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Kelly & Hayes Electrical Supply, Inc. v. Hanover Insurance
Citations: 223 A.D.2d 685; 637 N.Y.S.2d 205; 1996 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 647
Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York; January 28, 1996; New York; State Appellate Court
In the declaratory judgment action, Kelly Hayes Electrical Supply, Inc. (Kelly) sought a ruling that Hanover Insurance Company (Hanover) had a duty to defend and indemnify it in an underlying negligence action brought by Vincent and Angelus Amelco. The Supreme Court of Kings County ruled in favor of Hanover, dismissing Kelly's complaint. On appeal, the judgment was modified to declare that Hanover has no duty to defend or indemnify Kelly in the Amelco action, and the modified judgment was affirmed with costs to Hanover. The court found that the liability theory in the Amelco action was based on the alleged use of a defective product by Kelly, which was explicitly excluded from coverage under Hanover’s policy. The court cited precedents confirming that Hanover had no obligation to defend or indemnify Kelly based on the facts presented. Given this conclusion, the court did not address Hanover's additional arguments. Kelly’s other claims were also deemed without merit. The court noted that as this is a declaratory judgment action, a declaration in favor of Hanover should have been entered instead of dismissing the complaint.