Insurance Issues in Your Home

Liability as a part of your Household - The need for proper Insurance.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, dog bites cost insurers $317.2 million during the year 2005. Little changed from $321.6 million in 2003 but down 8 percent from $345.5 million in 2002. While the number of claims paid by insurers fell from approximately 20,800 in 2002 to 15,000 in 2005 -- a decrease of 28 percent -- the cost of the average dog bite claim rose sharply, from roughly $16,600 in 2002 to $21,200 in 2005.

Liability claims account for approximately 4 percent of homeowner’s claims. Dog bite claims in 2005 accounted for about 15 percent of liability claims dollars paid under homeowner’s insurance policies.

As dog owners, we need to consider the following statistics;
· According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 4.7 million people are bitten by dogs annually, resulting in an estimated 800,000 injuries that require medical attention. With over 50 percent of the bites occurring on the dog owner’s property, the issue is a major source of concern for insurers.
· There currently are 65 million dogs in the USA. (American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA) 2003-2004 National Pet Owners Survey, cited by The Humane Society of the United States,
· Every year 2,851 letter carriers are bitten. (US Postal Service.)
· An American has a one in 50 chance of being bitten by a dog each year. (CDC.)

Every dog owner needs to have homeowner insurance or renters insurance that (a) provides coverage for, and does not exclude, injuries inflicted by dogs or animals in general, and (b) has a limit of at least $100,000 for personal liability. This type of insurance will enable the dog owner's insurance company to pay an appropriate amount of compensation for all but the most severe accidents caused by a dog. Because the dog owner's own relatives, friends and neighbors are the most likely victims of a possible dog attack, having insurance means protecting the people who are closest to the dog owner, thereby protecting valuable relationships and ensuring proper treatment of loved ones.

Given the fact that a dog is most likely to bite someone whom the dog owner loves most, it is recommended that dog owners have higher limits, such as $1 million, through either their homeowners and renters policies or by an "umbrella" policy. It is very inexpensive to obtain an umbrella policy and you should strongly consider such an “excess” policy by contacting your insurance agent for a price quote.

The good news for dog owners, accident victims and society is that homeowners insurance and renters insurance normally provide at least $100,000.00 in benefits for victims.

Other types of insurance also afford protection for the dog owners. Examples include automobile liability insurance, which may cover dog bites that happen in a car, landlord insurance that protects the landlord (but not the tenants) from claims that result from the actions of renters' dogs, and workers compensation coverage which may apply to bites and injuries that happen "on the job." Some companies even sell dog liability insurance. Your insurance agent can provide you with this information and it is always a good idea to update all your insurance coverages no less than annually.

At present, however, the insurance industry is attempting to sell homeowner insurance policies that exclude dog-inflicted injuries. Some insurance companies refuse to sell homeowner insurance to the owners of breeds of dogs that have a reputation for biting, such as pit bulls, Rottweilers, Akitas and Chow-Chows. Other insurers refuse to sell to anyone who owns any dog whatsoever.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal summed up the problem this way:
Some big insurers, including Allstate and Farmers Insurance Group, won't cover homes in some states if residents own certain breeds. Others exclude some breeds from liability coverage, or charge extra for it. The so-called vicious-breed lists include German shepherds, Akitas and Siberian huskies, along with Alaskan Malamutes, Chow Chows, Doberman Pinschers, American pit bull terriers and their cousins. (M.P. McQueen, "Snarling at Insurers," Wall Street Journal, July 18, 2006.)

No dog owner should purchase a homeowner policy or renter’s policy that excludes canine-inflicted injuries, unless he or she buys a supplemental policy that covers them.

The insurance industry also is quietly revising homeowner policies that protected dog owners when they originally bought those policies. Homeowners must carefully read all of the short slips of paper and other notices sent from insurers, in case they eliminate coverage for accidents caused by dogs. If that happens, a dog owner must get a different policy or an umbrella that provides both the coverage plus higher limits of protection.

Connecticut has a law before the State Senate entitled “An Act Concerning Homeowners and Tenants Insurance Underwriting based on Breed of Dog”. This Bill is currently stalled in the Senate Insurance Committee. It has been stalled there for over a year. You should each contact your state senator to urge passage of this bill. If passed, it would limit the ability of an insurance carrier to use the breed of dog owned by the insured as a basis for (1) establishing rates or minimum premiums under the policy, or (2) canceling, refusing to renew or refusing to issue such policy.

Suffice it to say, that all dog owners need to be covered by sufficient insurance to protect themselves and those who may be injured as a result of a dog attack.