TREE ROOTS AND SEWER LINES
Your toilets, sinks and tubs won’t drain. The plumber discovers a blockage in the main sewer line running from the house to the street caused by tree roots. Does the HO policy cover the cost to repair or replace the sewer line?
Unlike the ISO building and personal property commercial coverage form, the homeowners forms do not exclude damage to underground pipes and similar equipment. An all-risk or named-exclusions policy that does not specifically exclude the actions of tree roots would cover such losses as long as they are fortuitous (i.e., not subject to the neglect exclusion). Some insurers reportedly have specific tree root exclusions, but the ISO-standard HO-3 does not.
The key issue is whether the sewer line has actually been damaged. It’s possible for roots to penetrate joints without damaging them, but even then, there could be enough separation in the joint to constitute damage. It there’s no damage, then there’s no coverage; otherwise, there is not an exclusion. For more information, including a discussion of the wear-and-tear exclusion, go to IAmagazine.com.
Your toilets, sinks and tubs won’t drain. The plumber discovers a blockage in the main sewer line running from the house to the street caused by tree roots. Does the HO policy cover the cost to repair or replace the sewer line?
Unlike the ISO building and personal property commercial coverage form, the homeowners forms do not exclude damage to underground pipes and similar equipment. An all-risk or named-exclusions policy that does not specifically exclude the actions of tree roots would cover such losses as long as they are fortuitous (i.e., not subject to the neglect exclusion). Some insurers reportedly have specific tree root exclusions, but the ISO-standard HO-3 does not.
The key issue is whether the sewer line has actually been damaged. It’s possible for roots to penetrate joints without damaging them, but even then, there could be enough separation in the joint to constitute damage. It there’s no damage, then there’s no coverage; otherwise, there is not an exclusion. For more information, including a discussion of the wear-and-tear exclusion, go to IAmagazine.com.
