Can Homeowner's Insurance Cancel Because You Own a Pit Bull?
Homeowner's insurance typically covers both damage to a home and injury incurred by individuals on your property, as well as by a homeowner during some of their personal activities. Many insurance companies believe that ownership of a pit bull -- a breed of dog -- increases the likelihood that they will have to pay a claim. For this reason, many insurance companies refuse to provide insurance to homeowners who own pit bulls.
Policy Features
Homeowner's insurance policies are typically split into two parts: property protection and liability protection. Property protection covers most damage to structures on the property and the loss of your own personal property, such as through fire and theft. The other part, liability protection, is itself broken into two sections: personal liability and medical payments. Under personal liability, a homeowner is covered against lawsuits and claims of bodily injury or property damage that the homeowner is legally obligated to pay. For example, if the homeowner hurt someone and was sued for damages, his personal liability might cover this. Medical payments cover the claims resulting from physical injuries sustained by visitors to the home who are hurt on the homeowner's property or in the immediate surroundings, such as on an adjacent street. If a pit bull were to attack a person away from the home, the attack might trigger a claim covered by personal liability insurance; if the attack occurred on the homeowner's premises, a resulting claim could be covered by the medical payments coverage.
Policy Formulation
Insurance companies generally price the cost of coverage according to the statistical likelihood that the company will have to pay out money on a claim. Policyholders that stand a greater statistical likelihood of generating a claim are generally charged higher insurance premiums or refused coverage altogether. Some insurance companies believe that pit bulls stand a greater likelihood of attacking a person than other dogs. Homeowners who own pit bulls are therefore often charged higher premiums or denied coverage.
Effects
Generally, an insurance company will attempt to ascertain if the homeowner owns a dog before extending coverage. Depending on the company, if it is learned that the owner has a pit bull, coverage might not be extended. However, if the company learns after a policy has been issued that the homeowner has a pit bull, the company may cancel the policy immediately or refuse to renew it.
Expert Insight
According to Robert Hartwig, chief economist of the Insurance Information Institute, insurers pay more than $300 million each year in liability claims arising from dog bites. This makes them one of the leading causes behind homeowners' insurance claims. Lynn Knauf of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America notes that a disproportionate number of attacks are caused by certain breeds of dogs, such as pit bulls.
Solution
According to the website SaveABull.com, a number of insurance companies, including State Farm, Fireman's Fund, Kemper, Chubb Group and Farmers Insurance, do not discriminate against pit bulls. Other homeowners' insurance companies are willing to extend coverage with an exclusion for claims due to dog attacks.
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