Is War Excluded from a CEA Earthquake Policy?

Is there a War Exclusion on a California CEA Earthquake Policy?

Would a War created Earthquake be Covered by the California Earthquake Authority?

How Could War Create an Earthquake?

A CEA War Exclusion: What it means

The War Exclusion on the CEA Policy

In other posts about Earthquake Insurance exclusions we have stated that War is completely excluded.

Taken directly from the CEA Basic Earthquake Policy, Version BEQ-3C (01-2019 edition), Page 18, under Losses Excluded: Point 11: “Declared or undeclared war, acts of terrorism, insurrection, rebellion, revolution, warlike act by a military force or military personnel or any person, destruction or seizure or use for a military purpose, and any consequence of any of these. Discharge of a nuclear weapon will be deemed a warlike act even if accidental.”

Our read of this is that anything remotely similar to war is not covered on this CEA policy form. It is interesting to note the additional terms added in here: Terrorism. How you define [or not define] terrorism here could be most significant for your EQ coverage. Insurrection – again what exactly constitutes an insurrection? Warlike acts? Pretty broad term. This portion of the exclusion seems very open ended.

Another avenue to create a larger exclusion is some of the additional terms used in the exclusion. The exclusion states “by a military force or military personnel or any person.” We read this to mean that the “war” act does not have to be done by military personnel. Could a contractor complete the act? A citizen? “Any Person” it seems could trigger this exclusion,

Lastly the accidental nuclear weapon “discharge” phrase is added even if it is “accidental.” Note the word “weapon” is in there and not the more simple ‘nuclear discharge.’ [See additional exclusion note below.]

Is the power generation system on a nuclear aircraft carriers consisdered a weapon? We do not know. However there is another nuclear exclusion to be aware of [read on]…

Summation of the War Exclusion on a California Earthquake Authority Policy:

The war exclusion on the CEA policy seems to be exceptionally broad. In our opinion perhaps too broad. Much of the exclusion seems open ended and not well defined. One thing is certain is that if a War were to create an Earthquake than it likely is excluded in all situations. War is just not covered by a CEA policy.

War – Not Covered by a CEA policy. The exclusion seems very absolute.

How could War Create an Earthquake?

How can War or a “Warlike Act” create an Earthquake and more importanly one that is excluded? This is a terrific question and potentially one better answered by General or Science Fiction writer. The most obvious one is specifically spelled out in the exclusion though: Nuclear. It is completely possible that a nuclear weapon could create an earthquake or other land movement event, These would not be covered.

Perhaps there is some other type of weapon that could create an earthquake, such as non nuclear bomb.

Perhaps a terrorist event that massively changes water or water storage could create some form of an Earthquake. The James Bond movie A View to a Kill contains a sinister plot that maybe could create an Earthquake that would not be covered by the CEA standard policy. Now I realize that we are stretching things here when we are referancing a James Bond movie, but its the best that I can come up with.

Certainly if the ability to intentionally create an earthquake existed a terrorist might want to get their hands on it. And if is a terrorist created earthquake, its not going to be covered. Per the war exclusion.

But it is unclear exactly how most war related acitivities could create earthquakes.

" ...undeclared war, acts of terrorism, insurrection, rebellion, revolution, warlike act by a military force or military personnel or any person..."  Excluded.

It is possible that a Cyber Attack could create an earthquake, perhaps far in the future? Could that cyber attack be considered warlike? We do not know.

It is important to note that there is another exclusion with regards to nuclear on the CEA policy form: "Controlled or uncontrolled nuclear hazard or any act or condition incident to any nuclear hazard."  In other words nuclear seems to fall under two exclusions potentially.  These second one would seem to apply more to civilian usage or perhap military non weapon related, its unclear?  Remember our question about the aircraft carriers power generation system? Is that a weapon or not?

What Does the CEA War Exclusion Mean?

The CEA War exclusion means that any activity that is remotely war related that causes an earthquake will not be covered by your CEA insurance policy. Additionally anything that is nuclear related is likewise excluded by a California Earthquake Authority policy.

Declared and Undeclared War is Excluded on the largest EQ Policy Form:

War is not covered by a CEA earthquake insurance policy. Declared, Undeclared, terrorist or military created or by vitually anyone it would seem. One thing is for certain if a war creates an earthquake – there is no CEA coverage.

The CEA Earthquake War Exclusion:

Here is a more full text of the war exclusion on the CEA policy:

“We do not insure for any loss that is not directly caused by an earthquake that commences during the policy period as part of a seismic event that commences during the policy period.
Without limiting the above, even if a loss directly or indirectly is caused by, is contributed to by, results from, or is aggravated by an earthquake, we do not insure for any loss that is caused directly or indirectly by, or that in any way results from, is contributed to by, or is aggravated by, any of the following:

…. [Earlier Numbered Exclusions 1 to 10 omitted.]

11. Declared or undeclared war, acts of terrorism, insurrection, rebellion, revolution, warlike act by a military force or military personnel or any person, destruction or seizure or use for a military purpose, and any consequence of any of these. Discharge of a nuclear weapon will be deemed a warlike act even if accidental.

[Further Numbered Exclusion 12 omitted]…

Important Notes on the War Exclusion on the CEA policy form:

There are other exclusions on this policy form. This article really only deals with one of them. Please read your entire policy form before making any decisions to purchase, amend, or cancel any insurance policy. Policy forms are subject to change and this website article is based on information as of the publication date of this article.