Washington High Court: Machinery Breakdown Exclusion Bars Coverage For Design Defect

Mealey's (September 20, 2022, 1:54 PM EDT) -- OLYMPIA, Wash.— The Washington Supreme Court held on Sept. 15 that a builder’s risk insurance policy’s “machinery breakdown exclusion” precludes coverage for machinery breakdowns resulting from an internal cause that includes a defective design, affirming a lower court’s ruling in favor of insurers in a coverage lawsuit stemming from damage to a tunnel boring machine used in the construction of the State Route 99 tunnel....