Breaking Down the Anti-Concurrent Cause Clause
Its quite a mouthful. Some might call it a tongue twister. But this legal term has much meaning behind it. Luckily, a lawyer was able to chime in and break down the term for us. Attorney Edward Beckmann, of Helmuth and Johnson gave his two cents on the legal jargon and how it pertains to property damage.
“An anti-concurrent cause clause is an exclusion,” says Beckmann. “It essentially operates as follows: if two or more events cause the same damage at about the same time, and one of those events is excluded by the policy, there is no coverage.”
A vast majority of policies have this inclusion in their terms, but not all of them. This clause can be brought up in the context of a major hurricane. Since several major hurricanes hit the East Coast every year, let’s see how it relates.
Now when winds whip up and water turns deadly, damage is inevitable. Sometimes, damage is covered in certain policies but unfortunately, water damage is excluded. The clause in question, the… say it out loud… “anti-concurrent cause clause” basically means that if the damage was actually caused by both wind and water at the same time, that there is no coverage whatsoever.
As As hurricanes run rampant, we are seeing a bunch of these cases spring up.
If you have one cause of damage there’s no problem. If you a multitude cause of damage, but the causes were separate events, if the second event is excluded there is a good argument for coverage.
Sounds complicated right? That’s why you should enlist the help of your lawyer before you commence to combat this clause.