By Scott Turner
A state Supreme Court recently ruled that property damage to a policyholder’s own work cannot qualify as an “occurrence” under that insured contractor’s commercial general liability (CGL) policy. Nationally, the courts are deeply divided on this issue, but the recent trend has shifted away from the state’s position.
The ConstructionPro Week summary of this case is available to ConstructionPro Network members and includes:
- The citation for the case
- The details of the case
- Author’s commentary
- A link to the complete PDF copy of the original opinion
Here is a portion of the author's commentary:
"Two years ago, in Town & Country Property, L.L.C. v. Amerisure Ins. Co., 111 So.3d 699, 2011 WL 5009777 (2011), Alabama drew a firm distinction on the “occurrence” issue between coverage for damage to an insured’s faulty work itself and damage that faulty work does to other property. It found that the latter constituted an “occurrence” and the former could not. However, the court has never explained why the same act that causes both forms of property damage does not qualify as an “accident” when it harms the insured’s own work but does qualify as an “accident” when it causes harm to the other property."
