J.B.D. Construction, Inc. v. Mid-Continent Casualty Company, 2014 WL 3377690 (No. 13-10138, Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, July 11, 2014).

By Anonymous -
Insurance company for contractor has duty to defend but no duty to indemnify for settlement.

            The Court stated that the duty to defend is greater than the duty to indemnify, the insurer must defend “even if the allegations in the complaint are factually incorrect or meritless,” and doubts are resolved in favor of the insured, and then held that the allegation that there was “damage to other property” was sufficient to trigger the duty to defend.

            The Court stated the duty to indemnify is narrower than the duty to defend, is dependent on the final judgment or final resolution of the claim, and requires the insured to “demonstrate that it suffered a loss under the policy.”  It appears that the Court found no evidence in the record of “damage to other property” despite Contractor’s evidence of engineering reports in the record.


(From The Florida Bar Construction Law Committee)

Trenton H. Cotney
Florida Bar Certified Construction Lawyer
Trent Cotney, P.A.
1211 N Franklin St
Tampa, FL 33602

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Dotted Line: When Contractors Can Walk Off the Job

By -
When general contractors or subcontractors sign on to construction projects, they usually start off believing everything will run smoothly. But, during the course of the work, issues sometimes arise that force all parties to go running back to their contracts in order to evaluate their options. One of those options for construction companies is to simply stop work, but contractors need to take care when making such a big decision. “Stopping work and ultimately terminating the contract is one of the most radical things you can do,” said Joseph McManus Jr., attorney and shareholder at law firm Carlton Fields.   Luckily, most of the circumstances under which contractors are clearly entitled to stop work are included in the most popular standard forms of contracts. Nonpayment The most common reason that contractors find it necessary to stop work, McManus said, is that they haven’t been paid for approved invoices. In that scenario, he said, contractors have the ...
Read more

"Mass-timber" Sees Greater Use in Roofing and Construction Projects in Europe

By -
Image
The use of "mass-timber," or prefabricated engineered wood components is becoming more common in construction and roofing applications in Europe. In projects such as the galleria roof of a central city building in Surrey, it helps meet demand for wood structures to add visual appeal. From NRCA Trenton H. Cotney Florida Bar Certified Construction Lawyer Trent Cotney, P.A. 407 N. Howard Avenue Suite 100 Tampa, FL 33606 www.trentcotney.com
Read more