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Mealey's Construction Defects Insurance

  • May 09, 2025

    Insurer Gets Partial Summary Judgment; Builder Must Repay $5.57M

    ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A New York state court justice partially granted a subcontractor default insurer’s motion for summary judgment and determined that a construction manager/prime contractor for a retirement community project must repay the insurer $5.57 million from construction defect claim payments it received because the policy contemplates a later action against a defaulting subcontractor to recover sums paid to an insured and an arbitration panel found that some of the losses did not result from the subcontractor’s default.

  • May 09, 2025

    Pool Defect Insurance Case Stayed Pending Further Factual Development

    AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas federal judge has denied dismissal of a pool construction defect insurance lawsuit but granted an alternative motion to stay the case pending further factual development and possible related litigation.

  • May 06, 2025

    5th Circuit: Policy Excludes Coverage For Concrete Damage Caused By Sugar In Sand

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a district court’s ruling granting summary judgment to an insurer in a case brought by a concrete company after a trucking company delivered sand mixed with sugar causing the concrete to not cure properly, finding that exclusions applied under the trucking company’s policy.

  • May 05, 2025

    Homeowners Appeal Order That They Weren’t Beneficiaries Of Contractor’s Insurance

    GREENSBORO, N.C. — Homeowners in North Carolina have appealed to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals an order by a federal judge in North Carolina who found they had no standing to bring a suit against their waterproofing company’s insurer after the company’s work allegedly caused damage to their property.

  • May 05, 2025

    Judge: Insurer’s Motion To Amend Judgment Can Be Resolved Without Hearing

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge said that a commercial general liability insurer’s motion to amend a $2,186,359.76 judgment in its favor to include $780,360.12 in prejudgment interest is appropriate for resolution without a hearing, vacating a May 2 hearing in the insurer’s equitable contribution and equitable indemnification lawsuit arising from damages to a Hard Rock Hotel location.

  • May 02, 2025

    Wyoming High Court Answers Certified Question In Insurer’s Suit Against Engineer

    CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Wyoming Supreme Court on May 1 answered a certified question from the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a subrogated homeowners insurer’s appeal of a Wyoming federal court’s ruling that its claim against an engineering firm that designed a home’s plumbing is time-barred by the two-year statute of limitations for professional negligence claims, finding that under Wyoming Statutes Annotated Section 1-3-107, the absence of contractual privity is not relevant in deciding when the statute of limitation attaches in a tort action and the statute of limitation attaches to the design that was the legal cause of the purported injuries.

  • May 02, 2025

    Roofing Contractor’s Insurer Wins Judgment; Policy’s Prior Works Exclusion Applies

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal court issued a final judgment in favor of an insurer in its suit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify its roofing contractor insured in an underlying lawsuit alleging that the insured’s negligent repair work contributed to the collapse of a building façade, killing two people; the judgment was issued two weeks after a judge ruled that the policy’s Prior Works Exclusion applies because the repair work at issue was completed before the policy’s coverage became effective.

  • April 30, 2025

    Fact Issues Remain On Insured’s Extracontractual Claims In Water Damage Dispute

    SEATTLE — An insurer is not entitled to summary judgment on an insured condominium association’s extracontractual claims because questions of fact exist regarding the reasonableness of the insurer’s interpretation of the policy language, the adequacy of the insurer’s claim investigation and the manner in which the insurer maintained the claim file, a Washington federal judge said in denying the insurer’s motion for summary judgment in a water damage coverage dispute.

  • April 29, 2025

    Water Damage Loss Dispute Dismissed After Insureds, Insurer Settle

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California on April 28 dismissed with prejudice an insured couple’s suit against their homeowners insurer related to their water damage loss in accordance with a stipulation of voluntary dismissal the parties filed after reaching a settlement.

  • April 28, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Bad Faith Suit Over ‘Hidden Damage’ To Condos Following Settlement

    SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington dismissed with prejudice a condominium owners association insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for the cost of repairing “hidden damage” to its condominiums after the insured and its property insurer announced that they reached a settlement.

  • April 28, 2025

    Judge Grants Summary Judgment To Excess Insurer In Coverage Dispute With Contractor

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York granted an excess insurer’s motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that it owed no indemnification to a building contractor because a policy exclusion bars coverage for losses caused by a subsidence.

