MORE ABOUT MOWERS By Bill Wilson, CPCU, ARM, AIM, AAM
In my first two columns, I discussed a couple of important insurance contract interpretive principles, “RTFP!” and “Entirety of Contract.” Both deal with the critical importance of actually reading the policy in its entirety to determine whether there is coverage for a claim. In the last issue, I illustrated the meaning of “Entirety of Contract” using an actual claim involving damage to a lawn mower. Now that we are in full mowing season, I thought I would address the issue of 4
liability coverage for the use of riding lawn mowers. My research tells me that over 2 million riding mowers are sold annually and that the useful life of a riding mower is at least 10 years, over which the potential for accidents due to lack of maintenance or equipment failure escalates. According to the Consumer Product Agency, there are about 80,000 injuries annually involving mowers, about 10% requiring an emergency room visit, with 21% resulting in JUNE 2023
amputation. In other words, injuries are not uncommon and can be severe, testing the limits of many homeowners’ policies. An even bigger potential problem is a riding mower accident that is excluded by a homeowners’ policy. How homeowners’ policies cover (or don’t cover) liability for riding mower accidents can vary significantly from one insurer to another. In fact, coverage can vary considerably from one ISO HO 00 03 policy edition to another.