{"id":2123,"date":"2013-09-18T09:25:43","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T15:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=2123"},"modified":"2013-09-18T09:25:43","modified_gmt":"2013-09-18T15:25:43","slug":"a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cautionary Insurance Tale for Project Owners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Stan Martin &#8211; September 4, 2013<\/p>\n<p>The contractor\u2019s excavator digging the foundation for a new building undermines the abutting building, which collapses, and a worker is injured.\u00a0 In the subsequent lawsuits, one by the abutter and one by the injured worker, the project owner tenders the defense to its GL carrier.\u00a0 The carrier eventually gets a court decision, that there is no coverage due to the subsurface soil movement exclusion.\u00a0 In the circumstances of a clear accident, and clear personal injury and damage to property, is this correct?\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n<p>The appellate decision (subscription required) in this New Jersey case[1] does not explain why the owner had to defend itself and was not able to insist on a defense by the contractor or its subcontractor.\u00a0 But there was common ownership of the project owner entity and the contractor, and one can only surmise that the apparent absence of contractual indemnity or insurance obligations arose from this relationship.<\/p>\n<p>The critical point is that standard exclusions in project owner policies \u2013 for damages arising from \u201cmovement of land or earth,\u201d for personal injury claims of a contractor\/subcontractor employee, and for property damage arising from work of a contractor\/subcontractor \u2013 will be upheld.\u00a0 In the absence of a builder\u2019s risk policy or other specific coverage or endorsement, project owners continue to rely on the indemnity and insurance requirements of standard form contracts.\u00a0 If there is no indemnity obligation, if the project owner is not an additional insured on the contractor\u2019s policy, and if the owner is relying upon typical GL and property coverage, that owner will be defending itself with its own money from personal injury and property damage claims arising from construction.<\/p>\n<p>[1] Essex Insurance Company v. New Jersey Pan-African Chamber of Commerce &amp; Industry, Inc., 2013 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 2119 (Aug. 27, 2013).<\/p>\n<p>via <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/duanemorrisconstructionlawblog\/entry\/a_cautionary_insurance_tale_for#page=1\">A Cautionary Insurance Tale for Project Owners : Duane Morris Construction Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stan Martin &#8211; September 4, 2013 The contractor\u2019s excavator digging the foundation for a new building undermines the abutting building, which collapses, and a worker is injured.\u00a0 In the subsequent lawsuits, one by the abutter and one by the injured worker, the project owner tenders the defense to its GL carrier.\u00a0 The carrier eventually gets&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">A Cautionary Insurance Tale for Project Owners<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[172,3],"tags":[12,23,361],"class_list":["post-2123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-law-2","category-insurance-claims","tag-construction","tag-insurance-coverage","tag-personal-injury","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Cautionary Insurance Tale for Project Owners - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Cautionary Insurance Tale for Project Owners - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stan Martin &#8211; September 4, 2013 The contractor\u2019s excavator digging the foundation for a new building undermines the abutting building, which collapses, and a worker is injured.\u00a0 In the subsequent lawsuits, one by the abutter and one by the injured worker, the project owner tenders the defense to its GL carrier.\u00a0 The carrier eventually gets&hellip; Continue reading A Cautionary Insurance Tale for Project Owners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-18T15:25:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\"},\"headline\":\"A Cautionary Insurance Tale for Project Owners\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-18T15:25:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/\"},\"wordCount\":318,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"construction\",\"insurance coverage\",\"Personal Injury\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Construction Law\",\"Insurance Claims\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/\",\"name\":\"A Cautionary Insurance Tale for Project Owners - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-18T15:25:43+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"description\":\"Construction Expert Witnesses\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Advise & Consult\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"width\":162,\"height\":75,\"caption\":\"Advise & Consult\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Cautionary Insurance Tale for Project Owners - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Cautionary Insurance Tale for Project Owners - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","og_description":"Stan Martin &#8211; September 4, 2013 The contractor\u2019s excavator digging the foundation for a new building undermines the abutting building, which collapses, and a worker is injured.\u00a0 In the subsequent lawsuits, one by the abutter and one by the injured worker, the project owner tenders the defense to its GL carrier.\u00a0 The carrier eventually gets&hellip; Continue reading A Cautionary Insurance Tale for Project Owners","og_url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/","og_site_name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","article_published_time":"2013-09-18T15:25:43+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adviseconsult","twitter_site":"@adviseconsult","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7"},"headline":"A Cautionary Insurance Tale for Project Owners","datePublished":"2013-09-18T15:25:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/"},"wordCount":318,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["construction","insurance coverage","Personal Injury"],"articleSection":["Construction Law","Insurance Claims"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/","name":"A Cautionary Insurance Tale for Project Owners - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-09-18T15:25:43+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/a-cautionary-insurance-tale-for-project-owners\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"Construction Expert Witnesses","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Advise & Consult","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","width":162,"height":75,"caption":"Advise & Consult"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com"]}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ztG6-yf","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}