  • April 25, 2025

    Defect Suit Against Roofer, Roof Coating Maker Dismissed After Parties Settle

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts federal court has dismissed without prejudice a construction defect suit filed against a roofer and roof coating maker after receiving notification that the parties had settled their dispute.

  • April 25, 2025

    Insurer Has No Duty To Defend Subcontractor, Florida Federal Judge Rules

    MIAMI — A Florida federal judge has granted an unopposed summary judgment motion in a construction defect insurance coverage action, finding that a subcontractor’s insurer has no duty to defend because there is no property damage alleged in the underlying state court case.

  • April 24, 2025

    Summary Judgment Denied In Florida Construction Defects Coverage Dispute

    VERO BEACH, Fla. — An insurance provider sufficiently established issues of fact that precluded a grant of summary judgment to a construction firm that seeks coverage for various construction defects in a couple’s custom-made home, a Florida judge found.

  • April 23, 2025

    Contractors’ Insurers Appeal Ruling That Subcontractors’ Acts Caused Water Leak

    NEW ORLEANS — A general contractor’s insurers on April 22 filed notice that they are appealing a Louisiana federal judge’s ruling granting summary judgment to two subcontractors who were responsible for installing a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system and the subcontractors’ insurers after finding that the plaintiff insurers failed to show that the subcontractors’ acts or omissions caused or contributed to a water leak in the HVAC system.

  • April 23, 2025

    Colorado High Court: Willful Conduct Not Excepted From Economic Loss Rule

    DENVER — “[N]o exception to the economic loss rule exists for allegations of willful and wanton conduct,” the Colorado Supreme Court ruled, affirming an appellate court’s ruling that the rule barred a subrogated property insurer from asserting a negligence claim against a general contractor whose deviation from construction plans resulted in a fire that damaged the insured’s property.

  • April 23, 2025

    5th Circuit Affirms Ruling In Construction Insurance Dispute Over Sprinkler Leak

    NEW ORLEANS— The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a Louisiana federal court’s rulings that first granted a manufacturer’s motion for summary judgment in a construction insurance dispute stemming from damages caused by a sprinkler leak and then dismissed all of an excess insurer’s claims against the manufacturer with prejudice, finding that the manufacturer did not prevent the excess insurer “from timely availing itself of its causes of action.”

  • April 22, 2025

    Oregon High Court Reverses Lower Courts’ Holding On Coverage For ‘Occurrence’

    SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Supreme Court reversed a holding by lower courts that a commercial general liability insurer owed no duty to indemnify homeowners who sustained water damage in their home due to a cracked and sloped garage floor laid by the insured’s subcontractor, finding that whether an insurance claim seeks recovery for an ‘accident’ “depends on whether there is a basis in fact for imposing tort liability” and there were “factual disputes material to whether such a basis exists.”

  • April 22, 2025

    6th Circuit Affirms, Reverses Duty-To-Defend Rulings For Contractor’s Insurers

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s ruling that a professional liability insurer had no duty to defend its contractor insured in a hospital’s suit against the contractor’s performance bond carrier but reversed the trial court’s ruling in favor of the contractor’s commercial general liability insurer, finding that alleged damages to a preexisting building caused by the contractor’s work “are the type of damages that ‘potentially, possibly or might’ be covered” by the policy and that the insurer’s duty to defend was not limited to suits asserting claims directly against the contractor.

  • April 21, 2025

    Insureds, Insurer File Joint Notice Of Settlement In Water Damage Dispute

    LOS ANGELES — Insureds and their insurer notified a California federal court that they have reached a settlement in principle of their dispute over the insureds’ water damage loss.

  • April 17, 2025

    9th Circuit Dismisses Claims Against Insurer In Mold Damage Coverage Dispute

    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.

  • April 14, 2025

    Judge: Insurer Has Duty To Defend Contractors Against Poultry Grower’s Lawsuit

    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.

  • April 11, 2025

    CGL Insurer Has Duty To Defend, Indemify Contractor, Arkansas Panel Affirms

    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.

  • April 10, 2025

    Building Designer Denied Summary Judgment In Latch Defect Insurance Suit

    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.

  • April 08, 2025

    Contractors’ Insurers Failed To Show Subcontractors’ Acts Caused Water Leak

    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.