Good morning. I have a new claim where this is coverage for flood and the carrier has reserved their rights on the following language:

g. Foundations of buildings, structures, machinery or boilers if their foundations are below:
(1) The lowest basement floor; or
(2) The surface of the ground, if there is no basement;

I'm struggling to understand the intent of this exclusion. The adjuster is telling me there may be no coverage because the water damaged some of the concrete on the lowest basement floor. However, is the intent of this exclusion to exclude the entire foundation of the building? It seems to me the notation on the "lowest basement floor" is in relation to machinery or boilers if their foundations are below the basement floor. Can you help me understand the intent here, please?

I’ve attached the forms for the policy trying to avoid sending decs with their private information.  If you need anything more please let me know.

I did pull out my Commercial Property Coverage Guide and it states:
“Foundations of buildings, structures, machinery or boilers if such foundations are below the lowest basement floor or surface of the ground, if there is no basement.” The language in the policy says “their” not “such” but I think this helps with the intent.  Reading this I think there should be coverage for damage to the foundation.  The carrier disagrees with this.

Maine Subscriber

The flood coverage attached to the policy is adding flood as a covered cause of loss. It does not however alter the coverage that otherwise applies under the building and personal property coverage form. We don't know exactly what happened in the flood event, but the building and personal property coverage form shows property not covered to include the following:

g. Foundations of buildings, structures, machinery or boilers if their foundations are below:

(1) The lowest basement floor; or
(2) The surface of the ground, if there is no basement;

This is effectively excluding any property or flood coverage for any foundations, not just those of machinery or equipment. It is fairly typical of most flood policies to not cover the foundations of buildings or basement levels.

I hope this helps.