The Burlington Insurance Company v. Oceanic Design & Construction, Inc.
Opinion
Opinion
Clifton, J.
The issue presented by this case is whether, under Hawaii law, a company which contracted to build a house is covered under its commercial general liability policy against claims brought against the company by the dissatisfied homeowners. The district court granted summary judgment to the insurer on the ground that claims for breach of contract and breach of contract-related tort duties did not give rise to coverage within the scope of the policy. We affirm.
I. BACKGROUND
Defendant-Appellant Oceanic Design & Construction, Inc., a Hawaii corporation, contracted to build a single-family residence in Honolulu, Hawaii for homeowners Jeanette C. Chae, Susan K. Woo, and Diana Han (a/k/a Diana Chong) (collectively the “homeowners”). Construction was completed, but not to the satisfaction of the homeowners, and they refused to pay. Oceanic filed suit against the homeowners in Hawaii state court in April 1999, alleging the homeowners had breached the contract by failing to pay the balance due. See Oceanic Design & Constr., Inc. v. Jeanette C. Chae, et al., Civil No. 99-1536-04, Circuit Court of the First Circuit, State of Hawaii (the “underlying lawsuit”).