment." Id. at 273, 61 S.Ct. at 512. See generally Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure (1973) § 2757.

This suit by Keene does not present a hypothetical set of facts. Keene has been, and will continue to be, sued for injuries that result from the use of its asbestos products. For each of these suits-past, present, and future-the rights and obligations of Keene and its insurers must be resolved. There can be no question that the interpretation of the contracts at issue in this case presents a "real and substantial controversy" that can be specifically resolved by a decision in this case.

Aetna implies that the rights and obligations created by the insurance policies cannot be determined without consideration of the facts of a particular tort suit. We have before us, however, the terms of the insurance policies and the facts of the particular types of diseases whose coverage is at issue. We are not aware or informed of any facts that would come to light in a particular tort suit that would be relevant to the determination of the policies' applicability to Keene's liability for asbestos-related injury. We hold, therefore, that the case is justiciable.8

The language of each policy at issue in this case clearly provides that an "injury," and not the "occurrence" that causes the injury, must fall within a policy period for it to be covered by the policy. Most suits brought under this type of policy involve an injury and an occurrence that transpired simultaneously, or, at least, in close temporal proximity to one another. In cases involving asbestos-related disease, however, inhalation-the "occurrence" that causes the injury-takes place substantially before the manifestation of the ultimate injury-asbestosis, mesothelioma, or lung cancer.9 Furthermore, although it is not known how little exposure is required to cause disease, inhalation may occur over a long period of time. As a result, inhalation may continue through numerous policy periods, the disease may develop during subsequent policy periods, and manifestation may occur in yet another policy period. For an insured such as Keene, different insurers are likely to be on the risk at different points in the development of each plaintiff's disease. Moreover, part of the development may occur at a time when no insurer was on the risk. Asbestos-related diseases, which are certainly covered by the policies, therefore differ from most injuries and hence present a difficult problem of contractual interpretation.

Neither the case law10 nor the terms of the policies lead us directly to a resolution of the coverage issues raised in this case. Unfortunately, the insurance companies failed to develop policy language that would directly address the full complexity entailed by asbestos-related diseases. We have sought, however, to interpret these contracts in a manner that is equitable and administratively feasible and that is consistent with insurance principles, insurance law, and the terms of the contracts themselves.

We conclude that each insurer on the risk between the initial exposure and the manifestation of disease is liable to Keene for indemnification and defense costs. If possible, the factual predicate for the allocation of costs among insurers should be based on the facts of the underlying tort suit. If, however, the tort doctrine governing the underlying suit does not require proof of facts that would form a sufficient basis upon which to allocate insurance liability, then the necessary facts may be determined independently of that suit.11

In construing the policies' coverage of liability for asbestos-related diseases, our objective must be to give effect to the policies' dominant purpose of indemnity. Couch on Insurance 2d, §§ 15:22, 15:41 (2d ed. Anderson 1959); 4 Williston on Contracts, § 900 (3d ed. Jaeger 1959). An insurance contract represents an exchange of an uncertain loss for a certain loss. In a comprehensive general liability insurance policy, the uncertain loss is the possibility of incurring legal liability, and the certain loss is the premium payment. By issuing the policy, the insurer agrees to assume the risk of the insured's liability in exchange for a fixed sum of money. At the heart of the transaction is the insured's purchase of certainty-a valuable commodity. See S. Huebner, K. Black, Jr., R. Cline, Property and Liability Insurance (2d ed. 1976) 5-7. This view of the insurance policies provides the starting point for analysis.

The next question must be "certainty with respect to what contingencies?" For an insured is only entitled to indemnity for losses that are covered by its policy. We are aided in our analysis of these policies' coverage by the well-accepted rule that ambiguity in an insurance contract must be construed in favor of the insured. See, e.g., Blue Anchor Overall Co. v. Pennsylvania Lumbermens Mut. Ins. Co., 385 Pa. 394, 123 A.2d 413 (1956); Couch on Insurance 2d, § 15:14 (2d ed. Anderson 1959); Williston on Contracts, § 621 (3d ed. Jaeger 1959). We believe, however, that although particular terms of the policies are ambiguous as applied to asbestos-related diseases, the principles embodied in the insurance policies provide a sufficient basis upon which to decide this case. In discerning those principles, our guide is-as it must be-the reasonable expectations of Keene when it purchased the policies. See, e.g., Steven v. Fidelity & Cas. Co., 58 Cal.2d 862, 869-70, 377 P.2d 284, 288-89, 27 Cal.Rptr. 172, 176-77 (1962); Allen v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 44 N.J. 294, 305, 208 A.2d 638, 644 (1965); Collister v. Nationwide Life Ins. Co., 479 Pa. 579, 388 A.2d 1346 (1978); Couch on Insurance 2d, § 15:16 (2d ed. Anderson 1959).12

The analysis of the insurers' duty to indemnify Keene is divided into three logical steps: first, the trigger of coverage under the policies; second, the extent of coverage once a policy is triggered; and third, the allocation of liability among insurers if more than one policy is triggered. That analysis is followed by an examination of the insurers' duty to defend Keene and a discussion of the procedural mechanisms by which asbestos-injury suits can be adjudicated.

