A boulder fell from the Rims and smashed into your home? Insurance probably won’t cover that

Aug. 18--If a boulder comes tumbling down the Rims and lands in your family room, chances are insurance won't cover it.

Most home insurance policies cover what's known as "comprehensive peril," which includes coverage for damage from things like falling objects. However, boulders that slough off the Rims and crash into a home aren't considered falling objects. They're part of what's known as an earth movement exclusion.

Most homeowner policies have a number of exclusions, said John Bidlake, owner of Bidlake insurance.

"The key is looking at the policy exclusions," Bidlake said. "It's a very, very broad exclusion for earth movement."

Earth movement exclusions typically take effect when the ground under a home sinks, rises, shifts, expands or contracts. It can also exclude damage that results from earthquakes, landslides and mudslides, sinkholes or erosion.

Many homeowners policies will offer earthquake coverage separately if a customer elects to buy it. But earthquake insurance won't provide coverage for boulders that fall from the Rims, Bidlake said.

It's hard to find any kind of coverage that will specifically cover the kind of threat presented by living under the Rims.

"I think you're just out of luck," Bidlake said.

Deanna Darnielle, who owns Darnielle Insurance in Billings, agreed. Most insurance agencies offer no type of policy that would cover the damage listed under earth movement exclusions. She's not even sure something like that exists.

"There is no single standalone option," she said.

The closest thing was a product offered by an out-of-state company called homeowners catastrophe coverage. She's been trying to track down information about the policy this week; it's been a busy summer under the Rims.

On Wednesday evening a boulder crashed through the back of a home on 3000 block of 37th Street West. No one was injured, but the home was badly damaged. In June, a boulder smashed into the garage of a home on Mountain View Boulevard.

The one incident most people point to is the home at 1313 Granite Avenue that was partially destroyed by a tumbling boulder.

In October 2010, a boulder fell from the Rims and landed in the home of Jon Lodge and Jane Deschner, striking with so much force it knocked the house off its foundation. They fought with their insurance company and in the end sued the city and the state, and their insurance company, seeking about $400,000 in compensation for counts of negligence, nuisance, trespass and inverse condemnation. They lost on all counts.

"If you're going to live under the Rims there's a certain risk you're going to assume," Bidlake said.

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