West Virginia Property Study Guide

Two things make West Virginia property law unlike anywhere else on the national syllabus. The state still writes its fire policy by reference to a form drafted in 1943, and it puts mine subsidence coverage on every direct property policy in the state unless the insured takes it off. Add a percentage quota on nonrenewals and a residual market that is not called a FAIR Plan, and you have most of this part of the exam.

The West Virginia standard fire policy

§33-17-2 does not write a fire policy. It adopts one: no fire policy covering West Virginia property may be issued unless it conforms, as to all provisions and their sequence, with “the basic policy commonly known as the New York standard fire policy, edition of one thousand nine hundred forty-three,” which the section designates the West Virginia standard fire policy.

There is one important escape. A multiple-line policy — casualty combined with fire, which is what a modern homeowners form is — need not conform strictly, provided the fire portion is at least as favorable to the insured as the standard form and the Commissioner has approved it. So the 1943 form is the floor, not the ceiling.

Mine subsidence — an opt-out, not an offer

This is the West Virginia question, and the distinction that decides it is opt-out versus offer.

Under §33-30-6(a), every insurance policy issued or renewed insuring on a direct basis a structure located in this state shall include, at a separately stated premium, insurance for loss caused by mine subsidence — unless waived by the insured. Coverage is on by default. The insured has to take it off.

Fifteen counties run the other way. In Berkeley, Cabell, Calhoun, Hampshire, Hardy, Jackson, Jefferson, Monroe, Morgan, Pendleton, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Wirt and Wood, no waiver is required and the coverage is provided only on the insured’s request — opt-in rather than opt-out.

The numbers ride in §33-30-6(b)(1): the deductible may be not less than $250 nor more than $500, and the total insured value reinsured by the board may not exceed $200,000. A policy containing mine subsidence coverage takes effect on the thirtieth day after application — a waiting period that has no analogue in ordinary property coverage.

And the regulator is not the regulator. §33-30-4(a) places the mine subsidence insurance fund “within the office of the state Board of Risk and Insurance Management.” Not the Insurance Commissioner. The fund reinsures the primary carrier rather than issuing directly, and the board — not the carrier — sets the premium, with the statute adding that “deviation from the premium set by the board shall not be allowed.”

Termination: 30 days to nonrenew, and no statutory number to cancel

§33-17A-4(c) requires at least 30 days notice before the end of a policy period of the insurer’s intention regarding renewal, with the specific reasons stated. That is the number to know.

§33-17A-4(b), governing cancellation, is the one that surprises people: it requires the notice to be in writing, delivered or sent by first class mail to the last known address, to state the effective date, and to be accompanied by a written explanation of the specific reasons — and it prescribes no advance-notice period at all, and draws no distinction between nonpayment and other grounds. The operative cancellation period is a term of the incorporated standard fire policy, not a figure in the insurance code.

What the code does restrict is when the insurer may cancel. Under §33-17A-5, once coverage has been in effect more than 60 days or a renewal has taken effect, a cancellation notice may issue only on one of ten lettered grounds, (a) through (j) — nonpayment, conviction of a crime increasing a hazard insured against, fraud or material misrepresentation, willful or reckless acts, substantial increase in hazard, code violations, a Commissioner determination, real property taxes delinquent two or more years, the insurer ceasing to write that coverage statewide, and substantial breach of the policy.

Tenure protections and a quota

A policy in force at least four years gets two specific protections under §33-17A-4(c)(1). It may not be cancelled or nonrenewed solely because of one first-party property damage claim within 36 months arising from wind, hail, lightning, wildfire, snow or ice, nor because of two first-party claims within 12 months arising from state-of-emergency events. Different counts, different windows — do not state one of the other.

And §33-17A-4a lets an insurer nonrenew for any reason consistent with its filed underwriting standards, but rations the privilege: nonrenewals under that section may not exceed one percent per year of the insurer’s West Virginia policies in force, with a parallel one percent per county limit, and an annual report to the Commissioner on or before September 30.

The residual market is not called a FAIR Plan

West Virginia’s residual property mechanism is the West Virginia Essential Property Insurance Association, created under Article 33-20A and operated under the Commissioner’s rule at 114CSR21. It writes a defined peril list — fire, lightning, riot, explosion, vehicle, smoke, hail, aircraft and wind — up to $200,000 for any one habitational risk and $500,000 for any one commercial risk, and it pays the producer a commission of 10% on new business. Inspection is permissive: property “may be physically inspected,” and any inspection is made without cost to the applicant.

One structural point worth carrying: §33-17A-2 takes residual-market policies outside Article 33-17A entirely, so the termination rules above do not govern an Association policy.