In Howell v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. (1990) 218 Cal. App. 3d 1446, which reached the Court of Appeal after summary judgment, the insureds' property was located on a slope. Fire destroyed the vegetation, the slope failed after heavy rains, and the insured's home and rental property were damaged. State Farm denied coverage based on a policy exclusion for loss which would not have occurred in the absence of earth movement, water damage, and other excluded perils. The policy specified that the loss was excluded regardless of the cause of the excluded event, other causes of loss, or whether the other causes acted concurrently or in any sequence with the excluded event. The Court of Appeal succinctly stated the issue and its holding: "Stated simply, the important question presented by this case is whether a property insurer may contractually exclude coverage when a covered peril is the efficient proximate cause of the loss, but an excluded peril has contributed or was necessary to the loss. We conclude that a property insurer may not limit its liability in this manner, since the statutory and judicial law of this state make the insurer liable whenever a covered peril is the 'efficient proximate cause' of the loss, regardless of other contributing causes. Consequently, the policy exclusions at issue in this case are not enforceable to the extent they conflict with California law." (Howell v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., supra, 218 Cal. App. 3d at p. 1452.) The court also determined that on the facts before it, there was a triable issue on whether fire, a covered peril, was the efficient proximate cause of the insured's loss.