My client is insured on an Insurance Services Office commercial property special causes of loss form, with the ordinance and law coverage endorsement. Recently there was a fire loss which damaged a portion of the building.

My state requires that pipes must now be pressure tested to a much higher limit than normal usage, and meter bars must be installed. There is no problem in doing this in the damaged portion of the building, since the ordinance and law coverage responds. However, when the pipes in the undamaged portion were pressure tested, they blew.

The adjuster denied the claim for the blown pipes, stating that since the building is old, wear and tear was the cause of the loss, and therefore excluded. Shouldn't the blown pipes be covered under the ordinance and law endorsement?