The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently held, based on an "uninsured location" exclusion in a homeowner's policy, that an insurer was not required to defend and indemnify an insured homeowner against a third-party's negligent misrepresentation claim arising out of the sale of a home previously owned by the insured.
In Norfolk & Dedham Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. Norton, 100 Mass. App. Ct. 476 (2021), the Nortons (the "Insureds") sold their home in Duxbury, Massachusetts in February 2017. In 2019, the buyer brought suit alleging the Insureds made false statements that induced the buyer to purchase the property. Specifically, the buyer alleged that, prior to the sale, the Insureds represented that the home had no "water drainage problems" and that there were no "water," "seepage," or "dampness" issues in the basement. The buyer further alleged that the Insureds knew or reasonably should have known those representations were false based on information indicating that the basement had flooded on multiple occasions in the past. After the buyer purchased the property, the basement flooded in January and again in March 2018, causing significant damage to the home and to the buyer's personal property.
The Insureds tendered defense of the lawsuit to their homeowner's insurer Norfolk & Dedham Mutual Fire Insurance Company (the "Insurer) based on a policy issued in September 2017 in connection with the Insureds' new home in Sandwich, Massachusetts. That policy, which...
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