Real Estate/Development,
Insurance
Jun. 15, 2020
Ruling says insurer can’t use exclusion in cannabis-related fire case
Recognizing the issue as a matter of first impression, the Court of Appeal construed the statutory language as limiting coverage “only if the insured is aware of the hazard or reasonably could have discovered it through exercising ordinary care or diligence.”
Benjamin D. Tievsky
Associate
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Benjamin is a policyholder-side insurance attorney with Pillsbury.
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger once infamously quipped in an interview that marijuana is "not a drug. It's a leaf." Marijuana's botanical character has also been the purported basis for insurance coverage denials under property policies containing exclusions for loss involving plants or arising from their cultivation. A May 26, California Court of Appeal ruling, however, established that a plant-related exclusion does not necessarily bar coverage for pro...
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