Summary judgment in favor of the insurer was reversed and remanded because the insurer had failed to present evidence establishing that it had delivered a copy of the policy to the plaintiff.

The appellate court held that the lower court had erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the insurance company since the company never demonstrated that it had delivered a copy of the plaintiff’s policy to him. As a result, the insurer could not establish that the insured would have had actual notice of any policy exclusions, and a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether the plaintiff was bound by a vacancy exclusion, which the insurer had relied upon to deny the claim. The plaintiff had averred in his affidavit that he never received the insurance policy, and the company had failed to present evidence to the contrary, or evidence that vacancy exclusions were usual and customary in policies. Thus, the case was reversed and remanded.

Case Law Alerts, 3rd Quarter, July 2014