4/13/2004: Boulder hits house

1:30 AM, one day last week, homeowner Ron Dickman was awakened by a loud ruckus coming from another part of his house. Ruckus, no, more like an explosion. He went downstairs to find that an 8 TON boulder had come loose from an outcropping 1000 feet away, managed to miss the concrete barriers set up to keep falling rocks from hitting houses, and rolled right through a residential neighborhood. And right into Dickman's house, busting through a wall, finally coming to rest a foot away from where his old arthritic dog was sleeping.



Contractors drilled into it in order to break it up into manageable pieces. The other bad news for Dickman is that his homeowner's insurance won't cover it, which begs the question: if your homeowner's doesn't cover a big-ass rock coming right through your wall, almost killing your dog, and flattening one side of your favorite easy chair... what *does* it cover?

full story and another

They won't pay because it's an "act of God."

God must be trying to send this guy a message.

Note to self: Don't live under a cliff, in an avalanche zone.

damn. I can't decide whether i want to make a "dickman" joke or a "rock-n-roll" joke.

decisions decisions.


ah, boulderdash!

Ha! You said "dickman." Heh heh.

Boy, that Dick-man got some stones now, don't he?
Look at the oozing gore on the middle rock in the center photo-
Betcha God got one of those camel spiders before it ate the Dick-mans ear off!

That "gore" is probably oil. Lubricating the jackhammer or drill that helped split this thing.

Gee, I hope they didn't get any oil on the rug.
Sucks to be him, but being an accountant I'm sure he'll make the most of it.

Wow, that person was obviously never told not to throw stones.

insurance doesn't cover?

Any underwriters in the house? I'd like to know why homeowners insurance doesn't cover "acts of God." It seems like exactly the thing we want to insure against; there's no moral hazard involved (you're not going to be more likely to build your home in avalanche country if you know it's covered in your insurance), and the costs are extremely unequally distributed. Why shouldn't every homeowner in the country contribute $0.005 to the rebuilding of this poor man's wall?

Usually, an "Act of God" hits a ton of people at once. Serving all those claims could put the insurance company out of business, so they either don't cover them or require higher premiums fr them. Sucks to be the homeowner, but that's business.

"He who live in rock house should never stow thrones"

you're not going to be more likely to build your home in avalanche country if you know it's covered in your insurance

It works the other way around though. You're right, I wouldn't say, "Hey, honey, this insurance agent offers coverage for rock avalanches, so let's go build at the foot of that cliff!" but you bet your ass I AM going to say, "No, honey, I don't give a damn how much you like that house, it clearly says here that we're not covered against those regularly-falling rocks, so we're not buying it."

How, exactly, does a giant rock (unquestionably a natural entity) differ from a tornado when both are unpredictable and cause destruction?

A tornado is an act of god, yet insurance unquestionably pays for tornado damage...and hurricanes, and forest fires, even floods and earthquakes (although both can require specific riders for coverage).

Just doesn't seem reasonable.

I HATE insurance companies. They are a good idea in theory, but a leech on society in reality. Evil bastards. You pay and you pay and you pay, and then you need to make a claim, so they fight you on it and then drop you. Happens all the time. Did I mention they are evil bastards?

It's like those monkeys on the east coast who get to rebuild their homes every few years because a hurricane wipes them out.

The live in hurricane alley and act surprised when Ma Nature plays etch a sketch with the beach areas.

Yea, Insurance is a real racket. Last year we had a huge thunderstorm come in from the NE of our house which it rarely does, rained 4 inches in one hour. So some water backed up in the flowerbed on that side of our house and came in through the weep holes where the brick meets the slab. Never had flooding in 17 years here and aren't in the County 500 or even 1000 year flood plain.

My carpet got soaked for a few feet from the wall, the pad was runined and the particle board base to my TV cabinet swelled up. It was no major thing but I figured I have been paying for all these years so I would like to get these few things fixed up!

Then I got the bad news from my agent. Absolutley no coverage for any ground water entering the house near the foundation. If it had come through the window or the ceiling it would have been covered! So I asked him if I had Federal Flood Insurance would it have been covered and he said no, because a certain percentage of the properties on our street would have also had to flood to kick in that coverage.

Not to mention I fully expect my rates to shoot up because now the buggers know I had water in my house and could be a potential mold cleanup down the line.

RIPOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!