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April 17, 2025
SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 16 affirmed a lower court’s ruling in a mold and moisture damage coverage dispute finding that a contractor violated the terms of an insurance policy by incurring more than $1 million in repair costs without first seeking consent from an insurer.
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April 14, 2025
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A federal judge in Alabama concluded that a poultry grower has alleged property damage caused by an occurrence in its underlying lawsuit against contractors and that a business property insurance policy’s “your work,” “your product” and “fungi or bacteria” exclusions do not apply to bar coverage, finding the insurer has duty to defend the contractors.
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April 11, 2025
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An Arkansas appeals court panel affirmed a lower court’s grant of a contractor’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in a commercial general liability coverage dispute arising from an underlying claim alleging improperly installed flooring, finding that the alleged property damage occurred during installation and not because of the product.
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April 10, 2025
FORT MYERS, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida denied summary judgment to the designer of an Amazon sorting center in Fort Myers, Fla., in a suit brought against the designer and others by subrogee insurers alleging that defects in HVAC units caused damage to the building during Hurricane Ian, finding that the designer’s affirmative defenses failed.
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April 08, 2025
NEW ORLEANS — Two subcontractors who were responsible for installing a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system and the subcontractors’ insurers are entitled to summary judgment because the contractor’s insurers failed to show that the subcontractors’ acts or omissions caused or contributed to a water leak in the HVAC system, a Louisiana federal judge said.
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April 07, 2025
FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Kentucky appellate court held that two insurers were not obligated to defend their respective insureds in an underlying suit brought by a homeowner whose residence sustained damage from the application of a stuccolike material to its exterior that was purchased from one insured and applied by the other, affirming the trial court’s finding that the damage did not constitute an occurrence under either insurance policy.
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April 07, 2025
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge granted a professional liability insurer’s motion to dismiss an insured’s claims alleging breach of contract, bad faith, unjust enrichment and declaratory judgment after determining that the insured failed to identify a policy provision that was breached and failed to show that the insurer’s denial of coverage for an underlying suit related to the insured’s architectural work was unreasonable.
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April 04, 2025
LOS ANGELES — Finding that there are issues of material fact regarding whether the water damage and faulty workmanship exclusions in a condominium homeowners association’s all risks policy preclude coverage for rain damage that occurred during a reroofing project, a California appellate panel reversed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment to the insurer on the association’s breach of contract and bad faith claims.
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April 02, 2025
LAKE CHARLES, La. — A majority of a Louisiana appeals court affirmed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of a commercial general liability insurer in lawsuit alleging that a newly constructed home had major structural defects, agreeing with the lower court that the “Damage to Your Product and “Damage to Your Work” exclusions apply to bar coverage.
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April 02, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A commercial general liability insurer may proceed with a declaratory lawsuit to determine if it owes its policyholders a duty to defend or indemnify them for claims of construction defects brought by a group of condominium residents, a District of Columbia federal judge ruled, denying the condo homeowners’ motion to stay the coverage lawsuit during the pendency of the underlying state court defects suit.
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April 01, 2025
BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana federal judge adopted a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation and denied an insured’s motion to remand a bad faith lawsuit filed against a contractors professional and pollution liability insurer, agreeing with the magistrate judge that the suit is not a direct action suit under federal law as required to avoid federal jurisdiction.
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March 31, 2025
NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Louisiana denied builders risk insurers’ motion to dismiss a property owner’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking additional insured coverage for its $89,877,694 in losses arising from the aftermath of the partial collapse of a Hard Rock Hotel project in New Orleans, concluding that the insureds’ claims cannot be dismissed as prescribed.
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March 28, 2025
RAPID CITY, S.D. — A construction contractor failed to establish that it was entitled to any coverage under an insurance policy that named only the company’s owner as an insured, a South Dakota federal judge ruled, finding no entitlement to coverage by estoppel because neither State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. nor its agent made any representations of coverage.
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March 27, 2025
SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington granted two motions to stay in favor of a contractor and subcontractor who were sued by the subcontractor’s insurer for declaratory relief regarding the insurer’s duty to defend the contractor and subcontractor in an underlying state court lawsuit against the contractor, finding that a stay is necessary because the insurer’s suit and the underlying lawsuit filed by a real estate developer revolve around the same facts regarding the installation of metal paneling on a building in Seattle.
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March 27, 2025
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California on March 26 granted in part and denied in part insureds’ motion to strike portions of their insurer’s trial declarations in a dispute over the insureds’ water damage loss.
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March 25, 2025
ATLANTA — Finding that homeowners’ negligence and negligent hiring and supervision claims against a construction firm and its owner were covered by the contractors special condition endorsement in the firm’s commercial general liability policy and that the firm failed to comply with the terms of the endorsement, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment to the insurer.
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March 21, 2025
ST. LOUIS — Finding that an insurance policy is not ambiguous and that the ensuing loss clause does not restore coverage because a flooring subcontractor insured did not identify a separate “‘covered peril,’” the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling granting summary judgment to the insurer in the subcontractor’s breach of contract and declaratory relief action seeking coverage for replacement of a gym floor that was damaged by a defective paint job.
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March 20, 2025
ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal judge on March 19 entered judgment ordering a contractor’s commercial general liability insurer to take nothing against a subcontractor’s insurer in a dispute over insurance coverage for a construction defects lawsuit settlement.
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March 20, 2025
TOLEDO, Ohio — A Sixth District Ohio Court of Appeals panel held that a commercial general liability insurer owed no duty to its insured remodeling company or a condominium association that was an additional insured under the policy for damages the remodeling company’s siding work allegedly caused to the condominium association’s buildings, finding that the company’s faulty workmanship was not an occurrence under the policy and the condominium association was an additional insured under the policy only with respect to third-party liability claims.
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March 18, 2025
CHICAGO — Finding that a commercial general liability insurer “failed to satisfy its burden of demonstrating that transfer is warranted,” a federal judge in Illinois denied its motion to transfer its Illinois-based contractor insured’s declaratory judgment action against it to a federal court in Ohio.
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March 18, 2025
PHOENIX — The same day an Arizona federal judge granted a motion to file a third-party complaint in a builder’s construction defects coverage suit, one of the more than 20 defendant insurers filed a complaint against another insurer, which is owned by the builder, seeking declaratory relief under theories of equitable contribution and subrogation.
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March 18, 2025
NEW YORK — Finding that “there is clear and unmistakable evidence” that a subcontractor default insurer “agreed to commit the issue of arbitrability to the arbitrator rather than the courts,” a federal judge in New York granted the insurer’s motion to compel arbitration of a general contractor insured’s dispute over coverage for performance issues related to a window and door subcontractor’s work.
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March 17, 2025
MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge in Minnesota has granted the motion of an insured and largely denied the cross-motion of its insurers for summary judgment on liability in the insured’s breach of contract suit seeking damages related to the cracking and settling of reinforced equipment pads in its printing facility, finding that the damages were caused by earth movement.
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March 17, 2025
NEW YORK — Three days after a federal judge in New York found that the undisputed record is clear that an insured’s alleged interior water damage to its two-story commercial office building falls squarely within an insurance policy's anti-concurrent causation clause, the parties on March 14 announced that they reached a settlement.
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March 17, 2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida dismissed a lawsuit alleging that a surety breached a performance bond by denying liability for damage to its construction project allegedly caused by the subcontractor’s “defective and deficient work” the same day the parties announced they reached a settlement.