Tenants Dog Bite and insurance issue

[Joz II]

Jurisdiction

Tennessee

We have rental properties in TN. and one tenant, without permission and in violation of the lease agreement, has a dog that bit a teenager. The short version is that my homeowner's insurance co. says that they won't pay any damages (if we were found liable) because we are not covered for liability. My policy, to me, looks like we do have liability. From my researching the company website shows that "basic rental dwelling insurance" includes liability. My agents been wishy-washy saying, it may have been removed in the past when houses were deleted, or that their insurance is sort of ala-cart (forgot exact wording) but no exact answer. Anyway, here is the contract. Sorry, kind of long and I didn't include some pages that were related to terrorism, aircraft, etc... Also, a few screen shots from their website.:

 

[Joz II]

...and website screens shots

 

[justblue]

@adjusterjack

 

[zddoodah]

I'm curious why you posted this thread at another site but posted your follow up here, without including any of the relevant facts from that other post. In any event...

What is the nature of the rental property (e.g., single-family residence, duplex, multi-unit apartment, etc.)?

Where did the injury take place (on or off the leased premises)?

When did the injury occur?

In the other thread, you wrote that you were served (with a lawsuit, I assume) on May 9 - eight days ago. When is your responsive pleading due? Have you retained legal counsel (you wrote that you intended to contact an attorney the next day)?

What cause(s) of action were alleged against you?

Have you received a written denial of coverage from your insurer?

 

[adjusterjack]

I'm curious why you posted this thread at another site but posted your follow up here, without including any of the relevant facts from that other post. In any event...

Because I asked him to post his policy here because there's no way to post it at FA. I've been following the threads at both sites.

I suggest suspending conversation until I have an opportunity to review the insurance.

 

[adjusterjack]

...and website screens shots

The first document you posted is a commercial general liability policy from 8/22/2018 to 8/22/2019.

Note the emphasis on the dates. That policy no longer exists and is not evidence of any coverage you might have today.

The second item you posted is a screen shot of general information about policies offered by that company. It is not a policy and means nothing with regards to the lawsuit.

It's clear that you had liability insurance back then but we have to figure out what happened to your insurance since then.

Please dig through your insurance paperwork and find more recent policies and post them here for review.

 

[Joz II]

OK, I pulled out all my files on all 6 houses we have. The house with the claim is the most recent purchase so does not show on the first (almost 26 page) document I posted. For the house with the claim, I only have Renewal Notice policy documents that's about 5 or 6 pages total. I file every document I get so not sure why I don't have a 26 page one. Every time we purchase a property, we add it to the same policy so only the last number on the policy changes, (-1, -2, -3, etc..) for each house.
On the first document I posted, house #3 shows liability. Now, house #3 papers, I can not find liability verbiage in the recent 26-page policy. If liability was removed, my premium has gone up every year. No drops. In 2019 (when I had liability), the premium was $424. and now $489.
So here are photos of the first document policy and the policy with the claim on it:



I blanked out handwritten notes I added.





I have no documents that say, they canceled liability.
Thanks for the responses.

 

[Zigner]

I suspect that you have misunderstood what you were told. I suspect that the insurance company was telling you that you had no liability (for the incident), not that you have no liability coverage. It's also possible that they are excluding coverage for this specific type of incident. It would be exceedingly strange for you to pay for liability insurance, yet have no liability coverage. Try to talk to someone higher up at the insurance company.

 

[Joz II]

What is the nature of the rental property (e.g., single-family residence, duplex, multi-unit apartment, etc.)?

Where did the injury take place (on or off the leased premises)?

When did the injury occur?

In the other thread, you wrote that you were served (with a lawsuit, I assume) on May 9 - eight days ago. When is your responsive pleading due? Have you retained legal counsel (you wrote that you intended to contact an attorney the next day)?

What cause(s) of action were alleged against you?

Have you received a written denial of coverage from your insurer?

It's a single family house. Not exactly sure where it happened but the teenager's basketball rolled into the bushes (assuming it was our yard) and the dog broke loose and bit him.
It happened last June or July. They had two different dates that it happened.
Our response is due in 30 days, and just the other day, the insurance company assigned us a lawyer. Then, the next day we got a denial letter stating, we did not have liability on our policy.
Cause of action is: defendants knew or should have known the dangerous nature of the dog.
And, failed to take measure to protect the people in the community. And we did not warn the minor of the dangerous dog. And not providing a secure area for the dog. Also, failing to prevent tenant from having a dangerous animal.
Thanks for responding.

