{"id":903860,"date":"2025-01-23T15:06:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T22:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=903860"},"modified":"2025-01-23T15:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T22:06:07","slug":"tear-out-coverage-not-covered-under-policy-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/tear-out-coverage-not-covered-under-policy-language\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sixth District Court of Appeals Rules in Favor of the Insurance Carrier, Finding That Ensuing Water Damage is Not Covered Under the Insurance Carrier\u2019s Policy Language"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Carolin Pacheco | <a href=\"https:\/\/marshalldennehey.com\/articles\/sixth-district-court-appeals-rules-favor-insurance-carrier-finding-ensuing-water-damage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Marshall Dennehey<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This case arose out of the policyholder\u2019s ongoing plumbing issues in her home. The insured property was built in the early 1960s, and the policyholder had been experiencing a number of plumbing issues as a result of an aging cast iron drain line, which eventually corroded and deteriorated, leading to wastewater escaping and causing damage beneath the foundation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>State Farm conducted an investigation into the latest water leak claim submitted by the policyholder and determined the policy excluded coverage for the cost of accessing the leaking drain line, part of what is commonly known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/insurance-policy-tear-provision-may-require-insurance-carrier-pay-costs-repair-plumbing\/\">\u201ctear-out\u201d coverage<\/a>. This decision was based on the policy\u2019s exclusion provision concerning wear and tear, and deterioration and repeated seepage or leakage of water.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A jury initially awarded the policyholder nearly $60,000 in tear-out costs. The Sixth District Court of Appeals ultimately reversed this decision, in part, siding with State Farm\u2019s interpretation of the policy\u2019s exclusions. State Farm successfully argued the repeated seepage or leakage exclusion in its policy applied to the damages in question because the policy excluded losses resulting from gradual or repeated seepage or leakage from any plumbing system. It is noteworthy that the policyholder\u2019s own plumbing expert admitted that wastewater had intermittently escaped the corroded drain line over several months, clearly meeting the definition of repeated seepage or leakage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In reaching its decision, the court underscored that the exclusion applies regardless of whether the loss occurs abruptly or gradually. Rather, noting that what matters is whether the leak occurred over a period of time, thereby nullifying the tear-out coverage.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through this finding, the court reinforces the validity of State Farm\u2019s exclusionary language concerning tear-out and repeated seepage or leakage of water.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carolin Pacheco | Marshall Dennehey This case arose out of the policyholder\u2019s ongoing plumbing issues in her home. The insured property was built in the early 1960s, and the policyholder had been experiencing a number of plumbing issues as a result of an aging cast iron drain line, which eventually corroded and deteriorated, leading to&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/tear-out-coverage-not-covered-under-policy-language\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Sixth District Court of Appeals Rules in Favor of the Insurance Carrier, Finding That Ensuing Water Damage is Not Covered Under the Insurance Carrier\u2019s Policy Language<\/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":[10721],"tags":[9895,22,12125,496],"class_list":["post-903860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance","tag-advise-consult","tag-insurance","tag-tear-out-coverage","tag-water-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>The Sixth District Court of Appeals Rules in Favor of the Insurance Carrier, Finding That Ensuing Water Damage is Not Covered Under the Insurance Carrier\u2019s Policy Language - Advise &amp; 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