The standard war exclusion in Homeowner's Policies excludes coverage ...
to bodily injury or property damage caused by war, including any undeclared war, civil war, insurrection, rebellion, warlike act by a military force or military personnel, destruction or seizure or use for a military purpose, and including any consequence of any of these.
[Boldface in original; italics added for emphasis.] If this exclusion or one substantially like it was applied to the wreckage of Flight 17, including the deaths, injuries and damages to the passengers and crew and all their families, there may be a question whether it would exclude coverage.
It clearly matters who "done it" in the case of the destruction of Flight 17.
What happened and is still happening in Eastern Ukraine qualifies as an undeclared war, civil war, insurrection, rebellion, warlike act, destruction or seizure, all words used in this exclusion.
One coverage question that would arise with respect to this exclusion is whether who done it was a military force, military personnel, or acting for a military purpose.
It seems hard to argue that killing a civilian airliner and all of its passengers and crew was an act of war.
© 2014 by Dennis J. Wall. All rights reserved. No claim to original U.S. Government works.
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