First Department Affirms Coverage for Damage from Overflow of Clogged Roof Drain

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY – EFFICIENT PROXIMATE CAUSE OF LOSS – ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE OR OVERFLOW FROM WITHIN A PLUMBING SYSTEM – BACKUP FROM CLOGGED ROOF DRAIN
Potoff v. Chubb Indem. Ins. Co.
(1st Dept., decided 3/12/2009)

Since I spent the day in Manhattan today, thought I would post this case.

You know you've been blogging for close to a year when you begin seeing cases decided on appeal that you blogged about at the motion court level.  Such was my realization when I saw this case issued by the First Department yesterday.

I posted the New York County Supreme Court's decision in favor of the insured back in early June of last year.  The First Department has now AFFIRMED that decision and order, holding:

Here, the policy covered "accidental discharge or overflow from within a plumbing . . . system" and "damage caused by water . . . which backs up from within . . . drains." Plaintiff established that "the proximate, efficient and dominant cause" (Album Realty Corp. v American Home Assur. Co., 80 NY2d 1008, 1010 [1992]) of the damage to her property was the clogged roof drain, which overflowed and sent water leaking into her apartment. The reasonable person would attribute this backup to a plastic bag that clogged the drain, as evidenced by the fact that the water began to clear from the roof almost immediately after the fire department removed the obstruction. 

Defendant argues that plaintiff's apartment was damaged not by water emanating "from within" the drain, but rather from rainwater on the roof that seeped or leaked into the building. We reject that view of the evidence.

Did the First Department just summarily equate an overflow with a backup in this case? I understand the court's overflow finding, but what backup was there?  Did water actually reverse direction or simply fill the clogged drain pipe and then overflow its top?   I'm troubled by what to me would seem to be an unnecessary and imprecise reference to "this backup".  An overflow of a plumbing system may or may not occur along with the backup of a drain.  Right?