Your Work Exclusion Application

April 13, 2015

We have an insured contractor that was hired to build a retaining wall and landscape around the wall. Several years after the installation of the wall, it failed and needed to be replaced. The failure of the wall did not damage the landscaping, but when the insured was repairing the wall the landscaping he originally supplied and installed for the homeowner was damaged. We believe that the damage to the wall is excluded under the products and completed operations portion of the policy as it would qualify as “your work.”

Since the damage to the landscaping was not a direct result of the insured's initial work installing the wall, would it still be considered “your work” under the policy and excluded, or would it be considered a premises and operations liability claim and covered as resulting damage arising from the repair to the wall?

Illinois Subscriber

The damage that occurred to the landscaping would be covered under the CGL form. The damage to the landscaping did not arise out of it or any part of it, like the damage to the wall. The damage arose due to the actions of the insured, and it is basically damage he caused to another's property and that is what the CGL form is meant to cover.