Kaady v. Mid-Continent Cas. Co.

Kaady, a mason, filed suit against Mid-Continent after Mid-Continent denied Kaady's claim for indemnification under its commercial liability insurance policy. The district court granted summary judgment to Mid-Continent based on the ground that Kaady's claim was barred by the policy's known-loss provision. The court concluded that MidContinent has offered no reason to treat the insured’s work and the work of others as different property in every provision of the policy except the known-loss provision. Thus, the known-loss provision also distinguishes between them. The insured’s knowledge of damage to his own work doesn’t automatically constitute knowledge of damage to the components of the structure furnished by others. Further, an insured’s knowledge of one type of damage to property doesn’t automatically constitute knowledge of any and all damage to the property; the claimed damage must be related to the known damage. In this case, Kaady’s knowledge of the cracks in the masonry before he bought the policy doesn’t constitute knowledge of the claimed “property damage” to the structural components. The court concluded that the correct inquiry is whether the claimed damage to the structural components was a “continuation, change or resumption” of the cracks. If it was, Kaady’s knowledge of the cracks would bar coverage of the claimed damage; if not, his knowledge of the cracks wouldn’t bar coverage. In this case, without any record evidence connecting the cracks in the masonry that Kaady observed before he bought the policy to the damage to the wooden components for which Kaady claims coverage, summary judgment was inappropriate. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded. View "Kaady v. Mid-Continent Cas. Co." on Justia Law