We are wondering about collapse coverage for awnings under homeowners form HO 00 03 10 00. The area we live in was recently hit by a severe winter storm and the awnings over porches collapsed in many places due to the weight of ice and snow. Some insurers are denying coverage because the weight of ice and snow did not cause damage to property contained in a building. May we have your thoughts?
New York Subscriber
Awnings that are damaged by the weight of ice, snow, or sleet should be covered under form HO 00 03's additional coverage of collapse. The description of collapse coverage says that loss to an awning (and certain other structural items) is not covered for certain described perils unless the loss directly results from the collapse of a building. However, if one of the named perils under coverage C of the policy causes collapse damage to those items of property, collapse coverage also applies. Weight of ice, snow, or sleet is one of the coverage C perils.
In the case of personal property, coverage for weight of ice, snow, or sleet applies only if it causes damage to property contained in a building. However, the personal property limitation may not, logically, apply to structural items such as awnings. For example, assume that two insureds had garage roofs that fell in due to the weight of snow. One of the insureds had personal property stored in the garage; the other's garage was empty. If coverage only applied to structural items when property inside the building was damaged, the insured with property inside the garage would have coverage but the other would not. The problem of interpretation was created by applying a personal property named peril to structural items, but any doubt should be resolved in the insured's favor.
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