Crossmann Communities of North Carolina, Inc. v. Harleysville Mutual Insurance Company

In Crossmann Communities of North Carolina, Inc. v. Harleysville Mutual Insurance Company, James L. Bruner, William D. Britt, Jr., Benjamin C. Bruner, and Matthew H. Stabler, arguing Amici Curia for the Associated General Contractors of America, Inc., successfully persuaded the Supreme Court to withdraw its initial opinion and find that the CGL policies at issue provided coverage for the stipulated progressive property damages. The main issue of the case concerned determining what damages are covered by a form CGL insurance policy. The court originally found that for there to be coverage based on an “occurrence”, there must be an accident, which was a departure from the norm across the country of how defective construction cases were decided. Accordingly, Bruner successfully convinced the court that when there is an ambiguous term in a form policy, the term must be properly construed in favor of the insured and it is up to the insurer to change the terms if desired.

Crossmann Cmtys. of N.C., Inc. v. Harleysville Mut. Ins. Co., 395 S.C. 40, 717 S.E.2d 589 (2011)