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Massachusetts Appeals Court Gets It Right – Mostly

Hot on the heels of the Federal Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in MTI, Inc. v. Employers Insurance Company of Wausau, __ F.3d __, 2019 WL 321423 (10th Cir. 2019) (about which I wrote earlier this month), the Appeals Court of Massachusetts also found that the phrase “that particular part” as used in exclusions j(5) and j(6) in the CGL policy must be applied narrowly. In All America Ins. Co. v. Lampasona Concrete Corp., 95 Mass. App. Ct. 79 (2019), the court held that damage caused to an underlying vapor barrier and a tile and carpet finish applied on top of the concrete floor slab poured by Lampasona was not excluded from coverage by the j(6) exclusion in the Lampasona’s policy. The court found that Lampasona did not install the vapor barrier or the tile/carpet, so they were not “that particular part” on which Lampasona was working.Continue Reading “That Particular Part” – Yet More

We do not often write about coverage opinions from jurisdictions as far away as Oklahoma; however, a recent case from the Federal Tenth Circuit looked at one of our favorite topics and came out with a much better reasoned opinion than recent decisions from the Ninth Circuit.

I’ve written before on the topic of the meaning of “that particular part” as the phrase is used in exclusions j(5) and j(6) of the Commercial General Liability (“CGL”) policy. The “j” exclusions exclude coverage for damage to certain property. Specifically, the j(5) and (6) exclusions state that the insurance does not apply to:

(5) That particular part of real property on which you or any contractors or subcontractors working directly indirectly on your behalf are performing operations, if the “property damage” arises out of those operations; or

(6) That particular part of any property that must be restored, repaired or replaced because “your work” was incorrectly performed on it.

The part of these exclusions that some courts consistently get wrong is the meaning of the phrase “that particular part.” In particular, in June 2017 I wrote about the way the Ninth Circuit (supposedly applying California law) has on several occasions ignored the insurance industry’s own explanation of the meaning of the phrase “that particular part” and applied the exclusion to the entire project a contractor was working on.
Continue Reading The 10th Circuit Correctly Construes “That Particular Part” Narrowly

image: Are you Covered?Insurance recovery partner Tyler Gerking and I have co-authored an article examining two recent cases from separate California state courts that we feel correctly interpret the phrase “that particular part” as it applies to certain CGL policy exclusions, and apply it in its intended narrow sense. The rulings in Pulte Home Corp. v. American Safety…

In May, California’s Second Appellate District affirmed a summary ruling that a Commercial General Liability insurer did not have a duty to defend a subcontractor who supplied faulty “seismic tie hooks” that were encased in concrete shear walls.  The case is Regional Steel Corporation v. Liberty Surplus Insurance Corporation, Cal. Ct. App. 2d Dist. B245961, and the court has just granted Liberty’s request to certify the case for publication. 

The Second Appellate District declined to follow the “incorporation doctrine,” adopted by the First Appellate District in cases such as Armstrong World Industries, Inc. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 45 Cal.App.4th 1 (1st Dist. 1996), Shade Foods, Inc. v. Innovative Products Sales & Marketing, Inc., 78 Cal.App.4th 847 (2000).  At issue in Armstrong was the cost of removing asbestos-containing building materials, which had been installed in larger structures.  At issue in Shade Foods was a supply of ground almonds that was contaminated with wood chips, but had been incorporated into “nut clusters” for breakfast cereal.  In both cases, the First Appellate District held that the mere incorporation of these faulty products or material into third-party property constituted covered “property damage.” Continue Reading Newly-Published Regional Steel Case Raises More Questions Than It Answers

A new case from Oregon deals with a recurring problem in construction defect litigation—the absence of clear dates in the complaint regarding when damage is alleged to have occurred. Frequently, a plaintiff will allege that defects in a construction project have caused property damage to other elements of the project, but the complaint is often…

In Clarendon America Insurance Company v. North American Capacity Insurance Company, E048176, 4th Dist. Ct. App. (Super. Ct. No. CIVRS701868), a new California Court of Appeal decision, the Fourth Appellate District has rejected an insurer’s attempt to apply multiple self-insured retentions to a single lawsuit.

Clarendon America Insurance Company (“Clarendon”) and North American Capacity…

Adequate preparation is essential for any mediation, and mediations involving insurance coverage issues are no exception.  Whether the focus of the mediation is the insurance coverage dispute itself, or whether the insurer is attending a mediation of the underlying action (with an expectation that it will fund any settlement), the insured can and should take…

A recent California Supreme Court decision, 21st Century Insurance Co. v. Superior Court (Quintana), S154790 (Aug. 24, 2009), clarifies the rules governing an insurer’s right to reimbursement for payments to its insured, after the insured obtains a recovery from the responsible third party.  The Court held that while the insured has right to be…

Construction defect coverage litigation has been declining over the years.  The building booms of the late 80s and 90s resulted in a boom of construction defect litigation too.  Coinciding nicely with the introduction of the 1986 ISO form policy with new wording, insurers found themselves paying for a lot of defective construction claims.  Since then…

In a prior post, I discussed the widespread confusion over the meaning and use of certificates of insurance, and the importance of obtaining an additional insured endorsement.  Another problem faced by additional insureds is the scope of coverage under such endorsements.  Up until the early 1990s, additional insured endorsements were generally available which expressly…