“Dazed and Confused” about Ambiguity in Texas

Originally published by Patrick McGinnis.

I have been handling property damage cases since Hurricane Rita hit the Beaumont, Texas area in 2005. Much more prevalent these days are allegations that a provision of the insurance policy is ambiguous, and therefore, must be interpreted in a way more favorable to the policyholder. What I am about to say might sound like its coming from the mouth of Yogi Berra, but we sometimes get confused about what ambiguity really means. Just because a policy provision is complicated or confusing, or a declarations page is missing something, does not necessarily mean the policy is ambiguous. Last week, the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin dealt with very interesting facts where the policyholder alleged that the policy was ambiguous. The case, 3109 Props, L.L.C.; Detour, Inc.; and Richard Linklater v. Truck Insurance Exchange,1 centered around native Texan and famous moviemaker Richard Linklater.2
Linklater owned three pieces of commercial property, two in Austin, Texas and one in Paige,…

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