The first step in the analysis of this problem is to determine what events, from the point of exposure to the point of manifestation, trigger coverage under these policies. In the language of the policies, the question is when did "injury" occur? Both Keene and Hartford advance slightly different versions of the "exposure theory" of coverage. Keene argues that successive coverage is triggered by both exposure to asbestos dust ("inhalation exposure")13 and the subsequent development of disease ("exposure in residence").14 Keene bases its argument on medical evidence that the body incurs microscopic injury as asbestos fibers become lodged in the lungs and as the surrounding tissue reacts to the fibers thereafter. Hartford also argues that successive coverage is triggered by continued exposure. Its argument is similarly based on the medical evidence of discrete tissue damage as each asbestos fiber reaches the lungs. For no apparent reason, however, Hartford asserts that the continued progression of disease following exposure does not trigger additional coverage.15 Basing its decision on Insurance Co. of N. America v. Forty-Eight Insulations, 633 F.2d 1212 (6th Cir. 1980), aff'd on rehearing, 657 F.2d 814 (6 Cir. 1981), the district court adopted Hartford's version of the exposure theory.16

INA, Liberty, and Aetna advance the "manifestation" theory of coverage. They argue that coverage is triggered only by the manifestation of either asbestosis, mesothelioma or lung cancer. They assert that their interpretation of the contracts is supported by the ordinary meaning of the terms "bodily injury, sickness or disease." They claim that "bodily injury" does not occur until cellular damage advances to the point of becoming a recognizable disease. INA and Liberty rely on cases in other areas of the law-workmen's compensation, health insurance coverage, and statutes of limitation-that support their interpretation of the term "injury." E.g., Travelers Insurance Co. v. Cardillo, 225 F.2d 137 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 350 U.S. 913, 76 S.Ct. 196, 100 L.Ed. 800 (1955) (workmen's compensation), cited in Liberty's brief at 42-44 and INA's brief at 28; Reiser v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 262 App.Div. 171, 28 N.Y.S.2d 283 (1941) aff'd, 289 N.Y. 561, 43 N.E.2d 534 (1942) (health insurance), cited in Liberty's brief at 45 and INA's brief at 26; Urie v. Thompson, 337 U.S. 163, 69 S.Ct. 1018, 93 L.Ed. 1282 (1949) (statute of limitations), cited in INA's brief at 27.

The policy language does not direct us unambiguously to either the "exposure" or "manifestation" interpretation. In the context of asbestos-related disease, the terms "bodily injury," "sickness" and "disease," standing alone, simply lack the precision necessary to identify a point in the development of a disease at which coverage is triggered. The fact that a doctor would characterize cellular damage as a discrete injury does not necessarily imply that the damage is an "injury" for the purpose of construing the policies. At the same time, the fact that an ordinary person would characterize a fully developed disease as an "injury" does not necessarily imply that the manifestation of the disease is the point of "injury" for purposes of construing the policies. In interpreting a contract, a term's ordinary definition should be given weight, but the definition is only useful when viewed in the context of the contract as a whole.

Moreover, the legal definition of "injury" in other contexts informs the term's definition in this case only if the term operates in a functionally similar manner in the other contexts. In the areas of workmen's compensation, health insurance, and statutes of limitations, the concept of "injury" performs a function that is different from its function in the context of comprehensive general liability policies.17 Therefore, the term's definition in those contexts is only minimally relevant to the question at hand. Instead, the purpose of the insurance policies must inform our construction of the term "injury".

If exposure to asbestos were deemed to constitute a discrete injury and thereby trigger coverage, as Hartford and Keene suggest, the subsequent development of a disease would be characterized best as a consequence of the injury. Future stages of development would not constitute new injuries18 and therefore would not trigger additional coverage.19 Under that interpretation, a manufacturer who bought a comprehensive general liability policy would not bear the risk of liability for diseases that occurred due to exposure during a covered period. It would, however, bear the risk of liability for diseases that manifest themselves during the covered period, but that occur because of exposure at a time when the manufacturer held no insurance. As a result, the manufacturer's purchase of insurance would not constitute a purchase of certainty with respect to liability for asbestos-related diseases. The insured would remain uncertain as to future liability for injuries whose development began prior to the purchase of insurance. There is no indication that such a de facto exclusion of coverage from the policies was in the contemplation of any party to the contracts in this case. At the least, such an exclusion is inconsistent with Keene's reasonable expectations when it purchased the policies. The policies state that the insured is covered for "injury" during the policy period. In purchasing such coverage, Keene could have reasonably expected that it was covered for all future liability, except liability for injuries of which Keene could have been aware prior to its purchase of insurance. A latent injury, unknown and unknowable to Keene at the time it purchased insurance, must, at least, be covered by an insurer on the risk at the time it manifests itself. Any other result would violate very reasonable expectations of Keene. Therefore we hold that manifestation of disease is one trigger of coverage under the policies.20

