New Law Briefing

In 2008, a woman died in her upstairs condo in Palm Beach County, Florida.  Sadly, no one discovered the body until two weeks later.  By that time, the body had decomposed so badly that the corpse had ruptured, and bodily fluids had begun to seep through the concrete floor into the apartment below.

The owner of that downstairs condo, Judy Rodrigo, had to have her entire apartment gutted, and even then the stench remained.  She filed a claim with State Farm for the damage to her personal property.

So, insurance litigators, is this the kind of "peril" covered by a typical homeowner's policy?  Ms. Rodrigo's lawyers pointed out that the policy covered damages caused by an "explosion."  Thus, they argued, the foul-smelling damage was covered because it resulted from an "exploding corpse."

The Florida court, however, applied a "plain language" approach in construing the word "explosion" in the policy.  The court denied Ms. Rodrigo's claim, stating, "The plain meaning of the term 'explosion' does not include a decomposing body's cells explosively expanding, causing leakage of bodily fluids."

For an update on more mundane insurance law rulings, be sure to attend Barristers' annual  Recent Developments courses.  Check out the schedule of upcoming In-Person courses by clicking here.