Frozen pipes leading to water loss are nothing new when the primary winter freeze comes. When winter storms roll by the usually heat south, they typically expose policyholders failing to arrange by sustaining warmth or draining water from pipes. A current Texas federal case involving State Farm highlights this state of affairs. 1
The case concerned Arturo Barona’s industrial constructing. A pipe froze through the December 2022 freeze. It burst, and water flooded the property. That’s the sort of occasion many might imagine insurance coverage at all times covers. However State Farm didn’t see it that manner.
As an alternative, State Farm appropriately pointed to a reasonably customary clause most individuals skip over when shopping for a coverage: The exclusion that removes protection for freezing except very particular circumstances are met.
Right here is the precise coverage language that State Farm relied upon:
SECTION I – EXCLUSIONS
2. We don’t insure underneath any protection for loss whether or not consisting of, or straight and instantly attributable to, a number of of the next:
e. Frozen Plumbing
Water, different liquids, powder or molten materials that leaks or flows from plumbing, heating, air-con or different tools (besides hearth protecting programs) attributable to freezing, except:
(1) You do your finest to keep up warmth within the constructing or construction; or
(2) You drain the tools and shut off the water provide if the warmth will not be maintained.
The policyholder admitted he turned the warmth off whereas the constructing was underneath renovation and that he didn’t drain the pipes or shut off the water earlier than leaving for Christmas. When the chilly got here, the plumbing froze. When the thaw got here, the water poured in. State Farm pointed to the exclusion, claimed neither exception was met, and denied the declare. The court docket agreed.
Protection instances typically activate ambiguities and competing interpretations. However typically they activate one thing much more primary: whether or not the insured did or didn’t meet the circumstances the coverage quietly imposes. The phrase “do your finest to keep up warmth” might look tender and straightforward to argue round. When the warmth is deliberately turned off, the argument is misplaced earlier than it begins. Courts search for an effort, not perfection. Doing one’s finest requires no less than doing one thing. Right here, the policyholder admitted they did nothing to keep up the warmth.
There’s a bigger lesson right here that extends past the courtroom. Frozen pipe instances spike each winter. Insurers can depend on these exclusions. The requirement is to do some winter upkeep to guard the property from freezing pipes leading to water harm.
Most policyholders assume that if a storm brought about the freeze, the loss is roofed. However most property insurance coverage insurance policies, like State Farm’s, shift the burden squarely onto the insured to assist safeguard the property. When it’s written, the obligation to keep up warmth or drain plumbing will not be a suggestion, it’s a situation of protection. When temperatures plunge, the insurance coverage firm expects the policyholder to anticipate the danger and take protecting measures.
For owners and industrial property house owners alike, this case is a reminder that avoiding the loss is healthier than combating along with your insurer afterward. If a constructing might be vacant even briefly in chilly climate, the warmth must be saved on and set excessive sufficient to guard the plumbing. If the warmth can’t be maintained, the water provide should be shut off, and the traces drained. These steps are inconvenient till you think about the choice: no insurance coverage protection to revive what was misplaced.
Circumstances like this are additionally a name to learn and perceive your coverage earlier than the worst occurs. Exclusions are sometimes written in technical language that appears far faraway from on a regular basis life. In moments of loss, they develop into the rulebook by which insurers and courts decide your monetary destiny.
A pipe burst is commonly an avoidable loss within the property insurance coverage world. Insurers will usually ask what was carried out to forestall the loss and will definitely ask about whether or not the warmth was maintained. But yearly, hundreds of policyholders study the onerous manner that avoidable doesn’t imply coated.
This matter typically arises within the context of utilizing cheap care to keep up warmth, as mentioned in Am I Utilizing Affordable Care to Keep Warmth In My House to Present Protection for Frozen Pipe Injury, and Is Setting Your Thermostat to Low Sufficient to Keep Satisfactory Warmth. I additionally recommend studying It’s freezing…Protection for Frozen Water Pipe Losses, to learn barely totally different coverage language and a broader dialogue of the problem
Thought For The Day
“An oz of prevention is price a pound of remedy.”
—Benjamin Franklin
1 Barona v. State Farm Lloyds, No. 4:24-CV-01393 (S.D. Tex. Dec. 12, 2025). (See additionally, State Farm’s Movement for Abstract Judgment, and Barona’s Response).