Recent Rulings Create Greater Inconsistency Among California Appellate Districts Regarding Application of “Faulty Workmanship” Exclusions to Construction Defect Cases

Two recent California appellate court opinions have interpreted “faulty workmanship” exclusions as they apply to construction defect lawsuits. These exclusions are standard ISO exclusions in commercial general liability policies that exclude coverage for property damage to: (1) “that particular part of real property on which you or any contractors or subcontractors working directly or indirectly on your behalf are performing operations, if the ‘property damage’ arises out of those operations” (exclusion j(5)); (2) “that particular part of any property that must be restored, repaired or replaced because ‘your work’ was incorrectly performed

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California Court of Appeal Addresses Horizontal Exhaustion Applied to Excess Coverage

On August 31, 2017, the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, issued its long awaited decision in Montrose Chemical Corp. of California v. Superior Court (Canadian Universal), Case No. B272387.  The issue before the Court concerned the sequence in which an insured may access its excess liability policies to respond to long tail environmental liabilities.

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