Whether a developer mistakenly believed it had the right to remove trees and dirt from a property was the deciding factor in a ruling requiring its insurer to defend it against a lawsuit brought by the property owners. The case is Partington Builders, LLC v. Nautilus Ins. Co., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18274 (D. Mass. 2023).
A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that, while it was too soon to determine whether Nautilus Insurance Co. had a duty to indemnify Partington Builders in an underlying case, the insurer did have a duty to defend based on the possibility that its policyholder had accidentally removed trees and dirt from a property without permission.
Nautilus' duty to defend turns on whether the complaint reasonably sketches a claim that Partington accidentally cut the trees.
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Allison Dunn is a reporter on ALM's Rapid Response desk based in Ohio, covering impactful litigation filings and rulings, emerging legal trends, controversies in the industry, and everything in between. Contact her at [email protected]. On Twitter: @AllisonDWrites.