Federal Ins. Co. v. Samsung Electronics America, No. 06-1040 (Tex. Aug. 29, 2008)
(Jefferson)
Today, in Zurich American Insurance Co. v. Nokia, ___ S.W.3d ___, we hold that the
insurers have a duty to defend the very cases at issue here. Zurich is dispositive. For
the reasons stated therein, we conclude that Federal has a duty to defend Samsung
in Pinney, Farina, Gilliam, and Gimpelson, and we affirm the court of appeals’
judgment.
FEDERAL INSURANCE COMPANY v. SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA, SAMSUNG TELECOMMUNICATIONS AMERICA, L.
P. F/K/A SAMSUNG TELECOMMUNICATIONS AMERICA, INC. AND SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.; from Dallas County;
5th district
(05-04-01316-CV, 202 SW3d 372, 08-21-06)
The Court affirms the court of appeals' judgment.
Chief Justice Jefferson delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Justice O'Neill, Justice Wainwright, Justice Medina, Justice
Green, Justice Johnson, and Justice Willett joined.
Justice Hecht delivered a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Brister joined.
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Federal Insurance Co. v. Samsung Electronics America (Tex. 2008)
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Argued November 30, 2007
Chief Justice Jefferson delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Justice O’Neill, Justice
Wainwright, Justice Medina, Justice Green, Justice Johnson, and Justice Willett joined.
Justice Hecht delivered a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Brister joined.
Samsung,[1] a wireless telephone manufacturer, was sued in five putative class action lawsuits
(Pinney, Farina, Gilliam, Gimpelson, and Dahlgren)[2] alleging that radio frequency radiation emitted
by Samsung phones caused biological injury. Samsung tendered the defense of these cases to
Federal, from which Samsung had purchased several commercial general liability insurance
policies and excess liability policies over an eleven-year period. The relevant policies covered
“damages the insured becomes legally obligated to pay . . . because of bodily injury,” defined as
“bodily injury, sickness or disease sustained by a person, including death resulting from any of these
at any time.”[3] Reserving its right to contest coverage, Federal agreed to defend all of the cases
except Dahlgren.
Federal then sought a declaration that it had no duty to defend Samsung and moved for summary
judgment on that basis. The trial court granted Federal’s motion, holding that Federal had no duty to
defend Samsung in the five cases. The court of appeals reversed in part, holding that Federal owed
a duty to defend Pinney, Farina, Gilliam, and Gimpelson. 202 S.W.3d 372, 384. The court of
appeals agreed that Federal had no duty to defend Dahlgren, and it affirmed that part of the trial
court’s judgment. Id.
Federal petitioned this Court for review, asserting that it had no duty to defend Pinney, Farina,
Gilliam, and Gimpelson, as the complaints did not state claims for bodily injury or seek damages
because of bodily injury.[4] We granted the petition.[5] 51 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 126 (Nov. 30, 2007).
Today, in Zurich American Insurance Co. v. Nokia, ___ S.W.3d ___, we hold that the insurers have a
duty to defend the very cases at issue here. Zurich is dispositive. For the reasons stated therein, we
conclude that Federal has a duty to defend Samsung in Pinney, Farina, Gilliam, and Gimpelson, and
we affirm the court of appeals’ judgment.
______________________________
Wallace B. Jefferson
Chief Justice
OPINION DELIVERED: August 29, 2008
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[1] The defendants in the putative class actions are Samsung Electronics America, Inc., Samsung
Telecommunications America, L.P. f/k/a Samsung Telecommunications America, Inc. and Samsung
Electronics Co., Ltd. For ease of reference, we refer to these entities collectively as “Samsung.”
[2] These cases are described more fully in Zurich American Insurance Co. v. Nokia, ___ S.W.3d
___, decided today.
[3] Some of the policies defined “bodily injury” as “physical injury, sickness, or disease sustained by
a person and, if arising out of the foregoing, mental anguish, mental injury, shock, humiliation or
death at any time.” The court of appeals held, and we agree, that any variations in wording do not
affect the issues on appeal. 202 S.W.3d at 375 n.3.
[4] Samsung did not petition this Court for review of that part of the court of appeals’ judgment
holding that the insurers had no duty to defend Samsung in the Dahlgren case. Tex. R. App. P. 53.1.
Thus, that issue is not before us.
[5] The Complex Insurance Claims Litigation Association submitted an amicus curiae brief. Tex. R.
App. P. 11.