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Does a Homeowner or Business Owner Need to Comply With The Property Damage Insurance Company’s Request for EUO and What Happens if They Refuse to Appear For The EUO?

An EUO is under a property damage insurance policy is known as a condition precedent. Under Pennsylvania law, a condition precedent simply means that a policyholder must comply with the terms in order to obtain coverage for the loss. It is important to point out that if a policyholder refuses to comply with any condition precedent, a property damage insurance company may deny their claim even if the loss would otherwise be covered under the policy. As part of the property damage insurance policy, the insurance company may take the EUO of anyone who qualifies as an insured under the insurance policy. For example, this could include other members of the policyholder’s household, or in the context of a commercial property damage insurance policy, this could also potentially include The insurance company may take the Examination of the persons identified as “insureds” under the policy and, depending on the type of policy you have, employees, members of your household, or others “to the extent it is within the insured’s power to do so.Also, the insurance company has the right to examine each insured separately. For example, spouses who are both insureds under a policy do not have the right to sit in on each other’s EUO. Furthermore, many insurance companies request insureds to produce documents pertinent to the claim either before or at the time of the EUO. The failure to comply with the insurance company’s requests may be used as a basis for denying the claim.

The scope of the EUO is broad. Ostensibly, the purpose of the EUO is to allow the insurer the opportunity to gather information from the insured regarding the facts, circumstances, and amount of a loss; however, the EUO is frequently used instead as a means to justify denial of the claim. California permits insurance companies to require the insured to submit to an EUO even if its purpose is to gather evidence to defeat the claim. EUO to search for misrepresentations and facts that may negate coverage for the loss. Furthermore, many insurance companies request insureds to produce documents. What this means, is insurers can and use the To protect your claim, consult an experienced insurance property damage attorney before agreeing or refusing to be examined under oath.