In the middle of the night, a burglar broke into the policyholder's house. Nearby police arrived, and the suspect was apprehended. Debbie filed a claim for the police's bullet holes in her house and cleanup of heating oil spilled when a bullet hit the tank.
Notable Timestamps
[ 00:15 ] - The bullet holes were all from police guns. 150 gallons of heating oil spilled in the basement.
[ 01:40 ] - Heating oil tanks are most commonly found in what region of the United States?
[ 03:30 ] - Tim reads through the Pollutants exclusion. Heating oil is most likely going to be considered a pollutant.
[ 04:45 ] - When pollutants are released, it's usually caused by something else. This policy narrows down the analysis by listing the perils covered in Coverage C.
[ 05:55 ] - Let's run through the Coverage C perils... how about explosion? There was a trial-level court case from Pennsylvania in the '90s that held a gunshot could be considered an explosion for the named peril.
[ 07:55 ] - "Riot and civil commotion" probably envisions multiple people, or at least a larger area.
[ 09:00 ] - Is it finally time for malicious mischief? No, it was the bullets from the police, and they were not causing the mischief.
[ 09:30 ] - The peril for theft includes attempted theft, so this peril is a possibility.
[ 10:45 ] - "Sudden and accidental tearing apart, cracking, burning or bulging of a steam or hot water heating system"... was the heating oil tank part of the hot water heating system for the home?
[ 12:00 ] - Volcanic eruption? Probably not, but it is valuable to step through the policy to look for coverage.
[ 13:13 ] - The governmental action exclusion applies to the destruction of covered property by order or governmental or public authority.
[ 14:00 ] - "Order" usually means a search warrant, or something more formal than what occurred in this scenario.
[ 14:45 ] - If the police officer's conduct exceeds the scope of the warrant, that may fall outside of the exclusion as well.
[ 16:15 ] - Tim provides a recap of the scenario and the points above.
Your PLRB Resources
Coverage Question: Governmental Action Exclusion – Raid Pursuant to Warrant - https://www.plrb.org/documents/governmental-action-exclusion-raid-pursuant-to-warrant-pcq-2023-04-30-twh-a/?search=governmental%20action
Coverage Question: Governmental Action or Civil Authority Exclusions Not Applicable Where Damage from Apprehending Suspect - https://www.plrb.org/documents/governmental-action-or-civil-authority-exclusions-not-applicable-where-damage-from-apprehending-suspect-pcq-2020-08-18-eks-a/?search=governmental%20action
Annotation: Pollutants; Smoke from Industrial Operations (HO131) - https://www.plrb.org/documents/pollutants-smoke-from-industrial-operations-ho131/
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