Travelers Property Casualty Company of America v. Talcon Group LLC, No. 22-13547 (11th Cir. 2023)

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled in a dispute between Travelers Property Casualty Company of America and Talcon Group LLC. Talcon, an underground utility contractor, had an insurance policy with Travelers. Two residential homes under construction and connected to Talcon were destroyed by fire. Talcon filed a claim with Travelers, which was denied on the grounds that the policy only covered their underground utility operations and related site development work, not home construction. Talcon argued that the policy was ambiguous and should cover the homes as they were newly constructed during the policy period. The Court of Appeals, affirming the district court's summary judgment in favor of Travelers, held that the policy unambiguously did not cover the construction of the two homes. The court noted that when viewed together with Talcon's insurance application, the policy clearly restricts coverage to Talcon's underground utility and site development work. The court also stated that the policy's exclusion of pre-existing buildings did not imply coverage for all new construction, only buildings related to Talcon's specified operations.