June 25, 2014 Jon Crain
Another often misunderstood coverage that is built into liability policies is "Fire Damage Legal Liability" usually offered with limits of $50,000, $100,000 or $300,000.
This coverage is mostly irrelevant to a condominium or a single family home tract but since we have received a lot of questions about this coverage throughout the years we wanted to address it.
All liability policies exclude property damage against property in the "care, custody and control" of the insured. For instance, if the Association were to lease an off-site office for management purposes, the liability policy would exclude a claim that the Association had caused a fire in the unit they occupy that damaged the building.
In order to overcome this exposure, the liability policy includes "Fire Damage Legal Liability" coverage. This would supersede the "care, custody and control" exclusion and protect the Association against a legal liability claim for property damage to the office unit they occupy.
Again, as most Associations have no property of others they occupy or rent or lease, this coverage is irrelevant. It is specifically designed for businesses such as Management Companies or Insurance Agents who rent office space in a building owned by someone else.
I hope these have been of assistance. As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions on the above or any other questions on insurance.
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