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Products-Completed Operations Clauses: S.T. Hudson Engineers, Inc. et al. v. Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Company
In a case of first impression, New Jersey's Appellate Division recently explored the relationship between three clauses commonly contained in policies issued to professionals, in this case a professional engineering firm: 1) the exclusion for professional services contained in a commercial general liability ('CGL') policy, 2) the affirmative grant of products-completed operations coverage in that same CGL policy, and 3) the corresponding exclusion of products-completed operations coverage in an architect/engineer's professional indemnity policy. See S.T. Hudson Engineers, Inc. et al. v. Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Company, 388 N.J. Super. 592, 909 A.2d 1156 (App. Div. 2006), certif. denied, 189 N.J. 647, 917 A.2d 787 (2007).
In the context of determining whether the CGL policy triggered a duty to defend, the court held that while there were numerous professional negligence claims stated that would not have triggered the duty to defend, the underlying litigation also stated a claim for failure to warn and misrepresentation regarding a known danger. These claims, the court held, 1) clearly fell under the coverage afforded by the CGL policy's products-completed operations clause; 2) were not excluded by the professional services exclusion in that policy, and, indeed 3) would not have been excluded by the professional services exclusion even absent the products-completed operations clause. Finally, the court held that any other interpretation of the CGL policy would not meet the policyholder's reasonable expectation of coverage for this class of liability.
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