Court Opinion

ID: 9769646
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 14:57:07.522395+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:06.142685
License: Public Domain

COLEMAN, Justice
(dissenting).
The policy insures against all risks of physical loss with certain exceptions including loss caused by inherent vice. That part of the loss, resulting from water damage, ensuing from the inherent vice, is covered, provided such part of the loss would otherwise be covered under the policy. The first question to be determined is the meaning of “ensuing loss * * * caused by water damage.” The “ensuing loss” involved here is the cost of repair of the shower stall, to prevent further damage, and the cost of replacing the damaged floor covering, and rotten wood flooring. This is an ensuing loss caused by water. This type of water damage is not within exclusion “d” dealing with water damage caused by such risks as wind driven rain or flooding. Since the insurer has specifically excepted loss caused by rot, inherent vice or bulging of floors, except ensuing loss caused by water damage, this loss is clearly covered if it is a “loss otherwise covered.” It is “otherwise covered” if it is a “risk of physical loss.”
In Black’s Law Dictionary, 4th Edition, the word “risk”, as used in insurance law, is defined: “the danger or hazard of a loss of the property insured; the casualty contemplated in a contract of insurance; the degree of hazard; a specified contingency or peril; * * *”
Logically an insurance policy insuring against “all risks of physical loss” contemplates all “casualties.” Casualty is defined in Black, supra, as: “Accident; event due to sudden unexpected or unusual cause; event not to be foreseen or guarded against; *369inevitable accident; misfortune or mishap; that which comes by chance or without design. * * * ”
Most of these definitions involve some element of chance. Loss caused by an inherent defect does not. If loss caused by water damage resulting from a defective shower stall is covered, then loss caused by water damage resulting from an improperly installed roof would likewise be covered.
While I recognize that where an insurance policy is subject to more than one construction, that construction most favorable to the insured will be adopted. In this case it is my opinion that a reasonable construction of the policy would exclude liability on part of the insurer for any loss which will surely be sustained by reason of an inherent defect in the house insured.
I respectfully dissent.