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Real Estate Market Denial of Insurance Coverage

Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP

Litigating Tile Roof Claims

Hurricane Irma’s landfall in Florida produced an avalanche of property insurance claims throughout the state, the majority of which involved reported damage to roofs.  Though many of these claims were legitimate, enterprising...more

Cozen O'Connor

Court in Montana Applies Anti-Concurrent Causation Clause to Earth Movement Exclusion

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A district court in Montana recently applied an anti-concurrent clause in a property insurance policy to preclude coverage based on an earth movement exclusion. In Ward v. Safeco Ins. Co. of Amer., No. 1:19-CV-0133-SPW, 2021...more

Cozen O'Connor

Louisiana Federal Court Upholds Applicability of Anti-Concurrent Causation Exclusion for Hurricane Damage

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In a timely reaffirmation of the Fifth Circuit’s 2007 ruling in Leonard v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., a Louisiana federal court recently upheld the application of an insurance policy’s Anti-Concurrent Causation Clause (“ACC”)...more

Cozen O'Connor

Ensuing Loss Clause Does Not Create Coverage for “Collapse” Inseparable from Damage Caused by Excluded Perils

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     In Jowite Limited Partnership v. Federal Insurance Company, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland issued a rare opinion addressing whether “collapse” is a covered “ensuing loss” under an all-risks...more

Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP

Heads I win, Tails You Lose: Southern Owners Insurance Company v. MAC Contractors

On July 29, 2020, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Southern Owners Ins. Co. v. MAC Contractors, of Fla., LLC, --- Fed. Appx. ---, 2020 WL 4345199 (11th Cir. July 29, 2020).  While claiming to follow...more

Carlton Fields

New York Appellate Court Affirms Denial of Discovery Into Other Hurricane Sandy Claims

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In Knickerbocker Village Inc. v. Lexington Insurance Co., New York’s Appellate Division, First Judicial Department, dictated a clear rule for single-insured cases regarding the discovery of an insurer’s treatment of insurance...more

Carlton Fields

Connecticut Supreme Court Fortifies Crumbling Foundation Claim Denials in Trio of Insurer Victories

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A year ago, we wrote about a rapidly emerging area of insurance litigation in Connecticut: crumbling foundations. As a quick recap, tens of thousands of homes in northeastern Connecticut built over a span of more than 30...more

Carlton Fields

Court Finds Animals Incapable of Vandalism or Malicious Mischief for Insurance Purposes (and all other purposes, too)

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I am willing to go out on a limb and say that if asked whether an animal, say, a raccoon, is capable of committing malicious criminal acts, most humans would agree that the issue is beyond dispute. But, alas, most humans...more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

District of New Jersey Applies Anti-Concurrent Causation Provision to Superstorm Sandy Claim

In a recent decision arising out of Superstorm Sandy, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey confirmed the enforceability of anti-concurrent causation provisions. Zero Barnegat Bay, LLC v. Lexington...more

Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP

Pennsylvania court rules insurer may still be responsible to pay RCV even if repairs never completed.

In situations where a property insurer denies coverage, the insured often complains that it is faced with a difficult dilemma – use its own money to fund repairs or avoid making repairs and risk having its recovery limited to...more

Carlton Fields

Court Enforces Policy’s Crumbling Foundation Plain Language in Dismissing Claims Against Insurers

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A federal judge in Connecticut recently dismissed claims against insurers related to their denial of a claim by two homeowners whose home’s foundation was crumbling. The case, Hyde v. Allstate Ins. Co., No. 3:18-cv-00031 (D....more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

“Unnecessary and Inappropriate”: The declaration no one wanted

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Your client wants to recover damages for breach of contract and demands that you assert as many causes of action as possible. In addition to the breach cause of action, you consider a declaratory judgment claim, right? ...more

Rumberger | Kirk

Fifth DCA Strikes Blow To Popular Policy Exclusion

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The Fifth District Court of Appeal recently issued a decision that will likely force homeowners insurance carriers to rewrite one of their stalwart policy exclusions that pertains to “constant or repeated seepage or leakage”...more

Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP

The Eleventh Circuit Strengthens the Third District Court of Appeal's Decision in Cheetham: Know Thy Policy Terms

In Cameron v. Scottsdale Insurance Company, No. 17-11907, 2018 WL 1791889, at *1 (11th Cir. Apr. 16, 2018), the Eleventh Circuit vacated the lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the insurer and relied on...more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

The Protective Safeguards—Heat Maintained Endorsement Means What it Says: Eastern District of New York Grants Summary Judgment...

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...more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

Freezing Exclusion: Third Circuit Affirms District Court’s Grant Of Summary Judgment To Insurer

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....more

Carlton Fields

Opening The Pandora’s Box Of Flood Policies, Or How Filing Suit Against Flood Insurers Can Effectively Reduce The Suit Limitations...

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When is an insurer’s “Rejection of Proof of Loss” letter for flood insurance damage, which states on its face that it “is not a denial of your claim,” nevertheless a written denial of claim? According to the Third Circuit in...more

Troutman Pepper

Applying Florida’s “Eight Corners Rule,” Eleventh Circuit Finds that Insurer Has a Duty to Defend Claim That Insured’s Faulty...

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Addison Ins. Co. v. 4000 Island Blvd. Condo. Ass’n, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 26870 (11th Cir. Dec. 28, 2017) - The owner of a high-rise condominium building in Florida hired a contractor to replace the building’s concrete...more

Cozen O'Connor

Still Crazy After All These Years: Recent Developments on the Standard Mortgage Clause

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A not uncommon scenario: after examining the charred debris of a property fire, investigators note that the building’s alarm failed to sound and automatic sprinkler system similarly failed to activate because neither had been...more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

Hurricane Harvey, the Texas Supreme Court, and Anti-Concurrent Causation

Many commercial and residential property insurance claims arising from major hurricanes like Hurricane Harvey present damage caused by multiple causes of loss, some of which may be covered (e.g., wind) and some of which may...more

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

Hurricane Harvey Recovery Tips for Maximizing Coverage

San Francisco Darren Teshima, Co-Leader of Orrick's Complex Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice, litigates high stakes disputes on behalf of clients in the financial and technology sectors and advises corporate...more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

Appraisal Award Unenforceable Where Suit Limitation Period Expired Prior To Filing Suit: New York County Dismisses Storm Sandy...

Suit limitation provisions in insurance policies shorten the statutory period of time that a plaintiff may bring a suit against an insurer for certain causes of action. A New York court recently held that an appraisal award...more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

Innocent or Unintentional Mistake in Application is Irrelevant: NY’s Second Department Finds Rescission Appropriate and Affirms...

When an insurer finds that the insured misrepresented a material fact in an application for insurance, the insurer may rescind the policy of insurance, and take the position that no coverage exists for a claimed loss. In a...more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

New Jersey Appellate Division Applies Anti-Concurrent Causation Clause to Bar Combined Flood/Sewer Backup Claim

Frequent readers of the blog will appreciate that disputes involving the application of anti-concurrent causation language in the context of claims for flood or water damage have appeared with some frequency in recent years....more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

Unequivocal Denial: District of New Jersey Court Outlines What is Not Necessary

We have previously featured New Jersey District Court decisions addressing “unequivocal” denials in the context of policies’ suit limitation provisions. In the latest, Ryan v. Liberty Mut. Fire Ins. Co., No. 14-6308...more

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