Standard Time Definition

Q

We are having a debate in our office about whether the effective time of a homeowners policy is altered by daylight saving time. Homeowners policies state that coverage is effective at 12:01 AM Standard Time. My contention is that it is not affected by the changing of the clock; otherwise it would say that it is. But one of our producers says that when the clocks change, so does the effective time of the policy.

Have you ever heard of coverage being denied? What was the outcome?

Ohio Subscriber

A

That is an interesting question. So far as we're aware, no claim has been denied because of the change to daylight saving time. Coverage questions usually arise when it is uncertain that a policy is in effect at 12:01 AM. The first thing we turn to is Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, which defines “standard time” as “the time of a region or country that is established by law or general usage as civil time; specif: the mean solar time or a meridian that is a multiple of 15 arbitrarily applied to a local area or to one of the 24 time zones and designated as a number of hours earlier or later than Greenwich time.”

In other words, by using “standard time” the time is differentiated from military time. The other thing that should make it unlikely that a time change could affect coverage is that the change to daylight saving time always occurs at 2:00 AM in the United States , whether the change is to daylight saving time or back to regular standard time. So, a policy becoming effective at 12:01 AM would certainly be effective at 2:00 AM.

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