Though courts are typically limited to interpretations based on the "eight corners" of the policy and the complaint, Washington law permits courts to draw on extrinsic evidence outside those eight corners when determining the application of the duty to defend. In this case, the court turned to county records. Credit: Roxane Bay/Adobe Stock
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled that an insurer must defend an insured homeowner because, though the policyholder had two mailing addresses, both were on one parcel of land. The case is Homesite Ins. Co. of the Midwest v. Howell, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 230991 (W.D. Wash. 2023).
Robert Howell, Sr. and his wife Robin had an easement to access streams on an adjacent property owned by Georgia-Pacific Corporation for a small hydroelectric plant on the Howell's property. By its terms, this easement would terminate automatically if the Howells didn't use it for 24 continuous months. After the Howells divorced in 2014, Robert Howell announced his intention to abandon the easement to Georgia-Pacific's successor, Sierra Pacific Land & Timber (SPLT). The easement went unused from 2015-2017, resulting in termination of the easement.
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