Westfield Ins. Co. v. Nat’l Decorating Service, Inc.

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendants-insureds’ motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-insurance company’s action seeking declaration that it did not owe duty to defend defendants in underlying action by condominium association alleging that insured-sub-contractor caused newly constructed multi-story condominium building to suffer water damage when subcontractor failed to apply adequate coat of sealant to exterior of building. While commercial general liabilities policies of sort issued by plaintiff are not intended to serve as performance bonds that would cover economic losses sustained as result of defects in or damage to insureds’ own work or product, underlying action alleged that subcontractor acted negligently, which would be sufficient to qualify as “occurrence” under terms of policy. Moreover, plaintiff had duty to defend where underlying complaint contained allegations of damage to building that went beyond subcontractor’s own work and product. In this respect, Ct. rejected plaintiff’s contention that scope of subcontractor’s project was entirety of building rather than just building’s exterior.