General liability cover does not cover own faulty work

Patrick Bracher from Norton Rose Fulbright.

A Michigan US appeals court found that the insurer had no duty to defend or indemnify a solar power company in a lawsuit over its allegedly shoddy installation of solar panels because the general liability policy did not provide cover where only the policyholder’s own work was damaged. Damage to their own work on the solar array that the insured was paid to construct does not constitute an accidental “occurrence.”

This decision would also be correct in South African law. Where there is no defective workmanship extension covering such a loss, the general clause will not do so.

[Employers Casualty Co. v Mid-Michigan Solar LLC]

First published by Financial Institutions Legal Snapshot.