How would you like it if one of your insurance clients burned down someone's house while exterminating bed bugs and then went on live TV to proclaim that he would take care of it—he has insurance!?

The exterminator in question used propane heaters to raise the temperature in the structure to 135 degrees, which is hot enough to kill the pests. He said he requires that residents leave and removes flammable items from the home. Unfortunately, in at least this case, one flammable item—the carpeting—was not removed and ignited, starting a fire that destroyed the duplex home. The fire went unnoticed in the empty home until it was too late.

I don't have access to the "insurance" form that the owner said will take care of things, but I do know that it's terribly bad business for an insured to invoke insurance even before the loss is reported. Unless he has a liability policy that has deleted pertinent exclusions, it would appear that the Damage to Property exclusions (j. (4) and (5), in particular) would prevent coverage being triggered for the instance. After all, he was working on the house (real property – exclusion j. (5)), and the damage arose from his operations.