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The owner of a building supported by a party wall which is injured by the burning of the adjoining building may recover,
under the insurance policy on his or her building, an amount equal to the diminution in its value because of the injuries to the party wall, which may include the full value of the wall. [FN61]
Where an insurance policy covers property described as a frame building and an undivided interest in a brick wall, and no separate valuation is placed upon
the building and the wall, and subsequently the building is destroyed by fire without injury to the wall, and the insurer is prevented from restoring the building by the fire ordinances of the city in which the property
is located, in which event it is provided in the policy that the insurer shall be liable for the amount that it would cost to make such repairs, the insurer is liable for the amount it would thus cost to restore the
premises, or the actual loss to the insured, without deduction for the value of the wall. [FN62] But the owner of adjoining buildings, who obtains from different companies a separate fire
insurance policy on each building, is not entitled, on the complete destruction by fire of one of the buildings, together with the party wall, for which loss he or she has recovered judgment against the insurer, to
duplicate his or her recovery for the damage to the wall from the other insurer, whose policy contains a provision for prorating insurance on the property, but his or her recovery should be limited to that proportion of
the cost of replacing the wall which the amount of the policy bears to the whole insurance. [FN63] |
