{"id":894367,"date":"2018-06-13T11:11:28","date_gmt":"2018-06-13T17:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=894367"},"modified":"2018-06-13T11:11:28","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T17:11:28","slug":"federal-court-certifies-question-regarding-collapse-connecticut-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/federal-court-certifies-question-regarding-collapse-connecticut-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Court Certifies Question Regarding Collapse to Connecticut Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jason Cleri | Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog<\/a> | June 6, 2018<\/p>\n

Last year I wrote a\u00a0blogpost\u00a0about the large class action lawsuit in Connecticut centered on the crumbling foundations due to pyrrhotite in the concrete poured by the J.J. Mottes Company in approximately 20,000 buildings across Connecticut.<\/p>\n

Recently, a federal judge has asked the Connecticut Supreme Court for a better definition of the word\u00a0collapse<\/strong><\/em>,1<\/sup>\u00a0that was given in\u00a0Beach v. Middlesex Mutual Assurance Co.<\/em>, 205 Conn. 246 (1987). In\u00a0Beach<\/em>, the Connecticut Supreme Court determined that collapse was not limited to a sudden and catastrophic nature, but, included substantial impairment of structural integrity of a building.<\/p>\n

Many of the insureds\u2019 lawsuits brought against insurance carriers due to the structural integrity of the concrete used the\u00a0Beach<\/em>\u00a0definition of collapse in their defense. The trial court noted that although highly instructive, the\u00a0Beach<\/em>\u00a0decision provides insufficient guidance and no appellate decision has squarely applied\u00a0Beach<\/em>\u00a0and arrived at a definition of \u201csubstantial impairment of structural integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three questions were presented for certification:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Is \u201csubstantial impairment of structural integrity\u201d the applicable standard for \u201ccollapse\u201d under the provision at issue?<\/li>\n
  2. If the answer to question one is yes, then what constitutes \u201csubstantial impairment of structural integrity\u201d for purposes of applying the \u201ccollapse\u201d provision of this homeowners\u2019 insurance policy.<\/li>\n
  3. Under Connecticut law, do the terms \u201cfoundation\u201d and\/or \u201cretaining wall\u201d in a homeowner insurance policy unambiguously include basement walls? If not, and if those terms are ambiguous, should extrinsic evidence as to the meaning of \u201cfoundation\u201d and\/or \u201cretaining wall\u201d be considered?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The Connecticut Supreme Court chose to certify only the second question, noting that if the term\u00a0collapse<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0is not defined, then\u00a0Beach<\/em>\u00a0is the applicable standard. With respect to the third question, Connecticut courts have \u201cconsistently rejected\u201d insurers\u2019 arguments concerning the term\u00a0foundation<\/strong><\/em>, having \u201cdetermined that those policy terms were ambiguous,\u201d and have \u201cconstrued them against\u201d the insurers.2<\/sup><\/p>\n

    Stay tuned for updates.<\/p>\n

    I leave you with a relevant quote from former country music singer David Allan Coe:<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt is not the beauty of a building you should look at; it\u2019s the construction of the foundation that will stand the test of time.\u201d<\/strong><\/em>
    \n____________________
    \n1<\/sup>\u00a0Karas v. Liberty Insurance Corp.<\/em>, No. 13-1836 (D. Conn. April 30, 2018).
    \n2<\/sup>\u00a0Jang v. Liberty Mut. Fire Ins. Co.<\/em>, 2018 WL 1505574, at *3 (D. Conn. Mar. 27, 2018);\u00a0see also, e.g.<\/em>,\u00a0Gabriel v. Liberty Mut. Fire Ins. Co.<\/em>, 2017 WL 6731713, at *2 (D. Conn. Dec. 29, 2017)\u00a0(noting prior determination \u201cthat the terms \u2018foundation\u2019 and \u2018retaining wall,\u2019 as used in the policy, were ambiguous.\u201d);\u00a0Belz v. Peerless Ins. Co.<\/em>, 46 F. Supp. 3d 157, 164 (D. Conn. 2014);\u00a0Karas v. Liberty Ins. Corp.<\/em>, 33 F. Supp. 3d 110, 115 (D. Conn. 2014)\u00a0(\u201cEach party thus has a reasonable but different interpretation of the phrases [\u2018foundation\u2019 and \u2018retaining wall\u2019] supported by dictionaries and case law, so the phrases are ambiguous, and the insurance policy should be construed against Liberty Mutual.\u201d);\u00a0Bacewicz v. NGM Ins. Co.<\/em>, 2010 WL 3023882, at *4 (D. Conn. Aug. 2, 2010) (\u201c[A] reasonab[e] jury could find that the basement walls of the Bacewiczes\u2019 house did not constitute the \u2018foundation\u2019 of the house.\u201d)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Jason Cleri | Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog | June 6, 2018 Last year I wrote a\u00a0blogpost\u00a0about the large class action lawsuit in Connecticut centered on the crumbling foundations due to pyrrhotite in the concrete poured by the J.J. Mottes Company in approximately 20,000 buildings across Connecticut. Recently, a federal judge has asked the Connecticut… Continue reading Federal Court Certifies Question Regarding Collapse to Connecticut Supreme Court<\/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],"tags":[9895,8672,8284,7853],"class_list":["post-894367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-defects","tag-advise-consult","tag-collapse","tag-concrete","tag-connecticut","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nFederal Court Certifies Question Regarding Collapse to Connecticut Supreme Court - 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