Damage to Property Exclusions

November 9, 2015

Our insured was under subcontract to install a 922' section of 1800 pair copper cable through a pipe that had been installed earlier. Our insured had a difficult time bring the cable through the pipe and in the process of manipulating the cable through the pipe, the cable was damaged and rendered unusable.

In this instance, would exclusions j(4) j(5) and/or j(6) in the CGL form apply?
Our insured did not damage any existing property by his activities, only materials that he was working with were damaged. That material was in his care, custody and control. The insured did not purchase the material and was not trying to sell it. The insured was hired solely for the labor of the installation of the conduit and cable.

Connecticut Subscriber

Exclusion j5 applies to real property and since the cable was not yet installed, it is not real property. Exclusion j6 is for damage to property that has to be replaced because the insured's work was incorrectly performed on it and based on your description of the incident, that does not appear to be what happened.

Exclusion j4 applies to personal property in the care, custody or control of the insured. Since the damage to the cable occurred while the insured had custody and control of the cable, that exclusion applies.