In American Motorists Ins. Co. v. Squibb, 95 Misc.2d 222, 406 N.Y.S.2d 658 (1978), the court faced an issue similar to the one in this case, under an insurance policy that was similar in all relevant respects to the policies we have before us. That case involved a drug manufacturer's liability for cancer that was caused by the ingestion of DES by the victims' mothers during pregnancy many years earlier. Squibb argued that the insurance company on the risk at the time of the disease's manifestation was obligated to pay the damages. The insurance company responded by arguing that the injury occurred when the victims' mothers ingested the drug and not when the disease manifested itself. The court held that "bodily injury" occurred when the cancer manifested itself. The court stated that "the policy language does not limit coverage to incidents of exposure during the policy period, but rather to conditions which result in bodily injury during the policy period." Id. 406 N.Y.S.2d at 659. That court did not have to determine the liability of an insurer that was on the risk prior to the diseases' manifestation.

Thus, if the purpose of the policies is not to be undercut, the manifestation of disease must constitute an "injury". Any characterization of exposure as a discrete injury, therefore, must be rejected. This is the same result that courts have reached in determining when an injury or disease begins for purposes of health and accident insurance policies. In those cases, courts have held that a manifestation rule is necessary to protect the reasonable expectations of the insured. E.g., Silverstein v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 254 N.Y. 81, 171 N.E. 914 (1930); Cohen v. North American Life & Casualty Co., 150 Minn. 507, 185 N.W. 939 (1921). In health and accident insurance policies, as in liability insurance policies, the purpose of the contracts would be defeated if the insured had to bear the risk of disease that is latent at the time a policy is purchased. See Comment, Liability Insurance for Insidious Disease: Who Picks Up the Tab? 48 Fordham L.Rev. 657, 671 (1980) (this rule is necessary to provide security policyholder seeks).

None of this implies, however, that insurance policies may not also be triggered prior to manifestation. In fact, we conclude that coverage is also triggered by both inhalation exposure and exposure in residence.

To demonstrate why the policies require that both exposure and manifestation trigger coverage, we begin by positing a rule in which manifestation is the sole trigger of coverage. If that interpretation were adopted, as INA, Liberty, and Aetna propose, Keene would not be covered for diseases manifesting themselves after 1976.21 By that time, it was widely known that prolonged inhalation of asbestos has a high probability of causing disease.22 From about then on, insurance companies ceased issuing policies that adequately cover asbestos-related disease. Yet we can still expect thousands of cases of those diseases to manifest themselves throughout the rest of the century. If we were to hold that only the manifestation of disease can trigger coverage, the insurance companies would have to bear only a fraction of Keene's total liability for asbestos-related diseases.

The possibility of that result would undermine the function of the insurance policies. When Keene purchased the policies, it could have reasonably expected that it was free of the risk of becoming liable for injuries of which it could not have been aware prior to its purchase of insurance.23 There is no doubt that these losses would be covered if the diseases at issue developed spontaneously upon inhalation. Inhalation of asbestos is an "occurrence" that causes injury for which Keene may be held liable. The possibility that the insurers may not be liable arises solely because there is a period of time between the point at which the injurious process began and the point at which injury manifests itself. In this case, during that interim period, the existence of latent injury among people who had worked with asbestos became predictable with a substantial degree of certainty. The injury and attendant liability became predictable precisely because it was discovered that past occurrences were likely to have set in motion injurious processes for which Keene could be held liable. To accept the argument that only manifestation triggers coverage-and allow insurers to terminate coverage prior to the manifestation of many cases of disease-would deprive Keene of the protection it purchased when it entered into the insurance contracts. We, therefore, reject the manifestation theory as presented by INA, Aetna, and Liberty,24 because it does not allow exposure, as well as manifestation to trigger insurance coverage.

Thus, in order for Keene's rights under the policies to be secure, both inhalation exposure and exposure in residence must also trigger coverage. Regardless of whether exposure to asbestos causes an immediate and discrete injury, the fact that it is part of an injurious process is enough for it to constitute "injury" under the policies.

