Insurance claim - any thoughts?

[RobEllis]

Just wondering if any of you have come across a similar scenario to the following, and if so, what the outcome was.

Back in July there was an awful overnight storm in Teignmouth and my boat and my brother-in-laws boat were amongst 18 torn from their swinging moorings.

Both of our insurance companies stipulated that our moorings should be 'professionally laid and maintained'. In both cases our mooring strops and safety chains gave way. (All new in April) The first question I was asked related to the 'professionally laid' mooring. I told them the mooring had not failed - it was the strop and chain. My claim has been settled. Brother-in-law's insurers have asked the same question and been given the same answer. However, they have now asked their surveyor to question brother-in-law again about the mooring. His claim, by the way, is substantially more than mine was.

Our view is that they are attempting to wriggle out of the claim by using this clause. Brother-in-law has used a swinging mooring for the last six years and is almost fanatical about the condition of his boat and hence the safety of his mooring. What would a 'professional mooring layer' do differently to anyone else? It's not rocket science. The Harbour Master tells us over 50 boats in the estuary are insured with the same insurers as brother-in-law so in theory they possibly could have no cover if this clause in enforced.

If his boat had been hit whilst at sea, would the insurers deny liability because his mooring may not have been 'professionally laid' ? Seems irrelevant in that case, but the failure of his mooring was not the cause of his claim.

Does anybody have any other experience of this type of situation? What was the outcome?

 

[DAKA]

If it is a Policy condition then cover can be void by the insurer if they choose.
In fact it is the Policy Holder that has chosen to void the cover if he didnt comply with a policy condition.

If it is an endorsement to the effect that ' Any damage caused by a failure in the mooring is covered only if a mooring is professionally laid' then the rest of the policy cover will remain in force.

He should ask his Broker to take the argument up on his behalf.

One of the formuites works for a marine Insurer, you really need his interpretation, can you post the actual wording ?

 

[RobEllis]

Daka, thanks for your response. The policy states 'Warranted professionally laid mooring', and strictly speaking if the mooring wasn't 'professionally' laid then the claim could be deemed invalid by the insurer. However, my insurance had a similar warranty which was ignored by my insurers as there was no failure of the actual mooring.

His broker, and the surveyor, are on his side and offering support, although the surveyor did originally decline the offer to inspect the mooring as he actually saw the broken strop and chain and concluded the mooring itself was sound.

I guess the outcome will depend on how strictly brother-in-law's insurers stick to the warranty condition.

 

[lookout]

depends maybe if they defined professionally in the terms?

ie, did they specifically say laid by a professional, meaning someone whose business is laying moorings.... or professionally laid, which could mean laid to a professional standard, perhaps just meaning not err a home-made sub-standard lash up.

 

[zingaro]

I,m sure it would be of interest to other forumites if you were to name the insurance company concerned if they do not meet the claim. As I for one would not insure with the company that are trying to wiggle out of the claim and I,m sure other boat owners would do the same.Which could me a substantial loss of revenue for this insurance company. Keep us all posted of the outcome.

 

[Richard10002]

Bit of devils advocate here but:

1) was the mooring professionally laid?

2) was it by a person/firm who lay moorings as part of their services? Or by someone who doesnt do this as part of their paid employment, but by someone who did the job supposedly as well as a "professional" would, therefore "professionally".

3) Isnt the chain/strop part of the "mooring"?

 

[RobEllis]

Richard,

The mooring was inspected by my brother-in-law and the Harbour Master's assistant at the beginning of the season before his boat was attached to it, and was considered sound. Who originally laid it? I don't know the answer to that.

However, the HM has confirmed the mooring itself is sinker and chain. Buoy upwards is boat owners responsibility.

 

[RobEllis]

Novio

I will await the outcome, but I know the HM is concerned at the prospect of potentially having 50-odd boats in the estuary that may not technically be insured.

 

[bbg]

I don't know insurance law, but as DAKA says the effect of the wording could depend on how it is characterised - if it is a conditon of the policy then (maybe) the entire policy could be void i.e. you wouldn't be covered even if damage was caused while you stayed on the mooring. If it is an endorsement such that they won't pay for losses due to mooring failure unless the mooring was professionally laid and maintained, then you should be OK if the cause of the failure was not the mooring failure.

Given that the wording refers to a "warranted" job, I think the insurers are trying to make sure that - if the mooring fails, they can claim recourse against the professional who laid or maintained the mooring.

Perhaps everyone in the area should get together for a group discount on (professional, warranted) mooring inspections.

 

[Richard10002]

If there are 50 or so moorings in the harbour, it's likely that they were laid professionally at some stage. One would imagine that a Harbour Masters assistant inspecting it would satisfy an insurance company, and a Harbourmaster confirming that "The mooring" is up to the buoy should be equally good enough.

Sounds like they are trying it on and he should fight for his rights.

When I had an insurance claim for the loss of an oven in a bakery, I immediately employed a loss assessor to handle the claim - he wasnt cheap, but the insurance company hated me for it, and I'm sure he got us at least the amount of his fee more than I would have been fobbed off with.

I've suggested this a few times, but nobody has ever mentioned using a loss assessor with respect to pleasure boat claims - i wonder if there are specialists or if any old loss assessor would do the job.

Cheers

Richard

 

[Richard10002]

google for loss assessors

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&amp...yUK%7CcountryGB

google for loss assessors marine

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&amp...yUK%7CcountryGB