The date of loss and date of discovery are key dates in any claim situation. Knowledge of damage to property is to be reported to insurers as soon as possible, and policies generally only pay for losses that occur during the policy period. Credit: Simon Annable/Shutterstock.com The date of loss and date of discovery are key dates in any claim situation. Knowledge of damage to property is to be reported to insurers as soon as possible, and policies generally only pay for losses that occur during the policy period. Credit: Simon Annable/Shutterstock.com

The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has ruled that an insurer does not owe contribution to another insurer for the underlying defense of a mutual client because the first insurer is not obligated to defend the underlying suit. The case is Arch Specialty Ins. Co. v. Colony Ins. Co., 590 F. Supp. 3d 395 (D. Mass. 2022). 

The underlying case

Two tenants sued the Board of Governors of Glover Landing Condo Trust (the Board), alleging the Board's failure to make necessary repairs had forced them to vacate their apartment, which they had owned since 1982. That complaint was based primarily on the Board's failure to approve code-compliant replacements for faulty, non-code-compliant windows and the failure to repair the roof, which leaked into the tenant's apartment. The tenants brought up the issues of non-code-compliant windows and the leaking roof multiple times, with flooding causing significant problems in 2007, 2011, and 2014. These problems were not fixed, and they continued until the tenants vacated the apartment in February 2015. 

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Coverage & Policy Issues
Litigation