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Commercial property
Return premium—fire fees
When a policy is canceled, must the fire insurance fee be returned?
NYPIUA vandalism coverage
My insured has a rental property insured in the New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association. The property suffered extensive water damage after a disgruntled tenant moved out. It appeared that the tenant had taken a sledge hammer to the radiators. Is the water damage covered under the Vandalism and Malicious Mischief coverage?
Landlord policies as personal lines
Our company writes a landlord policy for three- and four-unit residential dwellings. We will be raising the rates on these policies. Are they subject to the requirement that we notify the insured of any rate change resulting in more than a 10% increase under Section 3426?
Simplified renewal OK for anti-arson apps
Can we send in a renewal application on a policy that is subject to the anti-arson application requirement that simply states “no change” in the anti-arson information?
Building ordinance coverage
Under the ISO Building and Personal Property Coverage Form and the Ordinance or Law Coverage endorsement, does the Increased Cost of Construction coverage contemplate rebuilding at another location?
Post-loss waiver of subrogation
We have a client who is a tenant insured on an ISO Commercial General Liability Policy. The tenant’s lamp started a fire that caused significant damage to the landlord’s building. The two corporations (the tenant and the landlord) are owned by the same people. The landlord’s insurer has paid $170,000 and is subrogating against the tenant, who has $100,000 fire legal liability coverage. Will the tenant’s insurer pay the excess $70,000 under the property damage liability limit under his policy?
Debris removal
We need your interpretation of an ISO Commercial Property Insurance form (CP 00 10) with respect to the limits provided for debris removal. We wrote a policy with a $400,000 property limit. The property burned and was a total loss. The owner is faced with a $75,000 debris removal bill. The company will pay only $25,000 of this bill. Shouldn’t they pay up to 25% of the $400,000 limit, plus $25,000, for debris removal?
Lead-paint exclusions
It would be appreciated if you could confirm that, in order for an insurance carrier to deny coverage under a habitational real-estate package policy for a claim involving lead paint, there has to be a specific endorsement to the policy excluding coverage for lead-paint liability claims.
Burst pipe
We have a claims dispute over a commercial property loss. The building owner submitted a claim for an incident in which a pipe burst underground, resulting in water damage to the basement. The policy wording follows ISO’s Causes of Loss—Broad Form (CP 10 20 04 02) with respect to water damage. The adjuster provided the insured with a proof of loss to sign and indicated there would be coverage for breaking and refilling the cement above the pipe and the water damage to the basement. The insured signed the proof of loss and it was sent back to the carrier. Now the carrier is claiming there is no coverage because the underground pipe is not covered property.
Liberalization clause
If a carrier adopts a change to a commercial property policy that broadens coverage, when does the change affect in-force policies?
Lightning damage
Lightning hit an electric line leading to an air-conditioning unit on the roof of a building. The unit was damaged. The company claims Exclusion 2.a. applies, relating to “artificially generated electric current, including electric arcing, that disturbs electrical devices, appliances or wires,” so the carrier is denying coverage. The insured contends that lightning is not artificial, so there should be coverage. Who is right?
Perishable stock—spoilage coverage endorsement
We have a pet shop insuring its property with the Cause of Loss—Special Form perils. Suppose a power or equipment failure causes $10,000 worth of tropical fish to die. Would this loss be covered?
Functional valuation
At an E&O seminar I attended, the instructor mentioned the “functional replacement cost” endorsement. Could you explain the use of this endorsement?
Medical equipment—inland marine or commercial property form?
My client leases space but owns and operates a large medical-imaging machine, valued at about $900,000, which is installed at his leased premises. I quoted property coverage for him under an inland marine policy. There was about a $1,000 difference in the premiums we quoted. How should this coverage be written?
Goods held for delivery
We insure a manufacturer under an ISO Building And Personal Property Coverage Form. The manufacturer invoiced his customer on March 31 for $200,000 in stock, with an agreement that the stock would be held for delivery in June. The invoice states that title passes on the invoice date. If there is a loss before the customer takes delivery, will the manufacturer be covered?
Liquidated damage agreement; commercial property waiver of subrogation
I just ran into a new term. Could you tell me what a “liquidated damage clause” is? This involves an alarm company contract. The alarm company wants our client to waive subrogation in excess of liquidated damages. What is this about?
Midterm cancellation
We wrote a commercial policy in September. In December, after the policy had been in effect for more than 60 days, the insured got a midterm cancellation notice based on “physical change in the property insured.” There has been no change in this risk since we wrote it. Can the company do this?
Waiving your rights
When the ISO Commercial Property Policy speaks of waiving “your rights,” doesn’t it ultimately mean a waiver of the insurer’s rights?
Glass coverage
The commercial property form now includes building glass coverage. Is there a deductible and a per-pane limitation in the form? How is tenant glass covered now?
Ordinance or law coverage for improvements and betterments
I place coverage for many clients that pay a considerable amount of money to make improvements in the buildings they lease in order to accommodate their restaurant operations. If additional costs are incurred to replace these improvements, because the building codes have changed since originally installed, is there any standard means to obtain this coverage?
Improvements and betterments
Does the definition of “your business personal property” in the ISO CP 00 10 form include coverage for fire damage to the following property when obligated by the lease to insure it: 1) improvements and betterments made by a previous tenant, 2) window glass, 3) horizontal wood support joists between the basement and first floor occupied by the tenant, 4) newly installed kitchen equipment, or 5) floor installed by the previous tenant?
Governmental action exclusion
We have had a claim denied where our insured owns a commercial property. The central alarm system alerted the local volunteer fire department to the scene. The fire department damaged the doorway to the building to gain entrance only to see that there was no fire. The carrier is denying the claim based upon the government authority exclusion.
Additional coverage to recover tax credit
My commercial client obtains a 20 percent Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit in recognition of the cost associated with rehabilitating historic buildings. I was told by someone that my client cannot recover this credit under the standard business income form. He wanted to sell my client another policy form that covered the loss of tax credits. Is this just a devious way to sell additional coverage?
Water damage from off-premises sewer
A sewer cracked in front of our insured’s building (underground in the street). The town is calling it an abandoned storm sewer. The cracked pipe caused severe water damage to our insured’s building (in the amount of $60,000). We are unsure if this type of loss would be considered a backup of sewers or drains. Is there some way to cover this loss?
Permanent fixture
We recently received a denial on a commercial property claim for wind damage to a gate, which is permanently mounted on an enclosure attached to the building. The denial was based upon the assertion that “fences” are covered only if the cause of loss was fire, lightning, explosion, riot or aircraft. The adjuster has referred to the definition of “fence” in a dictionary.
New buildings on commercial blanket policy
Would an insured with a commercial blanket property policy have to list all of their buildings on their insured location?
Tenant with cannabis business
I have a landlord client who is not in the cannabis business, but his tenant may have an exposure with cannabis products. Given that most policies now have a cannabis exclusion, is there some way to protect the landlord?