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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.
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March 13, 2025
SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge entered a $2.2 million judgment in favor of commercial general liability insurer after finding that it has no duty to defend a construction company as an additional insured in its equitable contribution and equitable indemnification lawsuit arising from damages to a Hard Rock Hotel location.
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March 07, 2025
ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a general contractor has Article III standing to seek reformation of an insurance policy and a lower court erred in dismissing the reformation counterclaim but affirmed the lower court’s ruling that a commercial general liability insurance policy’s course-of-construction exclusion (COCE) bars coverage for water damage in a suit stemming from the subcontractor’s alleged faulty installation of cladding and glazing systems in a construction job.
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March 06, 2025
INDIANAPOLIS — A grain equipment company’s commercial general liability insurance policies do not provide coverage for amounts a client paid to have leaky storage bins repaired and replaced, an Indiana federal judge held, partly granting the insurer’s summary judgment motion in finding that some of the claimed losses related to a contractual dispute rather than to coverage liability.
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March 05, 2025
BANGOR, Maine — A federal judge found that an excess insurer has no duty to defend a general contractor insured that sought coverage for paint repairs it completed on a project in Ellsworth, Maine, agreeing with the insurer that no claim existed.
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March 05, 2025
BOSTON — A commercial general liability insurer did not have a duty to defend a plumber against third-party claims because the claimant alleged faulty workmanship, and not an “occurrence” or accident, which is required to trigger coverage, a Massachusetts Appeals Court panel found, affirming a trial court’s judgment.
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March 03, 2025
NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s decision upholding an arbitration panel’s award of a $2.3 million judgment in the insurers’ favor as part of a settlement with a subcontractor that the insurers said provided faulty concrete work for a construction project.
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February 28, 2025
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A subcontractor that has been sued by a condominium’s insurer, as subrogee, demonstrated good cause for its yearlong delay in responding to the negligence suit, a Florida federal magistrate judge ruled, granting the company’s motion to set aside default.