WASHINGTON COURT FINDS NO “COLLAPSE” COVERAGE DESPITE ENGINEER’S OPINION THAT BUILDING COULD NOT SUPPORT REQUIRED LOADS UNDER THE BUILDING CODE

For decades, Washington insurers have faced building “collapse” claims despite the fact that no Washington Court had rendered a clear definition of what “collapse” meant. That changed last year when the Washington Supreme Court held in Queen Anne Park Homeowners Association v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, 352 P.3d 790 (2015), that “collapse” meant “substantial impairment of structural integrity,” but not necessarily an eminent falling down of the building. While Queen Anne Park provided some clarity for the definition of “collapse,” it also raised a number of questions that will likely need to be litigated to further refine the definition of “collapse.”

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