Idea Exchange: Is It Covered?
Logic & Language and Forms & Facts Homeowners Coverage Gaps? Here Are Some ‘Mower’
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n 2018, the Insurance Journal published an article titled “Lawnmower Injuries Remain Source of Serious Injury and High By Bill Wilson Costs.” A study cited in the article stated each day during the mowing season, about 30 people are injured or maimed in lawnmower accidents, with the average cost of injuries requiring medical attention $37,000. This doesn’t include lost time, pain and suffering, etc. that may also be recoverable. It’s easy to see how a lawnmower injury involving negligence on the part of the owner or operator can potentially result in a claim exceeding the standard $100,000 40 | INSURANCE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 5, 2020
homeowner policy liability limit. But even an average medical claim can cause financial disaster for a homeowner whose policy doesn’t cover the claim at all. You'd be astonished at how tenuous coverage can be for the use of a riding lawn mower. Let’s compare the policy language between the three most recent Insurance Services Office (ISO) HO 00 03 (HO3) forms. The 1991 edition of the ISO HO3 extends liability coverage to a riding lawnmower “Used to service an ‘insured’s residence.” The 2000 edition of the ISO HO3 extends liability coverage to a riding lawnmower “Used SOLELY to service an ‘insured’s residence.” The 2011 edition of the ISO HO3 extends liability coverage to a riding lawnmower “Used solely to service a residence.”
To illustrate the differences, let’s apply them to a claim scenario. I’m cutting my yard and my riding mower runs out of gas. My next-door neighbor has a riding mower with a full tank, so I use his. While using it, the mower overturns into a ditch, the blade comes off, and another neighbor is severely injured. (This actually happened except that there was no injury.) If I have the 1991 HO3, I’m covered while using my own, or any other, riding mower on my residence premises. As long as I use the vehicle at some point to service my own residence, I’m covered using it anywhere else in the world. If I have the 2000 HO3, I have no coverage because my neighbor’s riding mower isn’t used solely to service MY (“an ‘insured’s’”) residence premises. If I have the 2011 HO3, I might have covINSURANCEJOURNAL.COM
