Also known as: wholly destroy · wholly destroys · wholly destroying · completely destroyed · total destruction
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A condition of property so extensively damaged that the item loses its identity or utility as the original thing. Some remnants may survive yet the structure or chattel can no longer be classified or used in its prior form.
Wallace Webb owned a vintage printing press leased to a publisher. A fire reduced the press to a melted frame and ash. Because the press was wholly destroyed, the publisher could not elect repair costs under the governing damages rule and instead recovered only the pre-harm market value.
Wyatt Wilson owned a coastal parcel that a storm surge reduced to bare sand and scattered debris. Because the land was wholly destroyed, the owner could not recover restoration costs under the harm-to-land damages rule and instead measured recovery by the difference in value before and after the invasion.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Warren Woods held beachfront lots rendered unusable by new coastal regulations after a hurricane. The total loss of economic use meant the lots were wholly destroyed for takings purposes, triggering compensation analysis under the total-destruction test.
Wanda Weaver contracted to supply specialty aluminum parts from a plant that a flood left as rubble. The plant was wholly destroyed, rendering performance impossible and excusing the supplier under the contract's force-majeure clause.
Wayne Walker retained an agent to sell a unique commercial building. An explosion left only the foundation. The building was wholly destroyed, automatically terminating the agent's authority to convey interests in the original subject matter.
Wren Wallace operated a grain elevator that a tornado flattened. The elevator was wholly destroyed, ending the regulated storage service and removing the facility from the rate-setting jurisdiction that had applied while the structure existed.
Yes when the remnants cannot support the original classification or use. A building reduced to scattered walls and a foundation is wholly destroyed even though fragments remain, because it is no longer capable of being classified or used as a building.
Authority terminates automatically once the specific subject matter is wholly destroyed. An agent retained to sell a historic mansion loses power to bind the principal after an explosion levels the structure, even if land and insurance proceeds survive.
No. The repair-cost election applies only when harm does not amount to total destruction in value. Once the chattel or land is wholly destroyed, recovery is limited to the difference between pre-harm and post-harm value.
No when the destruction renders the premises unusable for any purpose contemplated by the lease. A fire that levels the building excuses further rent absent an express clause allocating the risk differently.
…of the total property. Ibid. The dissent, however, characterized the support estate as a distinct property interest that was wholly destroyed. Id. , at 519. The Court could agree on no "value-free basis" to resolve this dispute. Even more perplexing, however, is the Court's reliance on common-law principles of nuisance in its…