The Second Department, Appellate Division, for the Supreme Court of New York, recently held in a matter of first impression, that an insurance company with a duty to defend may not recover defense costs after a determination that no duty to indemnify or further defend exists—even though the insurer expressly reserved its right to recoup such defense costs—unless the policy explicitly provides for such recovery. See American W. Home Ins. Co. v. Gjonaj Realty & Mgt. Co., 2018-03435, 2020 WL 7767944 (2d Dept., Dec. 30, 2020).
Continue Reading New York Court Rules Duty to Defend Policies Must Explicitly Provide for Recoupment of Defense Costs

Vacancy exclusions are commonplace in many homeowner policies, and typically exclude coverage for certain types of losses if the home is vacant and/or unoccupied. Litigation involving vacancy exclusions can arise when terms in the provision are not defined and an insured claims the terms are ambiguous.

In Jarvis v. GeoVera Specialty Ins. Co., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 11762 (11th Cir. May 3, 2018), the insured rented a house for several years and when the tenant vacated, the insured paid a handyman about $5,000 to repair drywall, a small roof leak, and some plumbing. During this time, there were major appliances in the home, but no furniture, and nobody lived in the home.  Three months after the tenant moved out, a third party intentionally set fire to the home. The insured submitted an insurance claim, and GeoVera declined to cover the loss based on the vacancy exclusion, which excluded loss due to “vandalism and malicious mischief if the dwelling had been vacant or unoccupied for more than 30 consecutive days immediately before the loss.” The insured sued, alleging that the policy provision stating that “a dwelling being constructed is not considered vacant or unoccupied” applied, excepting the loss from the vacancy exclusion. The Middle District of Florida agreed with GeoVera, finding the exception inapplicable to renovations, repairs, or refurbishments.
Continue Reading Vacancy Exclusion: Eleventh Circuit (Florida) Weighs In On “Dwelling Being Constructed” Exception

When does an excluded loss end and a covered “resulting loss” begin?  This thorny question was the subject of a recent decision out of the Southern District of Texas, EMS USA, Inc. v. The Travelers Lloyds Insurance Co.No. H-16-1443, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54509 (S.D. Tex. Feb. 28, 2018),  adopted by EMS, USA, Inc. v. Travelers Lloyds Ins. Co., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52884 (S.D. Tex., Mar. 29, 2018). EMS involved a builder’s risk policy that covered a natural gas pipeline construction job in southeast Texas. The insured, the pipeline contractor, had through a subcontractor, drilled a “pilot hole” for the pipeline. The next step was to widen the pilot hole to accommodate the pipeline. This operation involved using a reamer attached to a guide wire that directed the operation. When the guide wire broke, the reamer was stuck in the pilot hole and could not be removed, and a new pilot hole had to be excavated. Travelers denied coverage for the cost of attempting to salvage the first pilot hole, and redrilling the second, arguing that the loss was not covered  because (1) the pilot hole was “land” that was not covered under the policy; (2) the hole had not suffered “direct physical loss or damage” as required by the policy’s coverage grant; and (3) the loss, even if within the grant of coverage, fell under the policy’s exclusion for faulty workmanship.
Continue Reading Texas Federal Court Holds Faulty Workmanship Exclusion Applies to All Damage Caused By Drilling Gear Malfunction, Rejects Insured’s Claim for Covered “Resulting Loss”

Typical first party property policies include provisions that address failure to maintain heat as excluded losses. The Eastern District of New York recently analyzed a specific endorsement requiring that heat be maintained at a particular temperature.

In Read Prop. Group LLC v. Hamilton Ins. Co., No. 16-4573, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54734 (E.D.N.Y. Mar.

The “Water Damage” exclusion incorporated in many property insurance policies is the subject of much litigation, including the scope and applicability of the “surface water” exclusion to various water damage scenarios. The New York Appellate Division, Fourth Department recently interpreted the application of the “surface water” exclusion where the source of water was not from natural precipitation. This is the second New York decision to interpret the meaning of “surface water” in the context of a property insurance policy.
Continue Reading The Water Exclusion: New York’s Fourth Department Interprets The Definition of Surface Water

Many typical homeowner’s insurance policies contain an exclusion for damages as a result of freezing unless the homeowner uses “reasonable care” to maintain heat in the home. While this can be a fact-specific inquiry, the Third Circuit, applying Pennsylvania law, recently upheld a district court’s grant of summary judgment to an insurer, finding no issue of material fact. Jugan v. Econ. Premier Asur. Co., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 7218 (3d Cir. Mar. 12, 2018).

