Drone injuries are on the rise due to low cost and easy availability
While progress certainly breeds change, insurance companies cannot keep up with the quickly growing, unmanned aerial systems, or the drone industry. Since progress always comes at a cost, just see Scientific America’s recent release of drone disasters, it is important to seek legal counsel for any type of drone related accident.
Current Drone Practices
The most common question that attorneys are faced with regarding drones is how to insure them. The answer has recently become much clearer. It has come to be widely accepted that homeowners’ policies will cover drones under the personal property umbrella. There are exclusions if the drone is used for business or if it’s considered a personal aircraft that carries cargo or passengers.
Most recreational drones do not fit into business or personal aircraft categories, and a personal property policy is often enough to cover damage to your drone. Not to sound post apocalyptic, but the complication surrounding drones come with how well others who can become victims of your drone are covered by your policy. This is where things can become troubling for the citizens of Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania cities .
- DJI Inspire Professional Photography Drone
Drone Destruction
Recreational drone use has turned many homeowners into victims of progress. While more often than not, there are no calamitous endings like in the movies, damage and suffering is becoming a common side effect of recreational drone use either in the form of property damage of privacy invasion.
This harm in the name of forward thinking has resulted in arguments with insurance companies that homeowners and victims are not equipped to battle on their own. If you or someone you know has been a victim of drone destruction, either physically or mentally, you need to seek help from an attorney.
While a drone owners’ properties are covered under their homeowner’s policies, destruction caused to other people’s property is very much open to interpretation. What that means to you as a victim of drone destruction is that you have two choices, see what your homeowner’s policy has to say, or seek financial compensation from the drone owner. In either instance, you should seek the counsel of a Philadelphia lawyer to help you get what you deserve because the waters are very gray.
Droning Up Confusion
Loopholes are an insurance companies pot of gold. They will go to extremes to find ways to avoid paying victims what they fully deserve. This is why you are wise to seek legal counsel if you’ve been a victim of drone destruction. Here’s an example of a loophole the insurance companies may use to get out of paying.
Business vs Personal Use
If a drone is used for business purposes, it is not insured under the homeowner’s insurance policy. So, if your home was hit by a drone that has done any type of business, you could be left with the bill if the drone owner did not purchase additional business drone insurance. Another tangled web of insurance deceit found in these foggy interpretations of drone coverages is bodily damage. First, what constitutes bodily damage has to be defined in order to understand this.
Injuries Caused by Drones
Bodily damage, as defined by most homeowner’s policies, constitutes either physical or mental damage or both. This means that physical bodily harm, emotional stress, as well as invasion of privacy should all be covered under a drone operator’s homeowner’s policy. Most homeowner’s insurance policies cover any bodily damage or property damage caused by the homeowner; however, every insurance policy has its own limitations, and without a clear understanding of what is covered, you could be left in the dark. This can lead victims of drone destruction to a lot of out of pocket expense in the form of their own deductibles or financing repairs on their own.
Insurance Coverage for Homeowners ?
To complicate matters even further, most homeowners’ policies have an “Intentional Act Exclusion” clause. This means that if a drone operator was intentionally spying on you or set out to intentionally vandalize your property, the insurance company may not be accountable to pay you.
Seeking Legal Help
As a victim of this type of crime, you have no other choice but to seek legal counsel to explore your options. Victims suffering from any type of physical or mental harm have enough to deal with. They do not need the hassle and confusion that dealing with insurance companies can bring. If you or one of your loved ones have been harmed by a drone, reach out for legal help now and leave the murky interpretations of the law to someone who is armed to fight the insurance companies like a well versed Philadelphia Accident Lawyer.