Cassie and her neighbor were constantly on each other's nerves. One night, the neighbor snuck onto Cassie's property and jammed a stick into the A/C condenser fan blades out of spite, causing the mechanicals on the unit to break down.
Notable Timestamps
[ 00:29 ] - The adjuster's manager points out the exclusion for mechanical breakdown, prefaced by anti-concurrent causation language. The adjuster still feels this loss was in the nature of a vandalism loss and should be covered.
[ 01:45 ] - Trivia question! What sitting US Senator was assaulted by his neighbor while mowing his lawn?
[ 02:45 ] - Mike & Brennan get into their history of neighbor feuds and doggie disputes...
[ 04:04 ] - The "Anti-Concurrent Causation" preface deals with the multiple causation problem. The default approach is to determine which cause is dominant or proximate, but where a policy has the "Anti-Concurrent Causation" preface, that's not the approach.
[ 05:35 ] - Tim pulls the policy out of his pocket and reads that exclusions that follow the A.C.C. preface are excluded "regardless of any other cause..."
[ 07:00 ] - In four jurisdictions (AL, CA, WA, WV), the A.C.C. preface is disregarded.
[ 07:40 ] - There is an argument to be made that mechanical breakdown is in the chain of events, and therefore the exclusion applies regardless of the vandalism cause.
[ 09:11 ] - An insurance company can choose to draft their policy this way and exclude this loss.
[ 10:44 ] - Usually when you think mechanical breakdown, you think of a machine reaching the end of its life, wearing out, as opposed to sudden damage.
[ 11:23 ] - It is very rare to see the mechanical breakdown exclusion paired with the A.C.C. preface, likely due to this unintuitive situation. The A.C.C. preface is usually intended for exclusions more subject to misapplication, such as flood.
[ 12:55 ] - The way this policy is drafted, any time a machine breaks down it would eliminate coverage... even during a fire? Would a court uphold that?
[ 13:30 ] - Tim provides a recap of the scenario and the points above.
Your PLRB Resources
Mechanical Breakdown Exclusion and the Anti-concurrent Causation Preface – PCQ.2024.09.26.twh.a - https://www.plrb.org/documents/mechanical-breakdown-exclusion-and-the-anti-concurrent-causation-preface-pcq-2024-09-26-twh-a/
PLRB, Homeowners Annot. Key – Mechanical Breakdown, Latent Defect, Inherent Vice (HO129) - https://www.plrb.org/documents/mechanical-breakdown-latent-defect-inherent-vice-ho129/
Anti-Concurrent Causation Preface (HO78) Annotation - https://www.plrb.org/documents/anti-concurrent-causation-preface-ho78/
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