 

[zddoodah]

The additional documentation you provided isn't going to allow anyone to assess the extent of your coverage (although the declarations page suggests you might not have liability coverage).

If you were served on 5/9, then you likely have a responsive pleading due by 6/8. If your insurer isn't retaining counsel to defend you, then you need to do that yourself. Hopefully you can find one who will not only handle your defense in the pending litigation but also review your insurance documents and advise you about your coverage. It's possible you have a claim against your insurer for breach of the policy and, possibly, bad faith. The duty to defend under an insurance policy is broader than the duty to indemnify, so most insurers will undertake defense under reservation of rights if there is any reasonable possibility of coverage under the policy. If your insurer is outright denying defense and coverage, that's pretty telling (although I'm unfamiliar with your insurer).

 

[adjusterjack]

OK, I pulled out all my files on all 6 houses we have. The house with the claim is the most recent purchase so does not show on the first (almost 26 page) document I posted. For the house with the claim, I only have Renewal Notice policy documents that's about 5 or 6 pages total. I file every document I get so not sure why I don't have a 26 page one. Every time we purchase a property, we add it to the same policy so only the last number on the policy changes, (-1, -2, -3, etc..) for each house.
On the first document I posted, house #3 shows liability. Now, house #3 papers, I can not find liability verbiage in the recent 26-page policy. If liability was removed, my premium has gone up every year. No drops. In 2019 (when I had liability), the premium was $424. and now $489.
So here are photos of the first document policy and the policy with the claim on it:
I blanked out handwritten notes I added.
I have no documents that say, they canceled liability.
Thanks for the responses.

Again, the first document is a Commercial General Liability policy on three dwellings (no property coverage) from 8/22/18 to 8/22/19.

The second document is a basic dwelling fire policy (no liability) on one dwelling from 1/3/22 to 1/3/23.

Somewhere between 8/22/19 and 1/3/22, a big change occurred in your insurance. You are going to have to find the policy documents between those two dates so I can figure out what happened.

Until you find those documents (declaration pages which you should be able to get from your agent if you don't have them) you'll need to proceed on the basis that you have no liability coverage and you'll need to hire your own defense attorney.

Call your agent in the AM and say "I want copies of all the declarations pages of every policy from 8/22/18 through the present day." Use those words.

 

[Joz II]

Call your agent in the AM and say "I want copies of all the declarations pages of every policy from 8/22/18 through the present day." Use those words.

I emailed my agent this morning and waiting for reply. I copied and pasted your sentence to be exact. If I don't hear back soon, I'll follow up with a phone call. I like email because it documents my communication, date time and what's said. People forget what they say in a phone call and can deny. I don't trust the insurance company. They lost my payment once, cancelled my insurance and blamed it on the card company rejecting the payment. Months later, they admitted, it got lost in a batch payment.

I suspect that the insurance company was telling you that you had no liability (for the incident), not that you have no liability coverage.

It's possible. It gets confusing, reading online policies from their website, reading reviews of the company that show what's covered, going through 6 houses of policies over 6 or so years.
Updates soon, I hope.
Thanks again.

 

[adjusterjack]

I like email because it documents my communication, date time and what's said.

Very wise.

It gets confusing, reading online policies from their website

If you can read the policies on the website you should be able to save images of the declarations pages to your computer to verify what the agent comes up with.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

If you can read the policies on the website you should be able to save images of the declarations pages to your computer to verify what the agent comes up with.

I believe with Shelter Insurance one can print their entire policy from the website.

 

[adjusterjack]

Yep. Either way, I'm waiting on additional declarations pages to see if I can piece together what happened to the coverage.

 

[Joz II]

Yep. Either way, I'm waiting on additional declarations pages to see if I can piece together what happened to the coverage.

I waited till end of day, yesterday. No reply so I called, left message, then texted. Then, I started getting emails with policies attached, one at a time, late yesterday. The important one, (from our first house) which may show the liability was from a previous agent, so I have to reach out to him to retrieve those docs. I should be able to get them edited, later today and posted.
I'll also try to get them off the website.
Thanks, and updates soon.

