Don't you wish every appellate opinion had a concise and informative introductory paragraph as this one:
"A fire destroys a house. The homeowner's insurer agrees to pay for the damages
resulting from the fire, then sues the contractor who installed the fireplace several years
earlier, claiming negligence. The contractor tenders defense of the action to its liability
insurer, asserting that even though the fire occurred after the relevant policy periods
ended, there is a possibility of coverage because the fire may have been the result of
ongoing damage to the wood in the chimney chase during one or more policy periods
due to the exposure of that wood to excessive heat from the chimney every time a fire
was burned in the fireplace. Under the standard language in a commercial general
liability policy, does the liability insurer have a duty to defend the contractor? For
reasons we will explain, we say “yes.” Accordingly, we will reverse the judgment here
that concluded otherwise."
Plus, I learned something. I had never heard of a "chimney chase" before. "The chimney chase is the structure through which the chimney pipe runs.
Now all I have to do is to figure out what a chimney pipe is.
