Collapse Coverage under a Mobile Home Policy

Our client has a mobile home covered by an AAIS form ML-3. Part of the roof hangs over the front of the mobile home.

Recently, this part of the home collapsed due to the weight of ice and snow. The insurer has denied coverage for this loss, because the AAIS form excludes such damage to an awning or a canopy.

We don't think this is an awning or a canopy. What is your opinion?

Illinois Subscriber

The roof extension in the mobile home picture you sent certainly appears to be either an “awning” or a “canopy.”

 

Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary says that an “awning” is “a rooflike cover extending over or in front of a place (as over the deck or in front of a door or window) as a shelter.” The same dictionary also states that a canopy is “an ornamental rooflike structure.”

 

Since the AAIS ML-3 excludes coverage for damage from weight of ice and snow to an awning or canopy, the insurer is correct in denying this claim.