Derek R. Lenzen | Phelps Dunbar
A Florida appellate court held that where water damaged property through walls and windows (an excluded cause) and also through a door (a covered cause), the all-risk policy’s anti-concurrent cause provision controls, and coverage for the entire loss is excluded. Security First Ins. Co. v. Czelusniak, 45 Fla. L. Weekly D 1151, 2020 Fla. App. LEXIS 6494 (Fla 3d DCA May 13, 2020).
An insured reported that water entered the interior of the insured property and caused damage and mold growth. The insurer denied coverage, and the insured filed suit. It was undisputed that water entered the property through walls, windows and doors. The policy explicitly excluded loss caused by water entering through walls or windows. However, water entering through doors was not excluded. The trial court granted the insured’s motion for directed verdict pursuant to the concurrent clause doctrine outlined in the case Sebo v. American Home Assurance Co.,Inc., 208 So. 3d 694 (Fla. 2016) (when damage from an excluded cause occurs concurrently with a covered cause so that a fact-finder is unable to separate the two causes, the entire loss is covered).
The appellate court reversed, finding that the trial court erred in not considering the anti-concurrent cause wording in the exclusion. The policy excluded coverage for damage from water entering through walls or windows “regardless of any other cause or even contributing concurrently or in any sequence to the loss.” The court held that because that damage occurred concurrently with the damage from water through doors, coverage for the entire loss is excluded due to the anti-concurrent cause provision in the exclusion.