Insurer Not Obligated To Defend Landscaping Firm In Landslide Case
Wednesday, March 16th, 2022 Litigation PropertyAn insurer is not obligated to defend or indemnify a landscaping company for a catastrophic landslide that occurred at homeowners’ properties under a policy exclusion, a federal appeals court ruled Friday in affirming a lower court ruling.
A homeowner hired Sonoma, California-based JKT Associates Inc. to perform landscape work at her home in the Hidden Hills subdivision of Napa, California, in 2011, according to the ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in Atain Specialty Insurance Co. v. JKT Associates Inc. et al.
In 2019, after the property was purchased by new owners, a catastrophic landslide occurred that caused portions of the rear of the property to slide 15 feet downhill.
JKT was among the parties sued by the property owners and an adjacent property owner.
