A commentary on insurance coverage issues in Hawaii and beyond
Whether a contractor who failed to complete construction of a home had coverage for alleged construction defects was at issue in Clarendon Am. Ins. Co. v. Gen. Sec. Indem. Co. of Arizona, 2011 Cal. App. LEXIS 377 (Cal. Ct. App. March 2, 2011).
Hilmor Development contracted with the homeowners to serve as general contractor…
Although the commercial auto policy excluded coverage for the named insured, coverage was still possible for the additional insured. Great West Casualty Co. v. Terminal Trucking Col., LLC, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30356 (D. S.C. March 22, 2011).
Wellman, Inc. sold bales of polyester fiber to Milliken & Company. Wellman contracted with…
Addressing which of the two insurers' policies were responsible for the loss, the Indiana Court of Appeals found both policies were triggered because property damage occurred within each insurer's policy period. Grange Mut. Cas. Co. v. West Bend Mut. Ins. Co., 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 442 (Ind. Ct. App. March 15, 2011).
Cincinnati…
Georgia has joined the growing legion of high state courts to find that faulty workmanship can arise from an occurrence, invoking coverage for a contractor. See Am. Empire Surplus Lines Ins. Co. v. Hathaway Dev. Co., Inc., 2011 Ga. LEXIS 177 (Ga. March 7, 2011).
Hathaway Development Co., a general contractor, sued…
Whether the insurer was obligated to indemnify its insured for potential liability under a contractual indemnity provision was at issue in Farmers Ins. Exchange v. RNK, Inc., 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 1255 (1st Cir. Jan. 21, 2011).
RNK, a telephone company, and Ripple, a company providing conference services including chat lines, entered…
This post from today's BusinessInsurance.com addresses legislation introduced in South Carolina seeking to extend coverage for construction defects under CGL policies. We posted on a similar effort underway in Hawaii to expand coverage for construction defects under SB1194.
Similar to Hawaii's effort through SB1194 to correct the Intermediate Court of Appeal's decision in…
In a prior post, we noted the Indiana Supreme Court held that the CGL policy covers damage to a home structure resulting from shoddy subcontractor work unless the subcontractor work was intentionally faulty. See Sheehan Constr. Co. v. Cont'l Cas. Co., 935 N.E. 2d 160 (Ind. 2010). In a subsequent construction defect…
Where the insured faces environmental suits in several states, should the law governing the liability policy be "site-specific," meaning the law of each state in which allegations of injury or property damage arise governs the policy's interpretation, or "uniform," whereby a single state's law governs? In Nat'l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa. v. Standard Fusee Corp…
In this multi-district litigation, the court considered the insurers' motions to dismiss plaintiffs' suits for alleged property damage caused by Chinese drywall. In Re: Chinese Manufacture Drywall Products Liability Litigation, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133497 (E.D. La. Dec. 16, 2010). After determining there was coverage, the court considered several exclusions and the ensuing loss provisions…
When property damage manifests before the policy period, but continues over time and overlaps the CGL's policy period, does the policy provide coverage? Applying Florida law, the U.S. District Court determined that under the manifestation trigger, there was no coverage. See Amerisure Ins. Co. v. Albanese Popkin The Oaks Development Group, L.P., 2010 U.S. Dist.
