Our insured resides in a condo in a building which recently sustained a fire loss. Many of the ceilings collapsed. It was found that the ceilings had an asbestos-based, sprayed-on finish, and an asbestos abatement company had to be brought in. The building insurer agreed to pay for the environmental cleaning but does not want to pay to remove the plaster and asbestos dust that has settled on the insured's personal property. They say that is the responsibility of the unit owner. We think the dust should be removed before the unit owner's personal property coverage under his HO-6 is triggered to apply to the smoke and water damage.

Your thoughts?

Connecticut Subscriber

Without having the condo master policy form, we are of necessity basing our response on an ISO CP 00 17. It appears that the insurer for the condo building is thinking "debris" is something that need only be removed from the commonly-owned property. But this is not what the policy says. The policy simply says that the insurer pays for "your expense to remove debris of Covered Property caused by or resulting from a Covered Cause of Loss that occurs during the policy period." Nowhere does the language state that the coverage is limited to debris—in this case, the asbestos and plaster dust—that only settles in certain locations. The covered property in this instance is the ceilings; the cause of loss, a fire. The ceiling debris should be removed under the condo policy, not the unit owner's.

 The HO-6 insurer should not pay the cost for removal of the dust. The HO-6 promises to pay the reasonable expense for the removal of "debris of covered property," but that is not the same as removal of "debris on covered property." These are two distinct items.

 

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