Legal Question in Insurance Law in New York

Can your homeownes ins. drop you even if no claim was submitted after a provoked

I have a 10yr old dog who has never been physically agressive. My neigbors daughter was reaching towards the dog to get something from her mouth when the dog snapped at her. I made a report to my homeowners ''just in case'' my neighbors decided to file a claim of loss. The dog was assessed by the Dept.of Health and cleared, for rabies and agressive behavior and was allowed to remain in my home. The child had a couple of puncture wounds to her left cheek,which are healing nicely. I have not received papers stating they are suing me, yet my homeowners sent us a letter stating they would drop us if we didn't remove the dog from the premises, and has since done so. I wrote them a letter as to the circumstances surrounding this incident and that my neighbors still allow their children to play and even sleep over my home. I did not get a response and found out from my broker that they were in the process of finding us a new carrier. The insurance co also sent us a check for the premium. My question is two-fold, first do they have the right to discontinue coverage for us because of this incident,even though a claim has not been submitted and second, if a claim is put in before the statue of limitation is up, who will be responsible?


Asked on 10/25/04, 1:23 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Robert R. Groezinger GroezingerLaw P.C.

Re: Can your homeownes ins. drop you even if no claim was submitted after a prov

It is odd that a carrier will drop you you in mid-policy without notifing you directly.

A carrier can drop you for any reason, or no reason at all.

How was your money returned? from the carrier directly or from the broker? If you got the full premium back, you were never covered (it may be a broker error). Call the carrier and ask why you were dropped.

There appears to be a 3 year statute of limitations on such cases. It will be your home owner's in effect when the loss happened.

Make a complaint with supporting documentation to the NYS Deptment of Insurance also about being dropped when a claim was made.

Good Luck.

RRG

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Answered on 10/25/04, 2:28 pm
Mark S. Moroknek Kelly & Curtis, PLLC.

Re: Can your homeownes ins. drop you even if no claim was submitted after a prov

Yes, they can drop you if you have not complied with a risk assesment request. The type of dog bite accident you describe constitutes the majority of the serious "dog bite" cases that these companies must pay out on. It sounds as if they had a risk evaluation done and decided that if you kept that dog, sooner or later they would have to pay out on a claim. Therefore, the request to remove the dog. By returning the premium and canceling the policy they have protected themselves against future accidents.

However, if you are sued as a result of the accident that occurred under this policy, you should still be covered by them, for past accidents during the policy period.

Get a new homeowners insurer!

If you want to find out about insuring the dog so as not to go through this again, ask an agent about it prior to signing up with a new company. You may get charged a higher premium for the dog

but you won't get dropped if they agree to the risk.

If you remain silent you won't know.

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Answered on 10/26/04, 12:52 am


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