1st Circuit Reverses Ruling In Commercial Insurer’s Favor In ‘Surface Water’ Dispute

Mealey's (July 30, 2024, 11:14 AM EDT) -- BOSTON — Following the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s answer to a certified question that rainwater that lands and accumulates on an insured hospital building’s second-floor outdoor rooftop courtyard or its parapet roof does not unambiguously constitute “surface waters” under Massachusetts law pursuant to the commercial insurance policy, the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 29 reversed a lower federal court’s summary judgment rulings in favor of insurers....