Thread: Homeowners Liability Insurance won't cover self defense??

I live in Minnesota. To preface, I'm an insurance agent dealing almost exclusively with commercial insurance and I've had my own personal insurance including homeowners insurance with the same insurance company for 10+ years.

I read an article this weekend that prompted me to review the liability section of my own homeowners policy to see if my insurance company would exclude liability coverage in the event I, the insured, would cause bodily injury to an aggressor in defense of my life or the life of someone else. It turns out.......my insurance company appears to exclude liability coverage for such a scenario!! Liability exclusion in the policy reads:

Exclusion (12) "to bodily injury or property damage reasonably expected or intended by the insured. This exclusion applies even if thebodily injury or property damage is of a different kind or degree, or is sustained by a different person or property, than that reasonably expected or intended."

Not cool.

I did check the policies of three other personal lines insurance companies we represent and those three others have a nearly identical exclusion but add the following wording: "However, this exclusion does not apply to “bodily injury” or “property damage” that arises out of the use of reasonable force by an “insured” to protect people or property."

It looks like I'll be moving my insurance to one of our other companies.

Three companies that added back the coverage for instances of self defense were:

Travelers
Selective
North Star Mutual

The company that excludes self defense is:

Auto Owners Insurance


Why is this relevant?

Bottom line: An aggressor breaks into your home and you inflict harm or death to the aggressor as a result of believing your life is in peril and are then sued by the aggressor or his survivors; if your homeowners company excludes coverage, you're on your own to pay for defense costs (hiring an attorney). One could reasonably assume in the above scenario that the lawsuit would hopefully be thrown out of court or a jury would side with the homeowner. However, paying for legal defense out of your own pocket rather than your insurance company picking up the tab would easily be in the tens of thousands.

I recommend that everyone check their policies! Simply asking your agent may not be sufficient since they may assume you'd have coverage in such a common sense scenario. Confirming this you'd have to view the page under Liability Exclusions that speaks specifically to "Intentional Acts" or similar wording.

I would be curious to find out if others find out their homeowners company does or does not provide the coverage. I have a friend that has his insurance with State Farm and will be checking on that with his agent.

ChrisL