Checotah Resident's Homeowner Insurance Doesn't Cover Ice Damage

A Checotah man whose house was damaged during the ice storm says his insurance has left him out the cold. News on 6 reporter Steve Berg says Dennie Brison says he was surprised and angry to learn his

Monday, January 22nd 2007, 5:29 pm

By: News On 6

A Checotah man whose house was damaged during the ice storm says his insurance has left him out the cold. News on 6 reporter Steve Berg says Dennie Brison says he was surprised and angry to learn his policy doesn't cover ice damage.

Brison just bought the house a couple of months ago. He says he was told then he was covered; now they're telling him a different story.

He might not have coverage for ice, but last week Dennie Brison was covered in ice.

"Next thing I knew I had tree limbs landing on my roof and I had roof damage," said homeowner Dennie Brison.

He put in a call to his insurance agent and got the cold, hard facts.

"Got a phone call from the adjuster stating the policy doesn't cover ice, or ice damage, anything ice-related," Brison said.

He couldn't believe it because he had specifically asked his agent if he had ice coverage after the winter storm in November.

"There's sleet and snow, so that's covered," he said.

"But it has to specifically say ice?â€ asked reporter Steve Berg.

"Yeah," said Brison.

It seems ridiculous to him that snow would be covered, but not ice or that other kinds of storms are covered.

"Just like I asked the adjuster today what's the difference between a wind storm knocking down trees on your roof, compared with an ice storm. And he never did give me a definite answer, he just said, well, we consider weight of ice causing the tree to fall to be secondary to the damage, so that's why ice is not covered," said Brison.

Now he's got a warped roof and damaged shingles and apparently, no insurance to fix it.

"I mean what can you do? You basically just look at your policy and throw it away because it's worthless," he said.

Brison says he's demanding his money back he paid for his two months or so of premiums, and he'll start shopping for different insurance.

His advice, read your policy very closely and don't count on your agent to explain it to you.