Many Americans have been horrified and confused over the shootings which have occurred in schools nationwide the past several years, and the Columbine High School tragedy has been of particular concern. After having these events splashed over the airwaves and newspapers; the consequences of these actions have to be dealt with by the survivors. While citizens, authorities, social and psychological experts, gun opponents/proponents are all wondering why such things happen, the focus is beginning to shift to pointing fingers.
The shootings have created both human and financial
consequences and armies of lawyers are being formed to hold someone
financially accountable. Let's not oversimplify these events;
there are elements that make them different from each other. The
individuals involved and the particular circumstances that triggered
each event are not similar enough to treat them in the same manner.
However, the acts do have an important element in common. Since
all of these acts have been performed by children, it may appear
understandable that their parents are the first to be held responsible.
The first source that other parties look to for financial relief
are insurance policies. In such instances, would the parents'
homeowner policies respond to lawsuits over the actions of minors
who injure or kill their schoolmates? The answer is…..it
depends.
Homeowner polices are called package polices
because they offer coverage in two major sections. Section I protects
the property that belongs to the policyholder such as his home,
garage, storage sheds, household furnishings and even the increased
living expenses created by the loss of use of such property. Section
II provides coverage against the policyholder's legal responsibility
for injuring other persons or damaging their property. While the
shootings certainly involve substantial injuries and property
damage, homeowner policies may not provide coverage.
Homeowner insurance policies intend to respond to events that
are accidents. While the language differs among policies, generally,
the premiums you are charged for this liability protection is
based upon having to defend and make payments to injured parties
because of losses that are neither intended nor foreseen by the
policyholder. Of course, the particular loss details have a great
deal to say about whether the event can be considered an accident
or not. How the loss was caused, the age of the person causing
it and other circumstances affect coverage.
The question of the hour is: will a homeowner
policy pay for the financial consequences of a person shooting
someone else? Surprisingly, nothing is clear cut. For instance,
it could pay if the shooting involved a person who was defending
himself or protecting another person. It may pay if a person was
practicing on a gun range and a shot ricochets and injures another.
It may even provide coverage if one person aims directly at another
and fires a weapon, but the person holding the weapon is, say,
a toddler.
Many homeowner policies define whom are considered to be mature
individuals and, generally speaking, the age is 13 years or older.
Acts involving both guns and persons who are this age or older
are excluded from coverage under a homeowner policy. Why? Because
such persons should be old enough to understand the extreme danger
represented by guns. The choice in deploying a gun or similar
weapons against other persons can rarely be considered accidental
and, in most instances, are the full responsibility of the weapon-wielder.
But again, there can still be instances where a homeowner policy
may be required to defend or pay for such losses, including instances:
The fact is, the question of insurance coverage for such horrible
events is as confusing and complicated as why such events ever
occur. Only the passage of time and legal findings have the chance
to make this subject any clearer.
460f016
All rights reserved. Production or distribution, whether in whole or in part, in any form of media or language; and no matter what country, state or territory, is expressly forbidden without written consent of Insurance Publishing Plus, Inc