Commercial Property Insurance - Negligence?

[LGreene]

Thank you for taking the time to read (and hopefully answer!) my question - it's actually a 2-part question.

1) If a building owner or someone hired by the building owner modifies a fire door in a way that is not allowed by the fire door standards, or if he neglects to maintain his fire door so that it does not function properly in a fire, does this constitute negligence? Would this impact the insurance claim if there is a fire?

2) There is a fairly new code requirement which has been adopted in several states and requires fire doors to be inspected annually and the inspection documented. Do insurance companies require documentation of a building's fire doors as a condition of the policy?

 

[xrac]

Thank you for taking the time to read (and hopefully answer!) my question - it's actually a 2-part question.

1) If a building owner or someone hired by the building owner modifies a fire door in a way that is not allowed by the fire door standards, or if he neglects to maintain his fire door so that it does not function properly in a fire, does this constitute negligence? Would this impact the insurance claim if there is a fire?

2) There is a fairly new code requirement which has been adopted in several states and requires fire doors to be inspected annually and the inspection documented. Do insurance companies require documentation of a building's fire doors as a condition of the policy?

1)It would definitely be negligence. What would the nature of the insurance claim be? If we are talking building replacement I don't see that. If we are talking loss of life or injury I definitely think it would be a factor.

2)I doubt if the insurance company require it but the ordinance probably would have some type of requirement. The what if's don't matter unless it applies to your locality.

Disclaimer: I am not a P&C agent. Just my opinions.

 

[Guest]

1) There would be negligence if bodily injury or loss of life was due to a fire door malfunctioning in the event of fire.

2) While the insurance company would not require proof of inspections there are several ways for the carrier to address the code:

• Carrier may non renew if they pay out on a liability claim attributable to a malufunctioning fire door. As a result the builidng owner may be faced with a higher premium.
• Carrier may endorse the policy excluding coverage for liability arising out of failure to comply with fire door code.
• Carrier may have a question on the application pertaining to whether or not fire doors are maintained in accodance with code. If the answer was "yes" and at the time of the loss a door malfunctioned the carrier may deny the claim.

On the positive side a fire door code is a proactive life safety measure. On the negative side the code makes it just another cost of doing business (somebody has to pay for the annual inspection) which makes it bull**** for those building owners that are doing the right thing and already are spending the money to make sure their fire doors are always functioning properly without the necessity of a code.

 

[djs]

Hmm, don't over analyze this.

Insurance, by its nature, pays for unintentional negligence, due to a covered cause of loss.

So, did the fire door start the fire? No. Is the fire covered? Probably. Will the claim get paid? Probably!!!

Walk through most businesses and unless they have been inspected recently, you'll find fire doors propped open, not closing correctly, whatever. It happens. It doesn't really impact the claim, but might have some questions asked.

Now, lack of routine maintainence, or shoddy repairs, will cause a policy to potentially be non-renewed.

Now, to answer your questions. Improper repairs or lack of maintainence is definitely negligence (what else would it be?). If it did not cause the occurance, then it likely wouldn't impact the claim.

Requirements for inspections would be up to the carriers. You would have to ask them. Usually not, but as an agent, you should walk through the building you are insuring and point this out to the owner.

Dan