This conclusion is consistent with the law involving insurance coverage of losses that begin during a period of coverage but continue to develop after a policy's expiration. For example, Snapp v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 206 Cal.App.2d 827, 24 Cal.Rptr. 44 (1962) involved a fire insurance policy that included coverage of most types of physical damage to property. The policy was issued on the plaintiff's house, which had been damaged due to movement of the land under the house. While the land was still unstable, the policy expired, and the insurer sought to limit its liability to the amount of damage that had occurred prior to the policy's termination date. The court held that the insurer's liability was not so limited, and that it had to indemnify the policyholder for all damage caused until the land movement ceased. The court stated that "(t)o permit the insurer to terminate its liability while the fortuitous peril which materialized during the term of the policy was still active would not be in accord either with applicable precedents or with the common understanding of the nature and purpose of insurance." See also Harman v. American Cas. Co., 155 F.Supp. 612 (S.D.Cal.1957) (insurer cannot terminate property loss or fire protection while land remains unstable).

These cases illustrate the principle that when it becomes known that an occurrence has set in motion a process that has a significant probability of resulting in a covered loss, the insurer on the risk at that time is liable for the full loss. It does not matter whether the insurer learns of a progressing loss through direct observation, as in Snapp, or through statistical inference, as in asbestos-injury cases. It is the use of that knowledge to shift a covered risk back to the insured that is not permitted.25

In sum, the allocation of rights and obligations established by the insurance policies, would be undermined if either the exposure to asbestos or the manifestation of asbestos-related disease were the sole trigger of coverage. We conclude, therefore, that inhalation exposure, exposure in residence, and manifestation all trigger coverage under the policies. We interpret "bodily injury" to mean any part of the single injurious process that asbestos-related diseases entail. We now proceed to consider the extent to which an insurer is liable to its policyholder once coverage under its policy is triggered.

The policies at issue in this case provide that the insurance company will pay on behalf of Keene "all sums" that Keene becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injury during the policy period. We have defined "bodily injury" to mean any part of the injurious process that begins with an initial exposure and ends with manifestation of disease. As a result, when Keene is held liable for an asbestos-related disease, only part of the disease will have developed during any single policy period. The rest of the development may have occurred during another policy period or during a period in which Keene had no insurance. The issue that arises is whether an insurer is liable in full, or in part, for Keene's liability once coverage is triggered. We conclude that the insurer is liable in full, subject to the "other insurance" provisions discussed in section C below.

Hartford argues that each insurer is required to pay only a pro-rata share of Keene's liability. Once an insurer's coverage is triggered, its share would be determined by the duration of a plaintiff's exposure to Keene's products during its policy periods in relation to the entire duration of the plaintiff's exposure to Keene's products. Under Hartford's scheme, if there is a period of exposure during which Keene is uninsured, then Keene would bear a pro-rata share of the liability.26

Hartford's argument is based on its characterization of asbestos-related diseases as consisting of a multitude of discrete injuries to the lung tissue. We have declined, however, to rely on that factual characterization in determining the trigger of insurance coverage,27 and we decline to rely on it in determining the extent of coverage. Instead, we continue to rely on the terms of the contracts and the principles they embody.

Our starting point is the interpretation of the policies as the insurers' promises of certainty to Keene. The policies that were issued to Keene relieved Keene of the risk of liability for latent injury of which Keene could not be aware when it purchased insurance. Keene did not expect, nor should it have expected, that its security was undermined by the existence of prior periods in which it was uninsured, and in which no known or knowable injury occurred.28 If, however, an insurer were obligated to pay only a pro-rata share of Keene's liability, as the district court held, those reasonable expectations would be violated. Keene's security would be contingent on the existence and validity of all the other applicable policies. Each policy, therefore, would fail to serve its function of relieving Keene of all risk of liability. The logical consequence of this is that the policies must require that once an insurer's coverage is triggered, the insurer is liable to Keene to the full extent of Keene's liability up to its policy's limits, but subject to "other insurance" clauses, discussed in section C, below.

Judge Wald suggests that the rationale of our decision is consistent with prorating insurance obligations to Keene for the years in which it was not insured. Judge Wald believes such a pro-rata allocation is fair, and we do not think her view is unreasonable. As we have just shown, however, such an allocation is inconsistent with the terms and underlying principles of the insurance policies at issue in this case.

We read Judge Wald's reasoning as follows: 1) As the court interprets the term, an asbestos-related "injury" occurs over a long period of time; 2) if Keene was uninsured during part of that time, then Keene is not covered for the full injury; 3) therefore, Keene should pay a pro-rata share of its own liability.

If we read Judge Wald correctly, her position is problematic. Although we have defined the term "injury," we have done so only as an incidental aspect of a logically prior determination of Keene's rights under the policies viewed in their entirety. The insurance policies provide Keene with the right to be free of all liability for asbestos-related disease, unless such a disease was known or knowable by Keene at the time it p