Accidents Will Happen? Judge Says Insurer Must Defend Builder Accused of Violating 'Tree-Cutting Statute'

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“In the court’s view, the allegations here are broad enough to reasonably sketch a claim that Partington had a mistaken but reasonable belief that it was authorized to cut the trees,” the court said. “Such a claim would be for property damage arising out of an occurrence, meaning it would be a ‘loss [that] fits the expectation of protective insurance reasonably generated by the terms of the policy,’ thus triggering Nautilus’s duty to defend.”