Ohio Casualty Insurance Co. v. W.N. McMurry Construction Co.

Summary

The Supreme Court of Wyoming reviewed consolidated appeals arising from insurance disputes involving a builder's risk policy and a business auto policy. The court reversed reformation of the builder's risk policy because the parties had not mutually agreed to the disputed coverage limits, dismissed the related interest appeal as moot, and affirmed summary judgment and denial of reformation concerning the business auto policy.

Holdings

1. Reformation is unavailable because McMurry Construction and Ohio Casualty never reached a mutual agreement on the essential coverage limits of the insurance policy.
2. Whether BW Insurance acted as Ohio Casualty's agent did not affect the result because BW did not know that Ohio and McMurry had mutually agreed to $5.5 million in coverage, and Ohio never agreed to that essential term.
3. Summary judgment for BW Insurance was proper because McMurry Construction had ample opportunity to read the business auto policy and failed to do so.
4. BW Insurance's agent lacked actual authority to remove the named-driver exclusion or bind Ohio Casualty to cover Richard Nelson.
5. The appeal challenging the district court's interest calculation was moot after reversal of the underlying reformation order.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the builder's risk policy could be equitably reformed when the parties did not mutually agree on the policy's coverage limits.
2. Whether the parties' misunderstanding concerning the value of the buildings constituted a mutual mistake in drafting the written policy or instead a mistake in reaching the antecedent agreement.
3. Whether BW Insurance's conduct in obtaining the builder's risk information was attributable to Ohio Casualty for purposes of reformation.
4. Whether McMurry had a reasonable opportunity to read the business auto policy, despite its expectation that additional endorsements might issue.
5. Whether BW Insurance's agent had actual or apparent authority to remove or negate the named-driver exclusion in the business auto policy.
6. Whether the appeal concerning interest on the builder's risk award was moot after reversal of the reformation order.

Disposition

other