Fundamental rules of New Jersey insurance law construction should be at the heart of every insurance coverage case, as demonstrated by the four leading cases construing New Jersey insurance law in 2019.

Sosa v. Massachusetts Bay Ins. Co., 438 N.J. Super. 639 (App. Div. 2019), concerned a water main break. The water flowed over the surface and entered the policyholder’s basement. The insurance company relied upon a flood and surface water exclusion to deny coverage. In support of the flood part of the exclusion, the insurance company pointed to testimony from the policyholder that “there was a flood and there was damage to my home.” The court disagreed. It looked at case law from other jurisdictions and definitions indicating that a flood is “a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas.”