Court Says Carrier Created Ambiguity in Describing Negligence

CHARLESTON, S.C. - A federal judge has denied summary judgment to Allstate Insurance Co. after finding that the carrier's effort to attribute a siding contractor's negligence to two separate causes of water intrusion and mold damage created ambiguity. Graf v. Allstate Insurance Co., No. 23:06-cv-1045-CWH (D. S.C.).

Judge C. Weston Houck of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina also rejected Allstate's contention that damage discovered nearly 10 years after the home was constructed was not sudden and accidental and could not have occurred during an earlier policy period.

Plaintiffs Carol M. Graf and T. Alexander Beard …