 

[Joz II]

I believe with Shelter Insurance one can print their entire policy from the website.

Right. I created an account and I see all my docs. They only go back to 2018 (first house purchased in 2017). But, I think I figured it out. It appears I had liability insurance, then in Aug 2018, they cancelled my insurance on the first house because Shelter found a pool in the backyard. The only letter I received was the one when it was cancelled. I contacted the PM, they contacted the tenant, the pool was removed and insurance reinstated. It appears, liability was "not" reinstated, and each house added later on, did not include liability. We buy and sell a lot of cars and each car we purchase; I add insurance and match it to existing insurance. I don't recall with the houses, how but I always called to add the new house.
And there's a confusing policy declaration page that shows liability and another with same dates that doesn't. (Photo). Also, here's the letters about the cancelation:

 

[adjusterjack]

There is still a gaping hole in the liability time line for the property at a location beginning with 43, which appears to be the subject of the lawsuit.

You had a Comprehensive General Liability Policy dated 8/22/18-8/22/19 on three properties which included the property beginning with 43.

In a letter dated 8/9/18 that policy was cancelled on it's inception date of 8/22/18, winking that policy out of existence.

However, you had another Comprehensive General Liability policy dated 6/11/18-6/11/19 on three properties including the property beginning with 43.

Look for a Comprehensive General Liability renewal starting 6/11/19 and going forward.

During that period you had a Dwelling Fire Basic Form on property beginning with 43 dated 6/11/18-4/11-19.

It appears that you also don't have liability insurance on the two properties beginning with 50 and 51.

The two other documents reveal policies as follows:

Dwelling Fire Basic Form dated 1/3/22-1/3/23 on property beginning with 14.

Dwelling Fire Broad Form dated 4/11/23-4/11/24 on property beginning with 43.

So far there is no evidence of any liability insurance on the property beginning with 43 after 6/11/19.

Dwelling Fire policies are stand-alone policies that cover only damage to the dwelling structure by fire and other causes. They do not contain liability coverage.

I always called to add the new house.

In the future put those requests in writing and follow up within 2 to 4 weeks to make sure you get the coverage you requested and then figure out how to keep better track of your insurance.

 

[Joz II]

Look for a Comprehensive General Liability renewal starting 6/11/19 and going forward.

I've been searching through all the documents on the shelter website. I'm starting to figure out small bits.

There is still a gaping hole in the liability time line for the property at a location beginning with 43, which appears to be the subject of the lawsuit.

43 was our very first house which originally had liability. The lawsuit house is 14.
From 5/2/19 to 8/22/19 all 5 houses had liability (Doc. #1). Not including the lawsuit house. That was our last purchase and won't show on policy till very end of 2019.
It looks like, our first house had no liability from 4/11/19 to 4/11/21 (doc. #4). But, on 5/2/19 till 8/22/19, it did have liability. So confusing. 3 houses were moved to another company so I can see why some policies show shortened date periods. But, I can't find anything about liability being canceled on the other houses. Then, the lawsuit house gets added at the end of 2019 and never gets liability.
The only document I can find from "6/11/19 is (Doc. #3). Just for 1 house.
Here's the documents related to the critical time period.
Thanks again for the insight.

 

[adjusterjack]

The lawsuit house is 14.

The only document with 14 is a Dwelling Fire Policy from 1/3/22-1/3/23.

You have not provided any evidence of liability insurance on that property and if the fire policy wasn't renewed on 1/3/23 there's no fire insurance on the dwelling now.

I can't find anything about liability being canceled on the other houses. I have no documents that say, they canceled liability.

"They" wouldn't have to have cancelled the policy. Could have just expired with no action on your part to continue it and that could be why you have no documentation of cancellation.

Here are several sites that provide lists of "personal injury defense" attorneys and "insurance defense" attorneys. That's the kind of attorney you need.

Find Top Memphis, TN Personal Injury Defense Lawyers Near You | LawInfo Attorney Directory

Best Memphis Personal Injury Defense Lawyers & Law Firms - Tennessee | FindLaw

Memphis Insurance Defense Lawyers | Compare Top Rated Tennessee Attorneys | Justia

Best Memphis Insurance Defense Lawyers & Law Firms - Tennessee | FindLaw