Does Your Homeowners Insurance Cover Dog Bites?

Dogs are some of the most popular house pets found in the U.S., with estimates from the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) putting the total number of dogs kept as pets in the country at about 77.8 million. They further estimate that these dogs are distributed throughout the nation in as many as 54.4 million households.

Now the Bad News

According to statistics compiled by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), each year these 77+ million dogs are responsible for inflicting somewhere around 4.5 million dog bites, and about 885,000 of these are serious enough to require attention at a medical facility. About one-half of these injuries occur to children.

Sometimes, victims of dog bites may be reluctant to bring legal action against the dogs’ owners because they may be a friend or acquaintance and a lawsuit could create both animosity as well as financial hardship. Fortunately, however, if the pet owner is also a homeowner (or carries renters insurance) a dog bite is most likely covered in the liability portion of their homeowners insurance policy and the pet owner will suffer negligible financial costs. Typical home insurance coverage will pay for the expense of defending against any legal claim resulting from a dog bite and also take care of any resulting settlement costs, within maximum policy limits.

How Prevalent are Homeowners Insurance Claims for Dog bites?

You may be surprised to learn that policy liability claims resulting from dog bites are far and away the most common, accounting for about 1/3 of all liability claims to the tune of more than half a billion dollars annually.

While the number of claims filed for dog bite liability in 2013 stands at 17,359, up only 2.6% from a decade earlier, according to the I.I.I., the total dollar amount paid for claims within that same time period was up almost 50%. This tremendous increase has to do the rising medical costs and also larger settlements being made.
Some insurance companies may exclude certain breeds from their coverage for dog bite liability, most commonly Pit Bulls and Rottweilers. Your homeowners insurance also may not cover a dog bite that occurs while the dog is in your vehicle, in which case there’s a good chance the liability would be covered under your vehicle insurance policy. It pays to read and understand your coverage to know what specifics apply. If you have questions, consult your insurance broker.  

Guaranteed Cash Value Vs. Net Cash Value Life Insurance: What's the Difference?

Life insurance policies can be a little confusing to understand, especially since there are several different types of life insurance, and each is slightly different from the next. All fall under two broad categories – permanent (sometimes called whole life) and temporary (usually referred to as term insurance). Both types provide a death benefit that is paid upon the death of the insured, assuming the policy is currently in force at that time.

Term life insurance is considered “pure protection,” since it has no benefits other than the stated death benefit. Permanent life insurance has a cash accumulation component in addition to the stated death benefit. Term insurance is written to cover the insured for a specific amount of time, or “term,” which is typically somewhere between five and thirty years. As long as premium payments are currently up to date on the policy, if death should occur to the policyholder at any time during the term, the named beneficiaries will receive an amount equal to the policy’s face value.

Permanent insurance provides permanent protection for the life of the policyholder, assuming premium payments are kept current. It provides a death benefit to the named beneficiary upon the death of the insured. In addition, these policies accumulate a cash value during the life of the policy that may be used in a variety of ways.

Cash Value

Permanent insurance premiums are set up to remain level throughout the life of the insured. In the early years of a policy, the premium charges are in excess of the real cost of providing the protection against premature death. The insurance company takes this excess and places it into a separate “savings” account, which accumulates as the years pass. This account is called the policy cash value.

Guaranteed Cash Value 

 

The cash value of a whole life policy earns interest, typically on a tax-deferred basis. If the policy has a guaranteed cash value, that means a minimum stated interest rate will be paid regardless of what’s happening with interest rates in the general economy.

Net Cash Value

If you cancel your permanent life insurance policy, the amount returned to you is called the net or surrender cash value. You’ll find this amount on your regular policy statement. It will be lower than the cash value for a number of years because of the initial expense required to underwrite a policy.

Four Types of Business Insurance You Didn't Know Existed

As a business owner, it’s critical that you protect yourself and your business with the proper types and amounts of insurance you require. It can be somewhat confusing to determine just exactly which of the many kinds of business insurance you should include in your portfolio, as there are so many options from which to choose, and it’s probably best to consult a seasoned, trusted expert in this area when putting together a coverage package that’s ideal for your own particular circumstances.
Some types of business insurance coverage are fairly conventional and may be somewhat familiar to you. These likely include:

• Property insurance
• Workers' compensation insurance
• Product liability insurance
• Business interruption insurance
• Professional liability insurance

There are several other much lesser known types of business coverage, however, of which you may not be aware and that you may possibly want to consider adding to your current policies. Following is some information about these.

1. Home Business Insurance – Standard homeowner's insurance policies typically don’t cover all the risks you may encounter in running a home-based business. These may include loss of inventory, liability in giving out faulty information that causes a client to lose money or damage caused by one of your products. Home business insurance will fill in these gaps.
2. Employment Practices Liability Insurance – this coverage protects you from financial losses caused by judgements against you or defense costs against claims for discrimination, wrongful termination, defamation, sexual harassment or other types of inappropriate or wrongful employer conduct.
3. Income Stabilization Weather Insurance – this coverage protects against financial loss caused by unseasonable weather conditions causing a negative effect on your business. A ski resort suffering from an unusually low amount of snow is a good example of a business needing this type of income protection.
4. Cyber Liability Insurance – this is protection for companies doing business online or who otherwise collect customer data within an electronic database. Hacking and other types of database breeches where a client’s personal information is compromised can be expensive to deal with and this coverage can help with the costs of notifying customers and dealing with resulting claims.

There are other types of business insurance you may need, some of which may be written into your commercial property insurance policy (such as terrorism insurance). Take the time to consult your insurance agent to determine what coverage you currently have and what you may be missing.   

Does Homeowners Insurance Cover the Mortgage in Case of Death?

Quality homeowners insurance provides quite a bit in the way of protection against financial loss, both for the homeowner and the mortgage holder alike. Under the protection of a homeowners insurance policy, the structure itself is covered against financial loss suffered as a result of it being damaged or destroyed from a long list of perils. The contents found within the home are also covered against damage or destruction as well as theft or vandalism. With most homeowner’s coverage, even your personal possessions not in the home are covered. An example would be a camera that gets stolen while you’re on vacation away from home.

Another big benefit provided by most homeowner’s policies includes liability protection. If someone visiting your home gets injured and you’re charged with negligence you could be subject to paying attorney’s fees, court costs, medical expenses and payments levied in a judgement. A good homeowners insurance policy should help in paying these expenses. Many policies even pay a no-fault medical benefit if your friend or neighbor becomes injured in your home. In this case, they can simply submit their medical bills to your insurance company for payment without filing a liability claim against you.

What’s Not Covered?

Two perils not covered by a standard homeowner's policy include earthquake or flood damage. Both of these perils require specialized coverage specific to either earthquakes or floods and must be obtained separately from standard homeowner’s coverage.

Another situation not covered under your homeowners insurance policy is the payoff of your mortgage in case you die prematurely. There are, however, a number of other types of policies you can buy that will provide the money necessary to pay off your mortgage in the event of your death, each of which is some specialized form of life insurance. They include:

• Mortgage Protection Life Insurance – this is a relatively expensive form of decreasing term life insurance, the proceeds of which, in the event you die, is paid to your mortgage holder to pay off your loan. This may be your least favorable choice.
• Term Life Insurance – you can take out term life insurance for the same term length as your mortgage loan and, in the event of your death, your survivors have the option of spending the payoff money as they see fit, including paying off the home if that’s their choice. This policy provides your beneficiary the most flexibility.