(Question of Fact As To Whether Coverage Afforded by Homeowners' Policy Was Substantially Equivalent to Insurance Code Section 2071 Required Reversal of Summary Judgment)
(August 2020) - In Mosley v. Pacific Specialty Ins. Co., 49 Cal. App.5th 417 (May 26, 2020), the California Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court's entry of summary judgment in favor of Pacific Specialty Insurance Company ('PSIC') based on a plant exclusion in a homeowners' policy with respect to a fire loss sustained by a home owned by James and Maria Mosley (the 'Mosleys'). The loss was caused by an electrical overload created when the tenant living in the home rigged an electrical hook up to steal power from a main utility line for the purpose of growing marijuana plants in the attic of the home. The Mosleys did not know that the tenant was growing marijuana in the home and were not aware of the illegal power hook up.
The Mosleys tendered the fire loss to PSIC. In response, PSIC denied coverage of the claim based on the following exclusion:
'We do not insure for loss resulting from any manufacturing, production or operation, engaged in: 1. The growing of plants; or 2. The manufacture, production, operation or processing of chemical, biological, animal or plant materials.'
Thereafter, the Mosleys filed a complaint for breach of contract and bad faith against PSIC for denying their fire loss claim. The Mosleys argued that PSIC's...
