Kennel Delites, Inc. v. T.L.S. NYC Real Estate, LLC
852 N.Y.2d 130
N.Y. App. Div.
2008
Check Treatment

Kennel Delites, Inc., Doing Business as American Kennels, Respondent, v T.L.S. NYC Real Estate, LLC, et al., Defendants, and St. Paul Travelers Insurance Company et al., Appellants.

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department

March 11, 2008

852 N.Y.S.2d 130

Kennel Delites, Inc., Doing Business as American Kennels, Respondent, v T.L.S. NYC Real Estate, LLC, et al., Defendants, and St. Paul Travelers Insurance Company et al., Appellants. [852 NYS2d 130]—

Defendant Charter Oak Fire Insurance Company, initially identified incorrectly as St. Paul Travelers Insurance Company, issued a policy to plaintiff with a limitation of coverage, known as a rain exclusion, which barred recovery for interior property damage and business income losses “caused by,” among other things, rain. This rain exclusion applies to the loss at issue, namely, water damage from a rainstorm. Although plaintiff contends that the water damage to its interior was due to debris and mortar that fell from a neighboring building, which then clogged its roof drain, causing the rainwater to accumulate on its roof and later enter the building, the “efficient physical cause” was the rainwater itself (cf.

). A reasonable business person would conclude in this case that the interior property was damaged by rainwater from the previous evening‘s storm, and would look no further for alternate causes (see
). The claim as it might apply to roof damage should proceed. Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Saxe, Gonzalez and Acosta, JJ.