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Sinkhole collapse and mine subsidence: What is encompassed by these endorsements?

Loss resulting from mine subsidence and sinkhole collapse are excluded causes of loss on most homeowners forms. Here's what you need to know.

By From the editors of FC&S | Updated on November 17, 2014

The Insurance Services Office (ISO) 1991 homeowners forms excluded coverage for “earth movement, meaning…mine subsidence; earth sinking, rising or shifting.” Therefore, loss caused by these occurrences was excluded unless coverage was specifically endorsed onto the policy. But with the Homeowners 2000 program, the exclusion was changed to exclude loss resulting from “b. Landslide, mudslide or mudflow; c. Subsidence or sinkhole. The ISO 2011 homeowners forms contain the same exclusion. In order to make the point that subsidence encompasses subsidence resulting from a mine’s cave-in, the mandatory special provisions for many states amend the definition of earth movement. See, for example, HO 01 01 09 00 Special Provisions – Alabama, which states that earth movement means “earthquake, including land shock waves or tremors before, during or after a volcanic eruption; landslide; mine subsidence; mudflow; earth sinking, rising or shifting.”

Four states—Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia—offer coverage for loss caused by mine subsidence through use of special endorsements to standard ISO homeowners forms. Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia specifically limit coverage to damage arising out of coal mine subsidence. Illinois includes coverage for loss or damage caused by subsidence of coal, clay, limestone, or fluorspar mines, but adds that this list is not inclusive. 

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