Home Indemnity Co. v. Leo L. Davis, Inc.

Plaintiff Home Indemnity Company (Home) appeals from an adverse judgment entered in its action for declaratory relief. Home’s insured, defendant Leo L. Davis, Inc. (Davis), had been held liable in damages to defendants Redding Constructors, Inc. (Redding) and O’Hair Construction Co., Inc. (O’Hair) for damages to and the loss of use of a pugmill, part of a portable batch plant, sustained while the batch plant was being dismantled with the use of a crane owned by defendant Davis. The declaratory judgment held that Home was obligated to provide coverage to Davis for such liability, and further, that Home was obligated to reimburse Davis for his attorney fees incurred in defending the earlier action against him by Redding and O’Hair.

Home contends that the pugmill, at the time of damage, was under the “care, custody or control” of Davis and that, in construing the policy provision hereinafter discussed, the court erred in not holding that the pugmill was excluded from coverage under the policy issued to Davis. Home also assigns as error the court’s order that Home reimburse Davis for attorney fees, since it did provide Davis a defense in the previous action.

The facts are…