Category: Homeowners

Many homeowners have lost their homes or been financially crippled, not because of an obvious exclusion in their HO policies, but because of three words in a definition referenced from an insuring agreement. If you write homeowners insurance, right now I guarantee you have insureds who may have no coverage on their homes.

The insured sold her $29,000 ring…or so she thought. When she attempted to deposit the cashiers check, she learned that it was forged and the forger was long gone. When she reported the claim to her insurer, it was denied. The adjuster said this was voluntary parting, not theft.

Yesterday, a 7-year-old girl drowned in a pool that a homeowner reportedly rented, through Swimply, to a group that allegedly included about 15 children. I blogged about Swimply a couple of years ago when they appeared to not offer any liability coverage for renters. They apparently currently include $1,000,000 of coverage…but how much is the life of a 7-year-old child worth?

Homeowners policies generally provide very broad worldwide liability coverage. However, among the exclusions are those pertaining to occurrences that take place on certain premises. These exclusions often have exceptions that grant coverage if the premises is an “insured location.” One common type of “insured location” is often vacant non-farm land. The question is, what is (or isn’t) “vacant” land?