Duties of Insured under Farm Policy

I have an insured who has a block retaining wall that runs along his drive up to his house; the wall is 6 years old. Last fall, the insured was filling dirt behind the wall and the bucket of his tractor cracked the block; he said that the crack went from the top to the bottom where it meets the cement drive. The wall at its highest is 6′ tall and then it progressively gets lower. He said that the wall became loosened at that time. He claims that he called the agency when it happened and was told that there was nothing that the agency could do for him. Since then, the wall has started to crumble and has fallen in places.

Had the insured been able to turn the claim in last fall, I believe that we would have had coverage for the damage. I see the retaining wall as falling under coverage B- Related Private Structures….like a fence or even sidewalk. I do not see that we have any coverage for the collapse that has happened now as a result of his neglect. But, I believe that the insured did try to contact his agent and I believe had it been turned in last fall, there would have been coverage. 

The damage to his covered property is covered unless excluded. I do not see that by his damaging the wall with his tractor, the property is excluded. There are 10 exclusions, 2 related to freezing, and 1 applying to each of the following causes of loss: theft, vandalism, seepage, settling, birds, smoke, collapse and pollution. None of these exclusions apply. I think it is like an insured hitting the garage door with their car. 

Any thoughts?

Ohio Subscriber

Even though the unbroken chain of events which led to the collapse of the wall started with the collision of the tractor with the wall, which would have been covered, after the agency denied the claim, the insured did not take all reasonable steps to protect his property and avoid further loss. This is a duty imposed on the insured by the policy. Since he did not comply with this duty, there is no coverage now.

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