Happy Wednesday, it's hard to believe we are already halfway through February. Hopefully, this means warmer weather is on its way! This week we are discussing how feral cats uncovered ambiguous language in a rental dwelling policy, health insurance scams to look out for and how plaintiffs in some states are defying insurer winning steak in COVID lawsuits. 

Feral Cats Uncover Ambiguous Language in Rental Dwelling Policy

The owners of a residential rental property, the Goldbergers, filed a claim for $75,000 worth of coverage after their tenant "allowed" feral cats to "access" the property and cause "accidental damage." The Goldbergers had a rental dwelling policy through State Farm. State Farm denied their claim, citing an exclusion in the policy for damage caused by "domestic animals." The Goldbergers disagreed and sued State Farm, alleging breach of contract and insurance bad faith. According to NU Property Casualty 360, "State Farm argued that the denial was appropriate under the policy exclusion, which provided that accidental losses caused by "birds, vermin, rodents, insects or domestic animals" were not covered and the insurer filed a motion to dismiss. The superior court granted the motion, reasoning that a cat, feral or not, is a domestic animal. "The feral cats were action as if they were domesticated, and a reasonably intelligent insurance consumer would understand the exclusion unambiguously apply to damage caused by feral cats. The Goldbergers filed an appeal." 

NU Property Casualty reported that, "On appeal, the court began by concluding that the term "domestic animals" as it was used in the policy was ambiguous because there were at least two conflicting interpretations that were both reasonable. The court noted that under a species-based definition, the animal's species is dispositive, meaning that its current habitat and whether a human provides care for the animal is irrelevant, but under an individualized definition, the opposite is true. For example, a nontraditional animal such as a snake, monkey or bear in a home as a pet could not be considered a domestic animal under a species-based definition because those are wild animals but a bear could fall under an individualized definition if it was living with and being cared for by a human." Read more about how the court looked into the case here. 

State Sets New Vaccine Record Reports Another Day of Fewer than 1000 New Coronavirus Cases

The latest numbers from Wisconsin DHS show the number of people who have completed the COVID-19 vaccine series within the past 24 hours has broken another daily record. It's expected that Wisconsin could reach 1 million "shots in the arm" of COVID-19 vaccines early next week, including first and second doses. This new record comes as confirmed cases of COVID continue to decrease. The 7-day average fell to 806, which is the lowest 7-day average since September 5th. Read more here. 

OCI Press Release: Insurance Commissioner, DATCP Warn Wisconsinites to Watch for Health Insurance Scams

Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner Mark Afable and Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) Secretary-designee Randy Romanski are urging Wisconsin consumers to be wary of robocalls and suspicious sales calls ahead of the new Enrollment Period on Healthcare.gov. 

"No one from the government will call you about health insurance or ask you to verify your Social Security number or financial information," said Secretary-designee Romanski. "If you receive a suspicious call soliciting private information, don't respond and hang up." People can call the Consumer Protection Hotline at 800-422-7128, email DATCPHotline@wisconsin.gov, or visit datcp.wi.gov to file a complaint if you believe that someone is attempting to scam you.

For more news, check out the Action News section of our weekly e-newsletter  Big I Buzz.  If you aren't subscribed, click  here  to add your email to our emailing list. Don't forget you can stay up-to-date on other industry news and conversation by joining the IIAW's Online Community, exclusively for IIAW members. You can join the Online Community here. We hope that everyone has a great rest of their week!