Scarborough Attorneys Secures Final Summary Judgment For Florida Farm Bureau - Enforcing "Water Borne Material" Exclusion

On November 8, 2018 St. Johns Circuit Court Judge Howard M. Maltz entered an 11 page Order granting Final Summary Judgment in favor of Farm Bureau finding that the term "water borne material" was not ambiguous and the plain meaning of the term encompasses "any material moved by or carried by water."  Although the term "water borne material" was not specifically defined within the policy and was used elsewhere in the policy to describe material which resulted from a sewer backup or overflow, this did not create an ambiguity to be interpreted in favor coverage.Following this determination, and finding that the undisputed facts established that the damage at issue was caused by either water pressure from flood water or water borne debris conveyed by the same flood water, the Court ruled that since both mechanisms were either direct or indirect results of flood water, they were both excluded from coverage under the policy.  Therefore, the Court determined a covered loss did not occur and Florida Farm Bureau correctly denied coverage for this loss.Scarborough Attorneys congratulates Florida Farm Bureau for prevailing on this important issue of law and thanks them, along with all of our other valued clients, for their continued confidence in our firm for their insurance defense needs.