California Construction Insurance Dispute Attorneys
California construction insurance dispute attorneys for coverage denials, CGL disputes, property damage, and bad-faith claims.
Insurance companies deny construction claims every day — sometimes in bad faith. Whether your CGL carrier is refusing to defend a construction defect lawsuit, your builder's risk carrier is denying a claim for project damage, or your surety is disputing a bond claim, you need attorneys who understand both construction and insurance law.
Why It Happens
Construction insurance disputes arise from coverage denials, reservation of rights letters, policy exclusions, and bad faith claim handling. Insurers have teams of attorneys and adjusters whose job is to minimize payouts. You need experienced advocates on your side.
California construction insurance law is governed by the Insurance Code and extensive case law: the duty to defend is broad — triggered whenever the complaint alleges facts that could potentially give rise to coverage (Gray v. Zurich Insurance Co.); the duty to indemnify is narrower — triggered only when the insured is actually liable for a covered claim. CGL policies (ISO form CG 00 01) cover 'bodily injury' and 'property damage' caused by an 'occurrence' but exclude 'your work' and 'your product' — key exclusions in construction defect cases. California Insurance Code §790.03 prohibits unfair claims practices; Brandt v. Superior Court allows recovery of attorney fees as damages when an insurer's bad faith forces the insured to hire counsel to obtain policy benefits. Punitive damages are available for bad faith under Civil Code §3294. Additional insured coverage is governed by the specific endorsement language — ISO CG 20 10 and CG 20 37 are the most common forms. Tender of defense obligations must be honored within a reasonable time; unreasonable delay constitutes bad faith. The 'genuine dispute' doctrine provides a defense for insurers who had a reasonable basis for their coverage position.
What's at Risk
- Losing coverage through late notice or cooperation clause violations
- Accepting inadequate settlements from insurers
- Failing to preserve bad faith claims
- Policy exclusions that eliminate coverage for construction defects
- Additional insured disputes between contractors and owners
- Failing to tender claims to all available insurers
- Not responding to reservation of rights letters
- Accepting coverage denials without challenging them
- Not understanding the difference between defense and indemnity obligations
- Failing to document insurer bad faith
A general contractor was sued for $4.5M in construction defect claims. The CGL carrier denied coverage, claiming the defects were excluded under the 'your work' exclusion. We challenged the denial, demonstrated that the exclusion didn't apply to the specific claims, and obtained a defense and indemnity from the carrier. The carrier ultimately paid the settlement.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is different.
Frequently Asked Questions
- We analyze all available insurance coverage for your construction dispute
- We pursue coverage claims against insurers who wrongfully deny claims
- We pursue bad faith claims against insurers who act unreasonably
- We handle additional insured disputes between contractors and owners
- We coordinate insurance coverage with construction litigation strategy
Insurance bad faith claims have a 2-year statute of limitations.
If your insurer denied or delayed your construction claim, you may have a bad faith claim worth more than the original policy limits.
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