Is it fraud if your agent knows that your garage isn’t going to be covered but doesn’t tell you?
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Is it fraud if your agent knows that your garage isn’t going to be covered but doesn’t tell you?
We bought our house and our agent told us that an inspection showed that
because our shingles were starting to curl that it would not be covered for
wind or hail. We had to sign a waiver that said we knew this. Fast forward
4 years we had a micro burst go through town and damaged our garage. Our
agent informs us that the same inspection that said our roof was bad, said
our garage was to old to insure. Our agent never said a word to us at the
start that our garage wasn’t covered and conveniently we didn’t have to
sign a waiver on the garage. Can they legally do that? Is there anything
we can do about this?
Asked on July 22, 2018 under Insurance Law, Nebraska
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
What does the insurance policy you purchased or paid for say? If the policy stated that your garage was covered (e.g. no excluded), it is covered; an insurance policy is a contract, and the insurer is obligated to provide the coverage they agreed to provide in the policy. If the policy stated the gargage was not covered, then having accepted that policy, you agreed to the exclusion of coverage. The fact you had a policy supercedes any representations or statements, etc. made previously--your coverage is what you agreed to and paid for, no more and no less. If the garage should be covered but the insurer will not pay, you could sue the insurer for "breach of contract"--violating their policy/contractual obligations.
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