Opinion
March 20, 1995
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Ruskin, J.).
Ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, the defendant's motion is granted in its entirety, and the complaint is dismissed.
The plaintiffs seek to recover under an "all-risk" policy of homeowners' insurance for the claimed loss that their artesian well failed to produce a sufficient quantity of potable water after many years of use. An insured seeking to recover for a loss under an insurance policy has the burden of proving that a loss occurred and also that the loss was a covered event within the terms of the policy (see, Green v. Globe Rutgers Fire Ins. Co., 200 App. Div. 343). Since the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate a fortuitous event causing the claimed loss separate from the nature and inherent qualities of the well itself, the court should have granted summary judgment to the defendant dismissing the complaint (see, 80 Broad St. Co. v. United States Fire Ins. Co., 88 Misc.2d 706, affd 54 A.D.2d 888). Mangano, P.J., O'Brien, Ritter, Pizzuto and Florio, JJ., concur.