Home Insurance vs. Karate. Who wins?
Let’s go to the tale of the tape:
Home insurance is pretty powerful stuff typically providing all-risk coverage (subject to exclusions) to the structure, broad coverage for personal property and world-wide personal liability coverage.
Karate, on the other hand, is an actual martial art. The art of self-defense.
Home Insurance vs. Karate:
Let’s say, your kid takes karate and he accidentally karate chops your 6 year-old neighbor in the nose. Is there coverage on the home insurance?
The standard HO-6 homeowner policy includes section 2, Liability Coverage consisting of Personal Liability Coverage (typically $300,000 – $1M) and Medical Payments to Others Coverage (typically $1,000 – $3,000).
Medical Payments Coverage should reimburse your neighbor for out of pocket medical expenses.
If your neighbor decides to sue, your Personal Liability Coverage will provide legal defense and potential coverage.
Per usual, things can get complicated.
Let’s say your husband was running his karate studio out of the garage and your son chops the neighbor while training for their yellow belts then, unfortunately, the homeowner insurance business exclusion will, most-likely, exclude all coverage.
Or, if your son and your neighbor have arranged a fight after school when the chop occurs, then perhaps coverage would be excluded as a premeditated event, which was not an accident.
In reality, home insurance vs. karate is a battle that nobody wants to see and nobody wins.