Pine Oak Builders, Inc. v. Great American Lloyds Insurance Co.

Upon being sued by five different homeowners alleging various construction defects, Pine Oak Builders, Inc. made written demand on its insurers, including Great American Lloyds Insurance Co., for a defense. When the insurers denied any duty to defend, Pine Oak sued for breach of the insurers’ defense obligations. This coverage dispute revisits issues addressed in three of our recent cases, which decide some matters in Pine Oak’s favor and some in Great American’s favor.

I. Background

Great American issued occurrence-based commercial general liability (CGL) policies to Pine Oak, a homebuilder,…