Is Damage From a Skunk, Chewing, etc., Covered by a Homeowners Policy?
Question: “Is damage from a skunk, chewing, etc., covered by a Homeowners policy? My initial research tells me that a skunk is not a rodent, and as such, damage would be covered.”
Answer: It’s impossible to generalize because the answer depends entirely on the provisions within the specific policy involved in the claim. The answer depends on:
- The policy language
- The type of animal
- The nature of the damage
Addressing only the question of skunks, they belong to the biological order of “carnivore”, not “Rodentia” (at least if you can believe Wikipedia), so I lean toward saying they are not rodents. That said, depending on the language in the exclusion, there still might not be coverage. This is what I found when I compared six different Homeowners coverage forms:
The 2000 ISO edition excludes loss caused by birds, vermin, rodents or insects. The later editions drop the reference to “vermin” but add an exclusion for loss caused by
- Nesting
- Infestation
- Discharge/release of waste products or secretions
by any animals. If the policy includes one of these forms, I can foresee an argument about the “nesting or infestation” exclusion. The form states that the insurer does not insure for loss under Coverages A, B, and C caused by “nesting or infestation … by any animals.” The American Heritage Dictionary defines “infest” as “to inhabit or overrun in numbers or quantities large enough to be harmful, threatening, or obnoxious.” This leads to an argument over whether the presence of one skunk constitutes an infestation. That definition would seem to indicate no, but a claim adjuster may argue otherwise.
The same dictionary defines the verb “nest” as “to build or occupy a nest.” Did the skunk build a nest and move in? If not, I don’t think this part of the exclusion applies.
As I understand the law (as a layperson), the insurer bears the legal burden of proving that an exclusion applies, so that may be an argument in the insured’s favor. It might depend on whether one skunk set up residence or a family did. If only one skunk was present, I don’t think it’s at all clear that the loss is excluded, and therefore the carrier should pay.
Looking at non-ISO forms, Carrier #1 excludes loss caused by “birds, vermin, rodents, insects or domestic animals,” but covers glass breakage caused by birds or domestic animals (but not by vermin, rodents or insects).
Carrier #2 excludes loss caused by “bats, birds, insects, rodents, mollusks,” as well as the insured’s own animals and the “nesting, infestation, etc.” exclusion from the ISO forms. It gives back coverage for glass breakage.
Carrier #3 applies its provision to the dwelling, other structures, and contents and excludes loss caused by “birds, vermin, rodents, or insects” and the insured’s own animals. No coverage given for glass breakage.
Carrier #4 excludes loss caused by “birds, vermin, rodents, insects or domestic animals,” though they cover loss caused by domestic animals the insured neither owns nor cares for. They give back coverage for resulting fire, explosion, or smoke, but not for glass breakage. Unlike all of the other forms, this form does not give back coverage for damage resulting from water escaping from a plumbing system when the escape results from damage caused by any of these.
I’ll give you a real life example of why Carrier #4’s omission is important. I know someone who lives in Houston, Texas and is insured by Allstate. She owns several cats. One of them decided that the metal tube that runs from the water supply to a downstairs toilet tank tasted good. Accordingly, the young cat with sharp teeth decided to chew on the tube. The downstairs flooded. Repairs took months and costs thousands. I wrote about this in a blog post on Friday, July 13, 2018.
Note that some use the word “vermin” and some don’t. You can find a good article by Bill Wilson of InsuranceCommentary.com on the question of what exactly are vermin at https://insurancecommentary.com/what-is-a-vermin/. He has other articles on the exclusion at:
https://insurancecommentary.com/creepy-homeowners-insurance-court-decision/
https://insurancecommentary.com/if-x-is-covered-then-y-is-covered/
https://insurancecommentary.com/something-or-somebody-stinks/
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