Bentoria Holdings, Inc. v. Travelers Indemnity Co.

OPINION OF THE COURT

Smith, J.

In Pioneer Tower Owners Assn. v State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. (12 NY3d 302 [2009]), we held that an “earth movement” exclusion in an insurance policy did not unambiguously apply to excavation. We now confront a policy in which a similar exclusion is expressly made applicable to “man made” movement of earth. We hold that this added language eliminates the ambiguity, and that loss caused by excavation is excluded from the policy.

Travelers Indemnity Company issued to plaintiff an insurance policy covering “direct physical loss of or damage to” a building in Brooklyn.…