Trinity Industries, Inc. v. Insurance Company of North America

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• reasoning that “the language ‘physical loss or damage’ strongly implies that there was an initial satisfactory state that was changed by some external event into an unsatisfactory state—for example, the car was undamaged before the collision dented the bumper”
• noting that “[t]he language ‘physical loss or damage’ strongly implies that there was an initial satisfactory state that was changed by some external event into an unsatisfactory state—for example, the car was undamaged before the collision dented the bumper”
• applying Louisiana law and Hartford for the proposition that “physical loss” required “distinct, demonstrable, physical alteration of the property.”
• policy language at issue required proof of “an initial satisfactory state that was changed by some external event into an unsatisfactory state”
• “This reflects an interpretation of the all risks policy to cover accidents resulting from defective design or workmanship, but not the cost of repairing the defect itself.”
• “The language ‘physical loss or damage’ strongly implies that there was an initial satisfactory state that was changed by some external event into an unsatisfactory state—for example, the car was undamaged before the collision dented the bumper.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).