Texas plane crash: an act of domestic terrorism and would it be covered?
Austin, Texas, Police Chief Art Acevedo stopped short of calling the crashing of a small plane into a commercial office building in northwest Austin on Feb. 18 a terrorist act, but U.S. Representative Mike McCaul said he wasn’t so sure it couldn’t be considered one.
The Piper Cherokee PA-28 piloted by Joseph Andrew Stack, 53, crashed into a multi-story office building that housed a U.S. Internal Revenue Services office with 190 employees shortly before 10 a.m. on Feb. 18.
While this may just seem a matter of semantics for journalists, but this is a critical question in insurance.
If Mr. Stack flew his plane into the building of a private defense contractor with whom he had some dispute whether personal or political, then the Property Insurer of the building would likely have strong opinions on the question.
Not all commercial building owners buy Terrorism Insurance and many that do have very large deductibles. In that case, the definition of this act may be a very material event.
