BROADCASTS.com

b'

Coverage Limited to What the Insured Pays For at Inception\\n\\nPost 4691\\n\\nThe Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals was asked to resolve whether two \\nresidential homes destroyed by a fire while under construction were \\ncovered under an insurance policy (the "Policy") issued by Travelers \\nProperty Casualty Company of America ("Travelers") to its named insured,\\n Talcon Group LLC ("Talcon"). Talcon is an underground utility \\ncontractor for sewer, storm drains, and treatment plants and never told \\nTravelers it was building two residential buildings.\\n\\nIn Travelers Property Casualty Company Of America v. Talcon Group LLC, \\nNo. 22-13547, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit (December\\n 20, 2023) the Eleventh Circuit decided the extent of the coverage \\navailable to Talcon.\\n\\nTWO RESIDENTIAL HOMES\\n\\nTalcon was to benefit from the sale of the two residential homes by \\nbecoming a "local vendor" in the county where the homes were being \\nconstructed, entitling it to a 5% advantage with other contractors when \\nbidding on future projects in the county.\\n\\n\\nWildfire Peril\\n\\nIn May 2020, a wildfire completely destroyed the two residential homes. \\nAt that time, the residential homes were mostly complete but did not \\nhave certificates of occupancy.\\n\\nTHE POLICY\\n\\nIn 2019\\xa0 Talcon, through an insurance agent, submitted a \'"Commercial \\nInsurance Application" with Travelers. Talcon\'s application was for a \\nrenewal of a 2018 policy with Travelers. In an application field titled \\n"Description of Primary Operations," Talcon listed "[u]nderground \\nutility contractor."\\n\\nTravelers\\xa0 covered "Installation" property from direct physical loss or \\ndamage. The Policy "Definitions" section defined "Installation" as \\n"[p]roperty described in the Declarations under \'Installation\' owned by \\nyou or property of others for which you are legally liable, that you or \\nyour subcontractors will install, erect or fabricate at the job site.\'"\\n\\nDISCUSSION\\n\\nUnder Florida law every insurance contract shall be construed according \\nto the entirety of its terms and conditions as set forth in the policy \\nand as amplified, extended, or modified by any application therefor.\\n\\nWhile Rick and Zack testified that Talcon constructed multiple \\nresidential homes in recent years, Talcon\'s renewal application did not \\ninclude this past residential work or indicate the prospect of future \\nresidential construction. Even though Talcon had begun constructing the \\ntwo residential homes at the time of the renewal application, it \\nmisrepresented to Travelers that it was not engaged in any residential \\nconstruction. Talcon, in fact, stated that 0% of its current work was \\n"Residential" and 100% was "Municipal/Government."\\n\\nZALMA OPINION\\n\\nThe covenant of good faith and fair dealing requires that neither party \\nto the contract of insurance will do anything to deprive the other of \\nthe benefits of the contract nor misrepresent or conceal material facts \\nfrom the other. In this case Talcon lied when it submitted its \\napplication by claiming it did no residential construction work at the \\ntime that it was, in fact, constructing two residential properties. \\nSince it is true that liars never prosper the lie about the work being \\ndone defeated its claims.\\n\\n(c) 2023 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.\\n\\nPlease tell your friends and colleagues about this blog and the videos \\nand let them subscribe to the blog and the videos.\\n\\nSubscribe to my substack at \\nhttps://barryzalma.substack.com/publish/post/107007808\\n\\nGo to Newsbreak.com\\xa0 https://www.newsbreak.com/@c/1653419?s=01\\n\\nFollow me on LinkedIn: \\nwww.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all?usecase=PEOPLE_FOLLOWS&followMember=barry-zalma-esq-cfe-a6b5257\\n\\nGo to the Insurance Claims Library \\u2013 \\nhttp://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims-library.