We are public adjusters. Our client is a meat company with a commercial property policy. Their smokehouse burned along with two large meat smokers located inside. Because the smokehouse was not described on the declarations, the insurer has denied coverage for the business personal property (the meat smokers) because they were not located in the described premises or in the open within 100 feet of the described premises.

The smokehouse was of masonry block construction on a slab with a door, two windows, a vent, and a roof. It measured twelve feet by twenty feet and about nine feet tall. It stood less than twenty feet from the main processing building. It was attached by continuous concrete sidewalk, and the electricity was provided from the main structure. This smokehouse was twenty to thirty years old and a part of the realty when the insured bought the property five years ago.

The agent inspected the property five years ago, when he initially insured it. After the fire, he told the insured that he didn't know that the smokehouse was there, when it was easily in sight.