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Antitrust Exclusion Excludes Coverage for Deceptive Trade Practices
Antitrust Exclusion Excludes Coverage for Deceptive Trade Practices
By Elizabeth F. Caraballo, Esq.
The Antitrust Exclusion in a Not-for-Profit Individual and Organization Insurance Policy barred coverage for allegations that the insured engaged in deceptive trade practices, false and misleading advertising, and deceptive labeling, among other things. Welch Foods Inc. v. National Union Fire Ins. Co., No. 10-2261 (1st Cir. Oct. 24, 2011).
Welch faced two lawsuits – one by its competitor POM Wonderful LLC and another by a group of consumers – for deceptive trade practices concerning Welch’s 100% Juice White Grape Pomegranate Flavored Three Juice Blend (which is primarily made of apple and grape juice although the label pictured primarily pomegranates). Welch sought a declaration that National Union was obliged to defend and indemnify it under a Not-for-Profit Individual and Organization Insurance Policy.
Affirming the Massachusetts District Court’s grant of summary judgment, the First Circuit found that the deceptive trade practices allegations fell within the Antitrust Exclusion of the Policy, which provided that the insurer was not liable to make any payments "for Loss in connection with a Claim made against the Insured... alleging, arising out of, based upon or attributable to, or in any way involving, either directly or indirectly... unfair competition, deceptive trade practices and/or monopolies..." (emphasis added).
The First Circuit found that although the exclusion bears the label "Antitrust Exclusion" and referred to "antitrust" or typical antitrust claims such as "monopolies," the plain language of the provision was far broader and not so limited and operated to exclude other types of claims, including those for "unfair competition" and "deceptive trade practices." Further, the court found that the policy itself indicated that "[t]he descriptions in the headings of this policy are solely for convenience, and form no part of the terms and conditions of coverage," and thus precluded the weight Welch wished to assign to the heading.
The First Circuit rejected Welch’s argument that it should ignore the actual language of the policy in favor of "distilling the essence" of all the terms in the exclusion – which Welch argued was a bar for claims of anticompetitive behavior. In doing so, the Court cited Massachusetts case law that mandates that an insurance contract is to be interpreted according to the fair and reasonable meaning of the words of the policy and that every word in an insurance contract must be presumed to have been employed with a purpose and must be given meaning and effect whenever practicable.
Finally, the Court held that the noscitur a sociis doctrine (meaning comprehended from accompanying words ) had no place here as courts cannot use the doctrine to create uncertainty in an otherwise unambiguous term.
Welch also sought a declaration of coverage under its general liability and media/professional services policies issued by different insurers. The District Court granted summary judgment in favor of all insurers. Prior to oral argument on its appeal, Welch and those other insurers settled. The District Court’s decision can be found at 2010 WL 3928704, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110004, 2010-2 Trade Cas. (CCH) P77198 (D. Mass. Oct. 1, 2010).
Tressler Comments: In a short but well reasoned opinion, the First Circuit refused to torture policy language to find coverage for deceptive trade practice allegations that were clearly excluded by the policy’s Antitrust Exclusion. The Court correctly refused to juice-up the policy with an unintended scope of coverage despite Welch’s arguments that it should. This decision is a refreshing reminder that the courts are bound to interpret unambiguous policy language according to their reasonable and fair meaning.
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