Gorfinkel Obtains Summary Judgment in Connecticut Case

Paul Gorfinkel obtained a second summary judgment in favor of our insurer client in a series of high-profile cases in Connecticut.  The cases involve claims of coverage, under first-party homeowners policies, for private homes whose concrete basement walls exhibit pattern cracking.  These cases are “high profile” because there are hundreds of homes with cracking concrete basement walls in Northeastern Connecticut, and the problem has been addressed in the news media and by the state government.

The policyholder in this case sought first-party coverage under the “collapse” provisions of the policy.  In a similar case last year, Paul obtained summary judgment for our client, in what was then only the third such case to go to judgment.  Paul has now obtained the same result in another case, which involves similar but not identical policy language.  Once again, the court found that the cracking did not amount to “collapse” under the policy, and this time also concluded that the loss did not take place while our client’s policy was in effect.  The court granted judgment to our client.