March 4, 2019

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia found that a reservation of rights (ROR) issued to the named insured was ineffective as to two individual insureds who became defendants, who were not explicitly included in the original ROR. The case is Auto-Owners Ins. Co. v. Cribb, No. 2:17-CV-106-RWS, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17785 (N.D. Ga. Feb. 5, 2019).

On November 26, 2014, Richard Nielson (Nielson) entered into a contract with Appalachian Log Homes of Georgia (ALH of Georgia) for the installation of a log home on his property. ALH of Georgia then entered into a contract with Appalachian Log Homes, Inc. (ALH) who would be installing the home. ALH informed Nielson that before the log cabin could be built he would have to install a foundation and sub-floor. Nielson contracted with Defendant B.R. Mountain Homes (BRMH) for the construction of the foundation and sub-floor as well as for various other construction projects on the property. The Defendant obtained permits for the whole project. In early spring of 2015, BRMH began working on the property. By May they had completed the work that was necessary to begin the log cabin. BRMH left the worksite, planning on returning to finish the rest of the project after ALH finished assembling the log home. ALH hired Jerry Taylor Construction to install the log home. Several Jerry Taylor employees worked on the project, including Jimmy Cribb (Cribb).