State Farm Insurance Companies v. Gilbert

Lawson Cloninger, Judge.

The trial court directed a verdict for appellee Thomas D. Gilbert, the insured, under a homeowner’s policy written by appellant State Farm Insurance Companies, on a finding that a policy provision excluding from coverage property damage caused directly or indirectly from “earth movement” was patently ambiguous. The parties agree that the property damage was $4,900.

Appellant urges on this appeal that the trial court was in error in holding the exclusion ambiguous, and, even if the exclusion is ambiguous, the question should have been submitted to the jury.

We reverse the…