(December 2008)
Explosion is not defined in any standard property coverage forms or policies. On the one hand, the absence of a definition illustrates just how difficult it is to give precise meanings to certain terms used in insurance policies. On the other hand, not having an exact and perhaps restrictive definition or contractual meaning is an advantage for the insured and is often a disadvantage for the insurance company.
It may be best to avoid assigning special meaning or definitions to such a term. One insurance company executive thoughtfully and succinctly summed up the issue this way:
"We are inclined to base our definitions on how a chemist or some other technician defines the meaning of a word rather than what the ordinary man on the street thinks. If insurance companies want to restrict the meaning of a term to a technical definition and so define it in the policy, there is nothing to stop them from doing so. But is this the proper course to follow? If we should define every potentially troublesome term in a policy, the form would be quite cluttered up. As long as we do not define a word, perhaps we should steer away from the technician's definition and use the more liberal definition of the 'man on the street.'"
When a policy term is not defined, it has the same meaning as when it is used for non-insurance purposes. The dictionary is the tool frequently used to determine the meaning of a word and the manner in which it should apply when found in an insuring agreement, condition, exclusion or endorsement. The American Heritage College Dictionary defines explosion as:
The Chemical Engineers' Handbook (McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc.) provides the following definition:
A prominent insurance organization defined explosion as the release of energy so rapid that it appears practically instantaneous. Based on its own experience, an explosion may be one of the following:
Fire itself results from rapid oxidation reactions accompanied by the release of energy. The difference between a fire and an explosion primarily involves the rate at which the energy is released. For this reason alone, there is no sharp distinction or line of demarcation between a fire and an explosion. Fires that spread rapidly are often referred to as "explosions" but the term "flash fire" is probably a more accurate description. However, if the mixture of flammable vapor or dust and air is confined and leads to a buildup of pressure as the fuel burns, the pressure may develop to the point of bursting the confining vessel or structure and produce an "explosion.”
These points are significant and illustrate the importance of including related causes of loss or perils within the same insurance coverage part. If fire is the only covered cause of loss, explosion damage is not covered but the fire following the explosion is.
An important point to note is that a sonic boom is not an explosion. Dictionaries, engineers and the courts all agree on this point. A sonic boon is caused by a mechanically created pressure wave that builds as the speed of a jet increases. It can occur with or without property damage. There may be a sound similar to an explosion, but that sound alone is not sufficient to call it an "explosion."
The manner in which the courts interpret "explosion" as an insured peril or cause of loss in property insurance policies or coverage parts is indicated by the following comments made during litigation of important cases:
Linda is an employee of Patent Publishing. She kept a hot plate in her office that she used to heat water for her tea. She placed the teakettle on the hot plate to boil late on a Friday afternoon. She was called away by an emergency and left the teakettle on the hot plate. The teakettle boiled dry and burst, resulting in ceramic shards flying throughout the office, damaging walls, computer monitors and desktops. The damage caused by the flying debris plus the damage to the teakettle is considered explosion damage.
Kevin’s lava lamp stopped working. He wasn’t sure if the problem was with the heater or the lamp so he decided to experiment. He placed it on the burner of his electric stove and turned on the heat. His experiment was successful in that the lava started to move, proving that the heater was the culprit. Unfortunately, he left it on the stove too long and the lamp overheated and exploded, resulting in shards of glass flying throughout the kitchen, allowing the contents to escape and ruining his stovetop and the kitchen floor. The damage caused by the exploding lava lamp is considered explosion damage.
It is very interesting and sometimes helpful to understand how a chemist, engineer or lawyer defines a word for the strict and precise purposes demanded by a profession. However, insurance buyers justifiably assign common meanings to words not defined in insurance coverage forms and policies.
The courts have given judicial authority to this conclusion, as evidenced by the cases cited above. As a result, the insurance industry interprets "explosion" liberally, subject to the specific exclusions in the various insurance coverage forms and policies.