{"id":906239,"date":"2026-10-14T14:08:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T20:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=906239"},"modified":"2026-10-14T14:08:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T20:08:19","slug":"fortuitous-loss-defined-by-arizona-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/fortuitous-loss-defined-by-arizona-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Supreme Court Defines &#8220;Fortuitous Loss&#8221; in Insurance Coverage Disputes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Jared Bruttig and Andrew McNichol | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huschblackwell.com\/newsandinsights\/arizona-supreme-court-defines-fortuitous-loss-in-insurance-coverage-disputes-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Husch Blackwell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a significant decision for insurers and policyholders, on September 1, 2026, the Arizona Supreme Court in <em>Industrial Park Center, LLC v. Great Northern Insurance Co.<\/em> defined what constitutes a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-reverses-summary-judgment-for-fortuitous-loss\/\">fortuitous loss<\/a>\u201d in an insurance policy in response to a certified question from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Under Arizona law, a loss must be fortuitous to be insurable. The court held that a fortuitous loss is one that, to the parties\u2019 knowledge, is dependent on chance. Conversely, a loss is non-fortuitous, and therefore not covered, if the policyholder knew, at the time the policy took effect, that the loss-causing event had already happened, was already happening, or was certain to happen because no material contingency remained between the facts known to the insured and the loss-causing event. The court adopted a subjective knowledge standard based on the policyholder\u2019s actual knowledge at the time coverage attaches. The court rejected an objective standard adopted by other jurisdictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For members of the insurance industry in Arizona, <em>Industrial Park Center<\/em> resolves a longstanding jurisprudential tension by defining both fortuitous and non-fortuitous loss. The definitions provide a clearer standard with respect to categorizing insurable and uninsurable loss. However, the facts of each loss, including the terms of the policy contract and the nature of the loss, remain highly relevant to any coverage dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The court clarified that insurers retain several mechanisms for managing exposure. Insurers may assess risk during underwriting and decline coverage or include specific, clearly communicated exclusions in the policy. In light of this decision, insurers may evaluate their underwriting practices and standard policy forms to evaluate risk exposure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This decision will shape future insurance coverage disputes in Arizona, and insurers and policyholders alike should monitor how courts apply the fortuitous loss standard from <em>Industrial Park Center<\/em> in future cases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The opinion is available at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azcourts.gov\/Portals\/0\/OpinionFiles\/Supreme\/2026\/CV250330CQ.pdf.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">https:\/\/www.azcourts.gov\/Portals\/0\/OpinionFiles\/Supreme\/2026\/CV250330CQ.pdf.<\/a><\/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 801.641.8304, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jared Bruttig and Andrew McNichol | Husch Blackwell In a significant decision for insurers and policyholders, on September 1, 2026, the Arizona Supreme Court in Industrial Park Center, LLC v. Great Northern Insurance Co. defined what constitutes a \u201cfortuitous loss\u201d in an insurance policy in response to a certified question from the U.S. Court of&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/fortuitous-loss-defined-by-arizona-supreme-court\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Arizona Supreme Court Defines &#8220;Fortuitous Loss&#8221; in Insurance Coverage Disputes<\/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":[9895,153,12377,22],"class_list":["post-906239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance","tag-advise-consult","tag-arizona","tag-fortuitous-loss","tag-insurance","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>Arizona Supreme Court Defines &quot;Fortuitous Loss&quot; in Insurance Coverage Disputes - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/fortuitous-loss-defined-by-arizona-supreme-court\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arizona Supreme Court Defines &quot;Fortuitous Loss&quot; in Insurance Coverage Disputes - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jared Bruttig and Andrew McNichol | Husch Blackwell In a significant decision for insurers and policyholders, on September 1, 2026, the Arizona Supreme Court in Industrial Park Center, LLC v. 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