We contend the following:

1. An irrigation system should not be considered as part of the plumbing system.

2. Their wording carries the connotation that a plumbing system services the inside of the dwelling with exit pipes or drains that could break outside of the dwelling.

Your thoughts please.

Florida Subscriber

Exclusions are to be read narrowly and in context. In this exclusion, the context is interior household plumbing, not outside irrigation lines. Also, Merriam Webster Online defines “plumbing” as “the apparatus (as pipes and fixtures) concerned in the distribution and use of water in a building.” Courts routinely refer to a standard dictionary when policy terms are not defined on the basis that a standard dictionary is available to the average insured. Therefore, the exclusion does not apply to the irrigation system for the lawn; the loss is covered.