A policy exclusion for damage caused by ‘gradual deterioration’ was held to exclude cover where a building had to be demolished by reason of foundations which disintegrated from flowing water. The building was built across a line of an old watercourse with seven natural springs in the vicinity and there was no proper drainage design. … Continue reading
A US company was sued for misappropriating trade secrets relating to a medical device and poaching a number of employees. The company was insured in terms of an advertising and personal injury section of its commercial general liability policy, and it attempted to allege that there was a claim for implicit defamation obliging the insurers … Continue reading
An exclusion for claims ‘arising out of asbestos’ was upheld by the US Third Circuit because it is unambiguous and therefore enforceable. The Appeal Court overturned a $36 million judgment against the insurer, which is only part of the policyholder’s liability for $120 million worth of asbestos-related claims. The court did not accept the argument that the … Continue reading
The UK Supreme Court examined the question whether a vessel detained in Venezuela as a result of being used by a drug cartel to smuggle cocaine strapped to the hull fell within the exclusion for ‘arrest, restraint, detainment, confiscation or expropriation … by reason of infringement of any customs … regulations’. The owners of the … Continue reading
Where a professional indemnity policy excluded claims ‘arising out of or related directly or indirectly to the insolvency of the insured’ the court absolved the insurer from liability in a claim by a financial management company that had lost money on a £200 000 investment when the issuer of a bond went insolvent. The court held … Continue reading
A New Zealand couple owned a farm in which they carried out farming activities and a landscaping business. They built and burned a fire heap on the property. Strong winds spread the embers and the fire spread rapidly onto nearby properties causing extensive damage. Their insurance policy excluded ‘legal liability arising out of or in … Continue reading
Where a motor policy excluded coverage ‘for any vehicle located inside a racing facility for the purpose of … or participating in any driving school, driver training or skills training’ the court refused the insured an indemnity to cover a crash at a motor racecourse skills-training event. The insured crashed while he was instructing a … Continue reading
The insured subcontracted a builder to build 53 prefabricated modular units for its residential blindness rehabilitation facility. The insurer denied an indemnity for water damage under a partly completed roof saying that the applicable exclusion barred coverage for ‘that particular part’ of property on which the policyholder or its subcontractors ‘are performing operations’. The units … Continue reading
A US court of appeals upheld the exclusion in a policy issued by Lloyd’s Underwriters for losses ‘caused directly or indirectly by flood’ in relation to a claim where a river basin marina lost five of its docks in a storm which generated strong winds and 18cm of rain causing the river to rise about … Continue reading
An exclusion for claims ‘arising out of asbestos’ was upheld by a US appeal court because it is unambiguous and therefore enforceable. The appeal court overturned a $36 million judgment against the insurer, which is only part of the policyholder’s liability for $120 million worth of asbestos-related claims. The court did not accept the argument that the … Continue reading
A Los Angeles court found the insurer liable for a damaged shipment of corn syrup, rejecting the defences that two exclusions for precautionary recalls and faulty workmanship resulting in goods being restored, repaired or replaced applied because the damaged corn syrup was not recalled. It was just sold for a lower price. The corn syrup … Continue reading
An Arizona appeals court has ruled that a claim by a woman who had a stroke during a fitness-club workout is not covered by the instructor’s homeowners’ insurance policy because the business exemption applied. When the member of the fitness-club sued her instructor, the instructor made a claim under the homeowners’ policy but the policy … Continue reading
Over a 150 patients claimed damages against a hospital because of an outbreak of fungal meningitis and related infections which resulted from the patients receiving injections with contaminated substances. The court held that there was no claim under the insurer’s commercial package policy based on personal injury claims because the policies excluded bodily injury ‘due … Continue reading
Traditionally, ambiguous exclusion clauses provide little or no protection because they will be interpreted narrowly and against the person who tried to exclude their liability (in Latin the contra proferentem rule). In the light of modern methods of interpretation it is doubtful that this principle of interpretation can be used in every case for anything … Continue reading
A New York Court of Appeals rejected a claim for collapse of a tower crane during Hurricane Sandy because the policy had an exclusion for ‘contracted tools, machinery, plant and equipment’. It rejected the insured’s submission that the crane was covered as a ‘temporary structure’. Readers will remember the traumatic images of the boom of … Continue reading
An insured unsuccessfully contended that the destruction of a building during a mudslide was an explosion under the policy terms. Torrential rain in Boulder, Colorado in September 2013 triggered a mudslide that cascaded down a hill and destroyed the property, leading to a loss of $1.3 million. The policy excluded losses due to water-based causes, including … Continue reading
A California company specialising in plumbing fixtures unsuccessfully sought cover under a directors and officers policy for a claim brought by three former directors based on the decline of the business because of the chief executive’s erratic behaviour. The court held that the so-called ‘insured-v-insured’ exclusion unambiguously bars coverage for a claim such as that … Continue reading
A Kentucky trucking company suffered a theft of copper shipments and the insurers rejected the claim because there was a copper exclusion in the policy. The company then sued its broker for negligently failing to notify the company about the copper exclusion in its renewed policy. The policies for the previous two years had provided … Continue reading
A Delaware judge refused to provide insurance cover for three teachers who were videotaped looking on as spectators and probably encouraging the fight whilst two toddlers were fighting each other at a day care centre. Cover was rejected on the basis of an exclusion for molestation or abuse which read ‘this insurance does not apply … Continue reading
The wife in a couple who were both dentists posted a phony social media review about a competing dentist accusing him of being unprofessional and providing terrible care. When they were sued for defamation they tried to claim an indemnity under their personal homeowners’ insurance policy. The court refused to grant them the indemnity because … Continue reading
The August 2016 first-of-its-kind judgment against South African Airways in favour of Nationwide Airlines, for damages arising from conduct that was held to be an anti-competitive exclusionary act preventing Nationwide from entering into or expanding within the travel market, raises the interesting question whether the loss is insurable by the company and the directors. SAA … Continue reading
A US federal judge has held that the insurer of a New Jersey airport owed no coverage in an underlying lawsuit stemming from injuries suffered during a skydiving accident because of the policy exclusion for injuries arising out of any parachuting activities. The parachute jumping exclusions stipulated that coverage did not include bodily injury or … Continue reading
A court in Delaware USA held that coverage for an incident where one child used a paintball gun to shoot a paintball at another child, injuring his eye, was excluded from cover under the parents’ homeowners policy. The policy covered the insured if a suit was brought ‘against the insured for damages because of bodily … Continue reading
The English Court of Appeal decided that the exception in an attorney’s professional indemnity policy against cover for trading or personal debts or breach of contract for goods or services supplied to the practice does not exclude the insurer’s liability for money owing to a legal expenses insurer for breaching their policy conditions. An After … Continue reading