Hudson Specialty Ins. Co. v. Talex Enters., LLC

Hudson Specialty Ins. Co. v. Talex Enters., LLC

Opinion

ORDER

THIS MATTER is before the Court on Plaintiff/Counter-Defendant Hudson Specialty Insurance Company ("Hudson")'s Motion to Strike Expert Causation Opinions (Doc. 204), and Defendants/Counter-Claimants Talex Enterprises, LLC ("Talex"); Terrance L. Alexander ("Alexander"); Jubilee Performing Arts Center, Inc. ("Jubilee"); and, the Board of Mayor and Selectmen of McComb, Mississippi ("McComb")'s Response in Opposition to Motion to Strike Expert Causation Opinions [*2]  (Doc. 216). The Court having examined the motions, memoranda in support, and the applicable statutory and case law, and being fully advised in the premises, finds that the Motion to Strike Expert Causation Opinions should be DENIED.

BACKGROUND

This is a case arising out of an insurance dispute between Hudson Specialty Insurance Company and Talex Enterprises, LLC, Jubilee Performing Arts Center, Terrance L. Alexander and the City of McComb. The dispute arises out of an incident involving a property insured by Hudson, the JPAC Building, located at 230-232 Main Street, McComb, Mississippi. The JPAC Building is listed under two policies of insurance issued by Hudson. Talex owns the JPAC Building and, at the time of the incident, Jubilee operated a performing arts school out of the building. Alexander is the principal for both Talex and Jubilee.

Talex is the named insured under one policy, No. HBD10027329, (the "Talex Policy"), which provides building property coverage and commercial general liability coverage. Alexander d/b/a Jubilee is the named insured under the other policy, No. HBD10019191, (the "Alexander Policy"), which provides personal property coverage and commercial general liability [*3]  coverage.

The JPAC Building collapsed on July 23, 2017. After the collapse, the remaining portions of the JPAC Building required immediate stabilization to render them safe. McComb declared an emergency condition and hired Mr. Laird, an engineer with Laird & Smithers, Inc., to "prevent further injury and property destruction." McComb designated Mr. Laird as a non-retained expert for this trial. Mr. Laird's report claimed that the collapse was caused by the fact that the JPAC Building "had been reroofed many times without removal of the degraded underlying roofing materials; thus adding additional weight to the roof structure." (Doc 204-6, Laird Report p. 2).

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