In DEB Associates v. Greater New York Mutual Ins Co. , the New Jersey Appellate Division found that the additional costs of repair to bring the undamaged parts of plaintiff’s wind damaged building up to current construction code standards were covered under its insurance policy. The Court found that but for the wind damage ( a covered claim), plaintiff would not have been required to bring the wall-to-floor connections in the rest of the building up to current code standards. The policy in question excluded pre-existing code violations that the insured had failed to correct, but did not specifically exclude situations where a covered structure was grandfathered under the current code but lost that status because of the occurence. If the insurer intended to exclude coverage in such situatons, the Court held it could have specifically so provided.
