{
  "id": 8358935,
  "name": "JERRY L. BAKER v. HENRY HARPER WHITLEY, JR. and FARMERS COUNTY MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, INC.",
  "name_abbreviation": "Baker v. Whitley",
  "decision_date": "1987-11-17",
  "docket_number": "No. 8711DC268",
  "first_page": "619",
  "last_page": "621",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "87 N.C. App. 619"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "N.C. Ct. App.",
    "id": 14983,
    "name": "North Carolina Court of Appeals"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 5,
    "name_long": "North Carolina",
    "name": "N.C."
  },
  "cites_to": [
    {
      "cite": "209 Kan. 111",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "Kan.",
      "case_ids": [
        81607
      ],
      "weight": 2,
      "year": 1972,
      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/kan/209/0111-01"
      ]
    },
    {
      "cite": "187 Kan. 728",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "Kan.",
      "case_ids": [
        502568
      ],
      "weight": 2,
      "year": 1961,
      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/kan/187/0728-01"
      ]
    },
    {
      "cite": "252 Iowa 1096",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "Iowa",
      "case_ids": [
        4408808
      ],
      "weight": 2,
      "year": 1961,
      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/iowa/252/1096-01"
      ]
    },
    {
      "cite": "485 P. 2d 908",
      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "P.2d",
      "year": 1971,
      "opinion_index": 0
    },
    {
      "cite": "163 Colo. 292",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "Colo.",
      "case_ids": [
        4618277
      ],
      "weight": 2,
      "year": 1967,
      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/colo/163/0292-01"
      ]
    },
    {
      "cite": "269 Ala. 372",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "Ala.",
      "case_ids": [
        5281562
      ],
      "weight": 2,
      "year": 1959,
      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/ala/269/0372-01"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "analysis": {
    "cardinality": 375,
    "char_count": 4761,
    "ocr_confidence": 0.818,
    "pagerank": {
      "raw": 1.0251801688539239e-07,
      "percentile": 0.5464774201121378
    },
    "sha256": "ebc02b14b51e2b1641141f8167d4f30151ae7baa25fb0735f128d4b3d62a9b33",
    "simhash": "1:520534355bf0c166",
    "word_count": 763
  },
  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T18:10:55.356094+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "Judges Johnson and Parker concur."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "JERRY L. BAKER v. HENRY HARPER WHITLEY, JR. and FARMERS COUNTY MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, INC."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "BECTON, Judge.\nPlaintiff Jerry L. Baker brought this action against defendants Henry Harper Whitley, Jr., and Farmers County Mutual Fire Insurance Company, Inc. to recover insurance benefits under a home fire insurance policy. A jury returned a verdict for plaintiff in the amount of $1,300.00. Defendant appeals. We reverse.\nPlaintiff acquired an insurance policy from defendant in February 1985 which covered specified damages to his residence and/ or its contents. In June 1985 a wall of the plaintiffs home was damaged when a built-in kitchen cabinet became partly unhinged from the wall, causing the cabinet to drop several inches, tilt forward, then come to rest on a window sill. The contents of the cabinet, which included china, crystal, glassware and other ceramics, fell onto a table and floor and shattered. Plaintiff filed a claim with defendant seeking payment for the losses under the \u201ccollapse\u201d provision of his insurance policy. Although the policy did not define the term collapse, the policy provided insurance \u201cagainst direct physical loss to covered property caused by the following perils:\n* * *\n13. Collapse of the building or any part of the building (collapse does not include settling, cracking, shrinking, bulging or expanding). Unless the damage is directly caused by the collapse of the building, this does not cover loss: (a) to outdoor awnings or canopies, including their supports; (b) to outdoor equipment not permanently installed; or (c) to any structures (other than buildings, carports, or mobile homes) such as swimming pools, retained walls, fences, septic tanks, piers, wharves, foundations, patios, and paved areas.\u201d\nDefendant denied plaintiffs claim, and plaintiff brought this action. A jury entered a verdict for plaintiff. Defendant makes nine assignments of error, the first two of which relate to the trial judge\u2019s failure to enter judgment in its favor as a matter of law. Defendant moved for a directed verdict at the close of plaintiffs evidence and renewed its motion at the close of all the evidence. Defendant argues that no reasonable construction of its \u201ccollapse provision\u201d would permit coverage of the damage sustained by plaintiff. We must agree.\nWhen interpreting contracts, words will be given their common ordinary meaning unless the agreement requires otherwise. We have not been referred to any North Carolina cases, and we have found none, in which the term collapse has been defined. However, defendant refers to two definitions of the term from other jurisdictions. Under one view, collapse denotes falling, reduction to flattened form or rubble. See Central Mutual Ins. Co. v. Royal, 269 Ala. 372, 113 So. 2d 680 (1959); Higgins v. Conn. Fire Ins. Co., 163 Colo. 292, 430 P. 2d 479 (1967); Northwestern Mut. Ins. Co. v. Bankers Union Life Ins. Co., 485 P. 2d 908 (Colo. App. 1971). Under a second view, collapse denotes settling, cracking, or the like which materially impairs basic structure or substantial integrity of a building. See Rogers v. Maryland Casualty Co., 252 Iowa 1096, 109 N.W. 2d 435 (1961); Allen v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co., 187 Kan. 728, 359 P. 2d 829 (1961); Krug v. Miller\u2019s Mut. Ins. Assoc., 209 Kan. 111, 495 P. 2d 949 (1972). In addition, defendant referred us to several dictionary definitions of collapse, including the Webster\u2019s New Collegiate Dictionary (1977) which defines collapse as:\n\u201c(1) to break down completely; (2) to fall or come together abruptly and completely; fall into a jumbled or flattened mass . . .; (3) to cave in.\u201d\nThe evidence in the instant case does not satisfy any of these definitions. At most, plaintiffs cabinet became unhinged from the wall. The wall remained intact. Defendant was entitled to judgment as a matter of law.\nBecause of our disposition of the first two assignments of error, we need not and do not address defendant\u2019s remaining assignments of error.\nJudgment is reversed.\nJudges Johnson and Parker concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "BECTON, Judge."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "W. Richard Moore for plaintiff appellee.",
      "Mast, Tew, Morris, Hudson, and Schulz, P.A., by George B. Mast and Bradley N. Schulz for defendant appellant."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "JERRY L. BAKER v. HENRY HARPER WHITLEY, JR. and FARMERS COUNTY MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, INC.\nNo. 8711DC268\n(Filed 17 November 1987)\nInsurance \u00a7 143\u2014 homeowner\u2019s insurance \u2014 \u201ccollapse\u201d provision \u2014 cabinet becoming unhinged from wall\nA provision of a homeowner\u2019s policy covering loss caused by \u201ccollapse of the building or any part of the building\u201d did not apply to loss caused when a kitchen cabinet became partly unhinged from a wall and tilted forward, and glassware fell from the cabinet and broke.\nAppeal by defendant from McCormick, Judge. Judgment entered 29 October 1986 in District Court, JOHNSTON County. Heard in the Court of Appeals on 1 October 1987.\nW. Richard Moore for plaintiff appellee.\nMast, Tew, Morris, Hudson, and Schulz, P.A., by George B. Mast and Bradley N. Schulz for defendant appellant."
  },
  "file_name": "0619-01",
  "first_page_order": 647,
  "last_page_order": 649
}
