Insurers: Homes must fall down to be eligible for coverage

More than two dozen insurance companies being sued in federal court by 40 homeowners recently filed court documents asking a judge to dismiss the class-action lawsuit for a variety of reasons, including that the plaintiffs are only covered if their houses fall down.

The motions to dismiss the lawsuit filed June 2 are adding to the dismay of the homeowners, who face living in potentially unsafe homes with plummeting values that can't be sold and would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix.

Many other homeowners besides those in the class-action lawsuit also have been told their policies only cover collapse and not cracking or crumbling, said Ryan Barry, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit.

Insurance companies later amended their homeowners' policies across the country in response to that ruling and other court decisions, changing the definition of collapse to mean an "abrupt" or "sudden" falling down, Barry said.

While insurers have sympathy for the homeowners, they have to follow the letter of insurance policies, said Eric George, president of the Insurance Association of Connecticut, a trade organization that represents insurance companies that do business in the state.