Rush, C.J.
Property owners and contractors routinely agree to waive subrogation rights for damages. Here, the parties did so by incorporating an American Institute of Architects (“AIA”) standard form into their contract for the repair of the Jefferson County courthouse. While the repairs were underway, a fire severely damaged the courthouse. The AIA contract waives subrogation rights for all “damages caused by fire or other perils to the extent covered by property insurance.” The parties now dispute the meaning of the subrogation waiver. Owner seeks to subrogate all damages unrelated to repairs, arguing that the subrogation waiver applies only to construction-related damages. Contractor argues that all damages covered by Owner’s property insurance policy are waived. Both parties cite other states’ precedent to support their position, and the decision below created a split of authority in our own Court of Appeals. We granted transfer in this matter of first impression to establish the Indiana approach.
We hold the plain meaning of the contract defines the scope of the waiver based on the extent and source of coverage, not the nature of the property damaged. Accordingly, we agree with the majority of jurisdictions that have applied this plain meaning to bar recovery for all damages covered by the same property insurance policy used to cover construction-related damages—commonly referred to as the “any insurance” approach. Because Contractors have shown that Owner’s insurance covered all damages, the subrogation waiver applies to bar Owner’s claim. Accordingly, we affirm summary judgment in favor of Contractors.
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Thus, we adopt the “any insurance” approach to the AIA waiver because it reflects the plain and unambiguous meaning of the contract—that as long as a property owner’s damages are covered by any property insurance policy used to insure construction-related damages (i.e., the work), the waiver applies to all damages. Under this approach, Jefferson County has waived its subrogation claim because it relied on its pre-existing “all-risk” property insurance policy to insure both the work and all other damages to the courthouse. Future parties that incorporate the AIA contract into their construction agreements are certainly free to restrict the scope of the subrogation waiver to work-related damages alone. But the parties did not adopt such a restriction here, so the waiver’s plain meaning applies to bar Jefferson County’s claim.
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Conclusion
Jefferson County agreed to waive its rights to bring this subrogation claim by relying on its existing “all-risk” property insurance policy that covered the work and all other losses suffered in the courthouse fire. We reach this decision because the plain language of the AIA contract restricts the scope of the waiver based on the source and extent of property insurance coverage, not the nature of the damages. Accordingly, we affirm summary judgment in favor of Contractors and against Jefferson County in all respects.
Dickson, Rucker, David, and Massa, JJ., concur.