The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. v. Raw Seafoods, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-048-17)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us 15-P-1554 Appeals Court THE HANOVER INSURANCE GROUP, INC. vs. RAW SEAFOODS, INC. No. 15-P-1554. Suffolk. September 16, 2016. – April 26, 2017. Present: Agnes, Neyman, & Henry, JJ. Insurance, General liability insurance, Coverage. Words, “Occurrence.” Civil action commenced in the Superior Court Department on September 21, 2012. The case was heard by Christine M. Roach, J., on motions for summary judgment. Michael J. Daly (Samuel P. Blatchley also present) for the defendant. Jeffrey E. Dolan (Anthony M. Campo also present) for the plaintiff. NEYMAN, J. In this case we analyze whether damage to scallops at a seafood processing facility, where the precise cause of damage is unknown, constituted an “occurrence” within the meaning of a commercial general liability (CGL) policy. A Superior Court judge concluded that the defendant-insured, Raw Seafoods, Inc. (RSI), has no reasonable expectation of proving that its claimed loss was caused by an occurrence, and granted summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff-insurer, Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. RSI appeals therefrom. We reverse. Background. 1. RSI and the damaged scallops. RSI is a seafood processing facility in Fall River. One of RSI’s customers, Atlantic Capes Fisheries, Inc. (Atlantic), sells scallops and other types of seafood around the world. Atlantic purchases fresh scallops from fishing vessels, then transports the scallops to RSI for processing, portioning, packaging, and freezing. RSI’s staff inspects the scallops for quality upon arrival, reports the results to Atlantic, and receives processing instructions from Atlantic. After processing, the scallops are transported to Arctic Cold Storage (Arctic), a third-party cold storage facility. Atlantic then ships its customers’ orders directly from Arctic’s facility. RSI handles approximately 4 million to 6 million pounds of scallops for Atlantic per year. In July, 2011, RSI-processed scallops were making their way through customs in Denmark, heading to an Atlantic customer. Upon inspection, the 37,102 pounds of scallops were found to be decomposed, exhibited a strong ammonia smell, and were deemed unacceptable for human consumption. By all accounts, something was rotten in the state of Denmark.[1] The United States Food and Drug Administration tested the scallops and confirmed that they were spoiled. The scallops were then returned to Arctic’s facility, where representatives from Atlantic and RSI jointly inspected the shipment and confirmed the damage. They also inspected another batch […]