Court Opinion

ID: 9796048
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:46:53.022999+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:48:43.146936
License: Public Domain

LANDAU, P. J.,
dissenting.
I respectfully disagree with the majority that what is essentially a crack between a piece of stucco and the building to which it is adhered is a “collapse” of that stucco. I do not find any support in the dictionary definitions on which the majority relies for its conclusion that an impending — but, as yet, unaccomplished — collapse is itself a collapse. Moreover, the policy itself makes plain that “settling, cracking, shrinkage, bulging or expansion” do not constitute a “collapse.” Given that such settling, cracking, shrinkage, bulging, and expanding is precisely what happened to the stucco in this case as a result of the process of hysteresis, I do not understand how the majority’s holding can be reconciled with the terms of the policy.
*196I do agree, for the reasons cogently stated by the majority, that, if there was any “collapse,” there is no evidence that it caused damage to the rest of the building. But, because I do not agree that such a collapse occurred, I would not reach that issue.