Berry

Seneva Berry appeals the district court’s summary judgment in favor of Commercial Union Insurance Company, her insurer, after it refused to cover damage to her portable aluminum irrigation pipes which had chemically disintegrated once she flushed copper hydroxide based fungicides through them. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and reverse.

I.

Seneva Berry owns and operates Sunny Farms, a commercial farming operation outside Bakersfield, California. In early 1990, Berry noticed that her crops were suffering from potato and carrot blight. To combat this problem, she decided to flush liquid fungicides through the extensive system of portable aluminum pipes on her farm. 1 From March 28, 1990 through October 3,1990, and from March 13, 1991 through May 28, 1991, Berry used a copper hydroxide based fungicide called “Champ.” From February 26, 1992 through October 5, 1992, she used a different copper hydroxide based fungicide called “Kocide 606.”

In October 1992, Berry first discovered that her irrigation pipes were damaged. Further investigation revealed that “the copper in the copper hydroxide based fungicides Champ and Kocide created a cathodic reaction with the…