Michigan Supreme Court Holds a Contractor’s Defective Work Is an ‘Occurrence’
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The Michigan Supreme Court held that unintended defective construction work is an “accident” and therefore an “occurrence” under the modern day commercial general liability policy.
In Skanska USA Building v M.A.P Mechanical Contractors, Inc., Docket No. 159510, ____ Mich ____, 2020 WL 3527909, the Michigan Supreme Court found that a subcontractor’s inadvertent faulty work may constitute an “accident” under Michigan law, and therefore constitute an accidental “occurrence” under current standard form commercial general liability (CGL) policy. This landmark decision on July 29, 2020 changes the law in Michigan, and reverses many years of lower court rulings that denied coverage for Michigan contractors on the ground that inadvertent construction defects do not constitute an accidental occurrence under the CGL policy.
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