{"id":891582,"date":"2017-01-31T16:04:11","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T23:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=891582"},"modified":"2017-01-31T16:04:11","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T23:04:11","slug":"district-connecticut-reaffirms-definition-collapse-unambiguous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/district-connecticut-reaffirms-definition-collapse-unambiguous\/","title":{"rendered":"District of Connecticut Reaffirms That Definition Of \u201cCollapse\u201d Is Unambiguous"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Timothy Larsen | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propertyinsurancecoverageinsights.com\/2017\/01\/district-of-connecticut-reaffirms-that-definition-of-collapse-is-unambiguous\/\" target=\"_blank\">Property Insurance Coverage Insights<\/a> | January 25, 2017<\/p>\n<p>The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut recently reaffirmed its ruling that the term \u201ccollapse,\u201d as defined by a homeowners insurance policy, is unambiguous and that the policy in question did not provide coverage for the alleged \u201ccracking\u201d and\/or \u201cbulging\u201d of the insureds\u2019 foundation walls.\u00a0 In Alexander v. Gen. Ins. Co. of Am., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5963 (D. Conn. Jan. 17, 2017), the court denied the plaintiffs\u2019 motion for reconsideration, rejecting their argument that the policy\u2019s definition of collapse is ambiguous. The court had previously granted the insurer\u2019s motion to dismiss on the grounds that the policy\u2019s definition of \u201ccollapse\u201d is unambiguous and the policy\u2019s language expressly excludes coverage for cracking or bulging.<\/p>\n<p>The plaintiffs owned a home insured by the defendant. They claimed that, in May of 2015, they discovered a series of horizontal and vertical cracks in their basement walls. They eventually learned that this condition was caused by pyrrhotite, a mineral contained in certain concrete aggregate during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The plaintiffs made a claim for coverage under their insurance policy, and the defendant denied their claim on the basis that the condition of the plaintiffs\u2019 foundation walls did not constitute a \u201ccollapse\u201d as defined by the policy.<\/p>\n<p>The policy provided limited additional coverage for \u201ccollapse,\u201d defined as \u201can abrupt falling down or caving in of a building or any part of a building . . . .\u201d <em>Id<\/em>. at *2. The policy also stated that a \u201cbuilding or any part of a building that is standing is not considered to be in a state of collapse even if it shows evidence of cracking, bulging, sagging, bending, leaning, settling, shrinkage or expansion.\u201d <em>Id<\/em>. at *3. The plaintiffs argued that a \u201ccaving in\u201d must be something other than a \u201cfalling down\u201d or else the term would be superfluous. <em>See<\/em> 7\/7\/2016 Motion Hr\u2019g Tr. at 3. The plaintiffs further argued that the term \u201ccaving in\u201d is defined by a number of dictionaries to mean yielding or submitting to pressure, and that the inward bulging of the foundation walls showed that the walls had yielded or submitted to pressure. <em>Id<\/em>. The court rejected this argument, noting that the policy\u2019s collapse definition explicitly excluded \u201cbulging.\u201d <em>Id<\/em>. at 3-4.<\/p>\n<p>The court found that the plaintiffs failed to allege facts demonstrating that either a falling down <em>or<\/em> caving in had occurred. <em>Alexander<\/em>, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS at *6. Noting that the plaintiffs did not present any evidence or controlling case law that would cause the court to reconsider its prior decision, the court held that no collapse had occurred within the meaning of the policy and denied the plaintiffs\u2019 motion for reconsideration.<\/p>\n<p>This decision may be useful to insurers litigating the issue of the meaning of \u201ccollapse\u201d in property insurance policies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Timothy Larsen | Property Insurance Coverage Insights | January 25, 2017 The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut recently reaffirmed its ruling that the term \u201ccollapse,\u201d as defined by a homeowners insurance policy, is unambiguous and that the policy in question did not provide coverage for the alleged \u201ccracking\u201d and\/or \u201cbulging\u201d of&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/district-connecticut-reaffirms-definition-collapse-unambiguous\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">District of Connecticut Reaffirms That Definition Of \u201cCollapse\u201d Is Unambiguous<\/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":[4,3,9721],"tags":[9895,8672,23,56],"class_list":["post-891582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-defects","category-insurance-claims","category-property-damage","tag-advise-consult","tag-collapse","tag-insurance-coverage","tag-property-damage","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>District of Connecticut Reaffirms That Definition Of \u201cCollapse\u201d Is Unambiguous - Advise &amp; 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