Terminal Freezers Inc. v. U.S. Fire Insurance

MEMORANDUM *

Terminal Freezers Inc. (“Terminal”) appeals the district court’s grant of U.S. Fire Insurance’s (“U.S. Fire’s”) motion for summary judgment. We affirm.

“Because federal jurisdiction in this case is based on diversity of citizenship, we apply the substantive law of the state of Washington.” Conrad v. Ace Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co., 532 F.3d 1000, 1004 (9th Cir.2008). Under Washington law, a court considers two questions in determining whether an insurance contract should cover a loss. First, the court asks “which single act or event is the efficient proximate cause of the loss.” McDonald v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co., 119 Wash.2d 724 , 837 P.2d 1000, 1004 (1992) (en banc). Second, it determines whether “the efficient proximate cause of the loss is a covered peril.” Id. The efficient proximate cause, in turn, is the “predominant cause which [sic] sets into motion the chain of events producing the loss.” Findlay v. United Pac. Ins. Co., 129 Wash.2d 368 , 917 P.2d 116, 118 (1996).

Here, the district court correctly concluded that Terminal’s faulty workmanship was the efficient proximate cause of the cold storage facility’s excessive ice formation, and that faulty…