Opinion ID: 1239373
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Circuit Court's Summary Judgment Order

Text: We first address the circuit court's order. While the circuit court's letter ruling and subsequent order are less than perfectly clear, it appears that the circuit court concluded that the boulders that damaged the plaintiffs' homes arose from a rockfall rather than a landslide. Based in part upon the expert testimony in the record, the circuit court construed the policy language strictly against the insurance carriers and found that the language therein did not include or contemplate a rockfall[.] The circuit court further referred to expert testimony, apparently to hold that the rockfall was the result of weathering as opposed to erosion, and that the plaintiffs were therefore covered under their homeowners' policies. Defendants Allstate and State Farm first contend that the circuit court erred in finding that a rockfall is not included within the definition of landslide. The defendants cite to Dupps v. Travelers Ins. Co., 80 F.3d 312 (8th Cir.1996), where the court, addressing a landslide triggered by a sinkhole, stated that [t]he ordinary meaning of the term `landslide' includes rocks falling down a bluff.... [T]he only reasonable interpretation of the policy prohibits recovery for rocks which have fallen.... 80 F.3d at 314. Similarly, the court in Syllabus Point 4 of Olmstead v. Lumbermens Mut. Ins. Co., 22 Ohio St.2d 212, 259 N.E.2d 123 (1970) concluded that [t]he common ordinary meaning of the word `landslide' is a sliding down of a mass of soil or rock on a steep slope. We agree with the defendants that the circuit court erred. We hold that the plain, ordinary meaning of the word landslide in an insurance policy contemplates a sliding down of a mass of soil or rock on or from a steep slope. See generally, 13A G. Couch, Couch on Insurance 2d 48:180 (1982) (What Constitutes a Landslide). Allstate and State Farm also argue that the circuit court erred in concluding that weathering is different from erosion, and therefore any loss resulting from weathering is not excluded from coverage. The Dictionary of Geological Terms defines erosion as the group of processes whereby earth or rock material is loosened or dissolved and removed from any part of the earth's surface, specifying that it includes the processes of weathering, solution, corrosion and transportation. The American Heritage Dictionary also includes within its definition of erosion the natural processes, including weathering, dissolution, abrasion, corrosion and transportation, by which material is removed from the earth's surface. We again agree that the circuit court erred. We hold that the plain, ordinary meaning of the word erosion in an insurance policy contemplates a natural process that includes weathering, dissolution, abrasion, corrosion and transportation whereby material is removed from the earth's surface. Applying these definitions to the circuit court's order, it is clear that the circuit court's granting of partial summary judgment to the plaintiffs was incorrect. A naturally-occurring rockfall is included within the common definition of landslide, and the process of weathering to rock is included as a component of the natural process of erosion. We further hold that the circuit court erred in finding that as a matter of law coverage existed under the policies by applying these definitions. However, as discussed below substantial questions of fact remain to be resolved concerning the existence of coverage. B.