Irrigation System: Plumbing or Not?

November 7, 2010

We have an insured with a Masterpiece homeowners policy with Chubb. The insured has an irrigation system for the lawn. A pipe ruptured in the irrigation system next to the house and water seeped inside. Chubb declined coverage based on the following

“Discharge, overflow or backup. We do not cover any loss caused by the discharge, leakage, seepage, overflow or backup from within a plumbing system, sewer or drain when the discharge leakage, seepage, overflow or backup exits the plumbing system, sewer or drain outside the foundation of your house or other permanent structure.”

We contend the following:

1. An irrigation system should not be considered as part of the plumbing system.

2. Their wording carries the connotation that a plumbing system services the inside of the dwelling with exit pipes or drains that could break outside of the dwelling.

Your thoughts please.

Florida Subscriber

Exclusions are to be read narrowly and in context. In this exclusion, the context is interior household plumbing, not outside irrigation lines. Also, Merriam Webster Online defines “plumbing” as “the apparatus (as pipes and fixtures) concerned in the distribution and use of water in a building.” Courts routinely refer to a standard dictionary when policy terms are not defined on the basis that a standard dictionary is available to the average insured. Therefore, the exclusion does not apply to the irrigation system for the lawn; the loss is covered.