The Jugans reported a water loss to Met Life upon discovery in March 2015. The consultant retained by Met Life concluded that the cause of the water infiltration was due to a frozen dishwasher solenoid valve, which was due to insufficient heat within the home (attributed to the low setting found on the thermostat hot water baseboard heat). It was undisputed that outdoor temperatures in and around the date of discovery were sufficient to cause pipe system freeze ups. 
Continue Reading Freezing Exclusion: Third Circuit Affirms District Court’s Grant Of Summary Judgment To Insurer

Nearly five years after Superstorm Sandy, some consistent themes are beginning to emerge from the increasingly robust body of property coverage case law related to the storm. A recent decision from the Eastern District of New York addresses a topic that this Blog has covered before – the application of flood exclusions in traditional open peril policies.

The Madelaine Chocolate Company was a manufacturer of seasonal foil-wrapped chocolates insured under an “open peril” business policy issued by Great Northern Insurance Company. Purported to be one of the largest private employers in Queens, New York, Madelaine Chocolate conducted its business in three buildings located in Rockaway Beach. During Superstorm Sandy, the facility was inundated with four feet of water from both Long Island Sound to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. After the storm, Madelaine Chocolate made a $40 million property damage claim and a $13.5 million business income/extra expense claim. Great Northern paid Madelaine Chocolate $4 million and denied the remainder of the claim based on the policy’s flood exclusion.
Continue Reading Eastern District of New York Upholds Flood Exclusion in Superstorm Sandy Case

The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut recently reaffirmed its ruling that the term “collapse,” as defined by a homeowners insurance policy, is unambiguous and that the policy in question did not provide coverage for the alleged “cracking” and/or “bulging” of the insureds’ foundation walls.  In Alexander v. Gen. Ins. Co. of Am., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5963 (D. Conn. Jan. 17, 2017), the court denied the plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration, rejecting their argument that the policy’s definition of collapse is ambiguous. The court had previously granted the insurer’s motion to dismiss on the grounds that the policy’s definition of “collapse” is unambiguous and the policy’s language expressly excludes coverage for cracking or bulging.

The plaintiffs owned a home insured by the defendant. They claimed that, in May of 2015, they discovered a series of horizontal and vertical cracks in their basement walls. They eventually learned that this condition was caused by pyrrhotite, a mineral contained in certain concrete aggregate during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The plaintiffs made a claim for coverage under their insurance policy, and the defendant denied their claim on the basis that the condition of the plaintiffs’ foundation walls did not constitute a “collapse” as defined by the policy.
Continue Reading District of Connecticut Reaffirms That Definition Of “Collapse” Is Unambiguous

As we have written about before on this blog, the water damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 gave rise to important questions concerning the applicability of so-called “anti-concurrent causation” clauses. Such was the case in the recently-decided matter of Carevel, LLC v. Aspen American Ins. Co., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157919 (D.N.J. Nov. 15, 2016).

In Carevel, the insured’s building in Jersey City, New Jersey suffered interior water damage during Hurricane Sandy. The relevant insurance policy excluded damage caused by flood. The flood exclusion included an anti-concurrent causation preamble with the familiar language excluding flood damage “regardless of any other cause or event that contributes concurrently or in any sequence to the loss.” Importantly for the legal issues raised in this case, the policy did cover, via endorsement, damage caused by water that backed up through sewers or drains. Following an investigation into the loss, Aspen obtained a report indicating that the interior water damage was caused by street-level flooding that had infiltrated the building during the storm. Aspen denied the claim based on the flood exclusion. The insured filed suit, claiming that the damage was caused by water that had entered the building through the basement’s sewers or drains.
Continue Reading Hurricane Sandy, Flood, and Sewer Backup: New Jersey Federal Court Confirms Anti-Concurrent Causation Bars Insured’s Claim

In National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. Aspen Specialty Ins. Co., 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 16074 (2d. Cir. Aug. 31, 2016), Amtrak sought the entire $675 million of available coverage from a number of its insurers for damages incurred as a result of Superstorm Sandy.  Most of Amtrak’s damages resulted from flooding of tunnels under the East and Hudson Rivers.  The trial court granted summary judgment for the insurers finding that the damages caused by seawater entering the tunnels was subject to the policies’ $125 million flood sublimit, that corrosion of equipment that occurred after the water was pumped out was not an “ensuing loss,” and that Amtrak failed to establish that it was entitled to coverage under the Demolition and Increased Cost of Construction (“DICC”) provision.  National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. Arch Specialty Ins. Co., 124 F. Supp. 3d 264 (S.D.N.Y. 2015). Amtrak appealed.

The Second Circuit held that even though there were three definitions of flood in the applicable policies, the inundation of seawater in the tunnels was a “flood” within the meaning of all three definitions.  In reaching this conclusion, the court noted that the fact that there were three different definitions of the term “flood” in the policies “did not render the term ambiguous.”Continue Reading Ambiguity And Ensuing Loss: The Second Circuit Affirms The Southern District Of New York’s Holdings In a $675 Million Superstorm Sandy Insurance Coverage Dispute