I have just PM'd m7mcfc with an offer of advice, but I would like to clear up the whole 'act of God' thing, as it is often misinterpreted. I work in the insurance industry, but I would rather not say what I do as we have a strict social media policy.
Myth No. 1 - "God does not exist, so how can there be such thing as an act of God?"
As a staunch atheist, I feel the same, however, it is an accepted legal term, and has been used in many court rulings, one being the case of Transco vs. Stockport MBC. In that ruling, Lord Hobhouse defined an act of God as an event:
(i) which involves no human agency
(ii) which is not realistically possible to guard against
(iii) which is due directly and exclusively to natural causes and
(iv) which could not have been prevented by any amount of foresight, plans, and care.
Myth No. 2 - Insurance policies will not pay out for an act of God - this is nonsense. I have never seen an insurance policy with an act of God exclusion, and the Association of British Insurers say it is a myth:
http://www.covermagazine.co.uk/cove...s-disclosure-importance-dispells-act-god-myth
An act of God could still be used in an insurance related scenario though. The Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters gives this example:
"'Act of God' provides a defence in situations where the cause of loss or damage resulted from a "freak of nature" that could not be anticipated or expected. An example of this could be tiles that are blown from a roof (belonging to Bert) causing damage to a neighbour's car.
Imagine that Bert knew that there were loose tiles and did nothing about it. If a storm within normal expectations blew the tiles off the roof, this would not amount to an Act of God. By contrast, had the roof been fixed and it was sound before the storm and the storm was of unprecedented force such that it could not be imagined or expected, the defence of Act of God may well apply. As you will have noted, the defence relies on something that is beyond expectations, and judgement as to whether the event amounts to an Act of God can be difficult."
Many home insurance policies cover third party liabilities; these will be limited to your legal liability. If you are not legally liable, neither is your insurer. Your policy will tell you exactly what perils you are covered for - if you are covered for flood/storm damage, you are covered. Act of God related purely to third party liability.
