A unanimous three-judge panel of the N.C. Court of Appeals has upheld this morning a lower court ruling against Gaston County in a dispute over home construction. Homeowners Patrick and Terri Cowell contend the negligence of county building inspectors led to construction of a house “unfit and unsafe” for them. A trial court rejected the county’s motion for a summary judgment based on governmental (or sovereign) immunity. The appeals court agrees with that ruling.
At issue is whether the county waived its immunity by purchasing liability insurance. In the case of one county insurance policy, Judge Barbara Jackson indicates the answer is not clear:
When an insurance company, in drafting its
policy of insurance, uses a ?slippery? word to
mark out and designate those who are insured
by the policy, it is not the function of the
court to sprinkle sand upon the ice by strict
construction of the term. All who may, by any
reasonable construction of the word, be
included within the coverage afforded by the
policy should be given its protection. If, in
the application of this principle of
construction, the limits of coverage slide
across the slippery area and the company falls
into a coverage somewhat more extensive than
it contemplated, the fault lies in its own
selection of the words by which it chose to be
bound.
Today’s ruling doesn’t mean the homeowners win the case. It simply means they can proceed at the trial-court level.
