{"id":895803,"date":"2019-04-25T11:25:09","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T17:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=895803"},"modified":"2019-04-25T11:25:14","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T17:25:14","slug":"insurer-must-defend-contractor-despite-your-work-exclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/insurer-must-defend-contractor-despite-your-work-exclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Eleventh Circuit Rules That Insurer Must Defend Contractor Despite \u201cYour Work\u201d Exclusion, Where Damage Timing Unclear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Michael S. Levine | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lexology.com\/library\/detail.aspx?g=00343b02-66d2-48c4-b560-01f812b6f328&amp;utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&amp;utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&amp;utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&amp;utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2019-04-18&amp;utm_term=\">Hunton Andrews Kurth<\/a> | April 16, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Eleventh Circuit has\u00a0reversed\u00a0an insurer\u2019s award of summary judgment after finding that uncertainty about when the alleged property damage occurred raised questions about whether the damage came within the scope of the \u201cYour Work\u201d exclusion. More specifically, the court found unclear whether the damage occurred before or after the contractor abandoned the job, thereby triggering an exception to the \u201cYour Work\u201d exclusion for damage to work that had \u201cnot yet been completed or abandoned.\u201d The decision illustrates how timing can be a critical factor when it comes to triggering coverage for work and completed operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;<em>Southern-Owners Insurance Company v. MAC Contractors of Florida, LLC<\/em>, a pair of trustees hired MAC Contractors (doing business as KJIMS Construction) to serve as the general contractor for a custom residence. After construction began, disputes between the trustees and KJIMS caused the contractor to abandon the job before completing the project. The trustees followed with a lawsuit alleging, among other things, that KJIMS had damaged wood floors and a metal roof, which KJIMS had promised to remediate but never did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>KJIMS\u2019s general liability insurer, Southern-Owners, initially agreed to defend the lawsuit, but later withdrew its defense citing the policy\u2019s \u201cYour Work\u201d exclusion. The insurer sought a declaration that the policy\u2019s \u201cYour Work\u201d exclusion barred coverage because the alleged property damage arose out of KJIMS\u2019s abandoned work. According to its terms, the \u201cYour Work\u201d exclusion bars coverage for \u201cproperty damage to your work arising out of it or any part of it and included in the products-completed operations hazard.\u201d The \u201cproducts-completed operations hazard\u201d was defined to mean all \u201cbodily injury and property damage occurring away from premises you own or rent and arising out of your product or your work except . . . [w]ork that has not yet been completed or abandoned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On summary judgment, the district court agreed with the insurer and held that the exclusion barred coverage for property damage once the insured abandons the project on which it was working. But on appeal, the Eleventh Circuit reversed. The panel reasoned that the exclusion does not bar coverage for property damage that occurs before an insured\u2019s work has been abandoned. The court then held that although the complaint alleged that KJIMS abandoned its work, the complaint did not clearly allege when the property damage occurred and could be reasonably construed to allege that the damage occurred before KJIMS abandoned the work. As a result, the Eleventh Circuit held that the exclusion did not clearly bar coverage and, thus, the insurer had a duty to defend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is widely understood that policy-based ambiguities often result in a construction favoring the insured and coverage. However, factual ambiguities in the claim itself may also result in sufficient uncertainty to trigger an insurer\u2019s duty to defend, even against unambiguous policy language, since the insurer must defend if there is a potential for coverage. The timing of critical events is one area that is especially susceptible to factual uncertainty. Insureds should therefore pay close attention to the alleged timing of such events and be ready to hold their insurers to their broad duty to defend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael S. Levine | Hunton Andrews Kurth | April 16, 2019 The Eleventh Circuit has\u00a0reversed\u00a0an insurer\u2019s award of summary judgment after finding that uncertainty about when the alleged property damage occurred raised questions about whether the damage came within the scope of the \u201cYour Work\u201d exclusion. More specifically, the court found unclear whether the damage&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/insurer-must-defend-contractor-despite-your-work-exclusion\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Eleventh Circuit Rules That Insurer Must Defend Contractor Despite \u201cYour Work\u201d Exclusion, Where Damage Timing Unclear<\/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":[9914,9721],"tags":[7757,9895,23,156],"class_list":["post-895803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance-coverage","category-property-damage","tag-your-work-exclusion","tag-advise-consult","tag-insurance-coverage","tag-property-damage-claim","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>Eleventh Circuit Rules That Insurer Must Defend Contractor Despite \u201cYour Work\u201d Exclusion, Where Damage Timing Unclear - Advise &amp; 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