Our insured bought a seasonal residence in Michigan. We insured it on an HO 00 03 10 00. Last winter brought some unusually heavy snows, and, during the course of the winter the roof began to sag to the point where the residence became unsafe to live in. Some contents were damaged.
We turned the claim in to the insurer, who sent a roofer and an engineer. The engineer determined the home had not been built to code, and now the insurer is denying coverage, stating that the loss was collapse caused by the use of defective methods in construction, but since the collapse did not occur in the course of construction there is no coverage. Michigan, by the way, interprets “collapse” as being “structurally impaired,” rather than being reduced to a heap of rubble.
What are your thoughts?
Ohio Subscriber
The additional coverage for “collapse” states that loss caused “only by one or more of the following: a. Perils insured against in coverage C – Personal Property…. f. use of defective material or methods in construction…” The applicable coverage C peril is “weight of ice, snow or sleet which causes damage to property contained in a building.”
Care must be taken to read the collapse provision in its entirety. The provision states that the collapse may be caused by “only one or more [italics added] of the following,” not that the collapse may be caused by only one of the perils listed in the provision. If the defective methods were the only cause of the roof's collapse, there would be no coverage. However, the weight of the snow acted as the catalyst, so there is coverage for this loss.
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