Water Damage Exclusion — Ice Damage

Q

We have a commercial property insured under the CP 00 10 04 02 policy with special causes of loss form CP 10 30 04 02 attached. The Vermillion River was ice covered in January. The temperature went above freezing, causing the ice to break apart, and large chunks of ice damaged the exterior electrical outlets by the river which are connected to the main building. The insurer is relying on the water damage exclusion to deny coverage. Is that exclusion applicable in this situation?

Ohio Subscriber

A

This loss is covered.  The electrical outlet fixtures qualify as building covered property, because they are “permanently installed” fixtures. There was no “flood damage” here. (“Flood” means a rising and overflowing of a body of water, especially onto normally dry land, according to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary.) There was a collision with ice, not damage by flood or water. The fact that the water was in frozen form takes it out of the exclusion.

This would be analogous to a log or tree limb riding along high water, leaving the stream, and colliding with the building. The water damage exclusion is not applicable to this loss.

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