{"id":897270,"date":"2020-04-01T11:49:54","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T17:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=897270"},"modified":"2020-04-01T11:49:57","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T17:49:57","slug":"full-dismissal-coverage-claim-catastrophic-property-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/full-dismissal-coverage-claim-catastrophic-property-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Leveraging the 50-State Initiative, Connecticut and Maine Team Secure Full Dismissal of Coverage Claim for Catastrophic Property Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Regen O&#8217;Malley | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grinsurancecoveragelawblog.com\/leveraging-the-50-state-initiative-connecticut-and-maine-team-secure-full-dismissal-of-coverage-claim-for-catastrophic-property-loss\/\">Insurance Coverage Law Blog<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On behalf of Gordon &amp; Rees\u2019 surplus lines insurer client, Hartford insurance coverage attorneys&nbsp;<strong>Dennis Brown<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Joseph Blyskal<\/strong>, and&nbsp;<strong>Regen O\u2019Malley<\/strong>, with the assistance of associates&nbsp;<strong>Kelcie Reid<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Alexandria McFarlane<\/strong>, and&nbsp;<strong>Justyn Stokely<\/strong>, and Maine counsel&nbsp;<strong>Lauren Thomas<\/strong>, secured a full dismissal of a $15 million commercial property loss claim before the Maine Business and Consumer Court on January 23, 2020. The insured, a wood pellet manufacturer, sustained catastrophic fire loss to its plant in 2018 \u2013 just one day after its surplus lines policy expired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following the insurer\u2019s declination of coverage for the loss, the wood pellet manufacturer brought suit against both its agent, claiming it had failed to timely secure property coverage, as well as the insurer, alleging that it had had failed to comply with Maine\u2019s statutory notice requirements. The surplus lines insurer agreed to extend the prior policy several times by endorsement, but declined to do so again. Notably, the insured alleged that the agent received written notice of the non-renewal prior to the policy\u2019s expiration 13 days before the policy\u2019s expiration. However, the insured (as well as the agent by way of a cross-claim) asserted that the policy remained effective at the time of the loss as the insured did not receive direct notice of the decision not to renew coverage and notice to the agent was not timely. Although Maine\u2019s Attorney General and Superintendent intervened in support of the insured\u2019s and agent\u2019s argument that the statute\u2019s notice provision applied such that coverage would still be owed under the expired policy, Gordon &amp; Rees convinced the Court otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At issue, specifically, was whether the alleged violation of the 14-day notice provision in Section 2009-A of the Surplus Lines Law (24-A M.R.S. \u00a7 2009-A), which governs the \u201ccancellation and nonrenewal\u201d of surplus lines policies, required coverage notwithstanding the expiration of the policy. The insured, the agent, and the State of Maine intervenors argued that \u201ccancellation or nonrenewal\u201d was sufficient to trigger the statute\u2019s notice requirement, and thus Section 2009-A required the insurer to notify the insured directly of nonrenewal. In its motion to dismiss, Gordon &amp; Rees argued on behalf of its client that Section 2009-A requires both \u201ccancellation and nonrenewal\u201d in order for the statute to apply. Since there was no cancellation in this case \u2013 only nonrenewal \u2013 Gordon &amp; Rees argued that Section 2009-A is inapt and that the insurer is not obligated to provide the manufacturer with notice of nonrenewal. Alternatively, it argued that the statute is unconstitutionally vague and unenforceable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Court agreed with Gordon &amp; Rees\u2019 client that the statue is unambiguous because the terms \u201ccancellation and nonrenewal\u201d are not \u201cmutually exclusive,\u201d as was argued by the insured, agent and State intervenors. In doing so, the Court held that it was not bound by the definitions of \u201ccancellation\u201d and \u201cnon-renewal\u201d found in Maine\u2019s personal lines statutes (the definitions there expressly do not apply) and must interpret those terms based on their plain and common meanings. Based on this, the Court held: \u201cthe phrase \u2018cancellation and non-renewal\u2019 refers to the termination of a surplus lines insurance policy prior to the end of the policy period, with a failure to renew the policy.\u201d The Court dismissed the complaint and cross-claim as no cancellation occurred, and the statute does not apply. Accordingly, there was no need to reach the arguments regarding constitutional infirmity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Regen O&#8217;Malley | Insurance Coverage Law Blog On behalf of Gordon &amp; Rees\u2019 surplus lines insurer client, Hartford insurance coverage attorneys&nbsp;Dennis Brown,&nbsp;Joseph Blyskal, and&nbsp;Regen O\u2019Malley, with the assistance of associates&nbsp;Kelcie Reid,&nbsp;Alexandria McFarlane, and&nbsp;Justyn Stokely, and Maine counsel&nbsp;Lauren Thomas, secured a full dismissal of a $15 million commercial property loss claim before the Maine Business and&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/full-dismissal-coverage-claim-catastrophic-property-loss\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Leveraging the 50-State Initiative, Connecticut and Maine Team Secure Full Dismissal of Coverage Claim for Catastrophic Property Loss<\/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":[11015],"tags":[9895,11125,10904],"class_list":["post-897270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-claims","tag-advise-consult","tag-catastrophic-property-loss","tag-insurance-coverage-claims","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>Leveraging the 50-State Initiative, Connecticut and Maine Team Secure Full Dismissal of Coverage Claim for Catastrophic Property Loss - Advise &amp; 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