Toward the end of the school year, a thief enters a college student’s room through a shared bathroom, and steals a computer the school had signed out to the student. The  student’s parent receives a letter stating she owes the school $1,600 before she will be allowed to resume her education.

Q: “Is a computer provided by my daughter’s school for use while she is attending covered for theft from her locked room while she is out of the room? Does homeowner’s insurance normally pay for such losses? Do you have any idea why my agent would say this was not covered?”

A: “After reviewing the pertinent policy provisions, which is not identical to the ISO form in language but features the same coverages, we’re unable to explain why the agent would have said there was no coverage. This is clearly a covered loss.

Although this company’s policy form is not identical to its ISO counterpart, we’ll use the applicable ISO HO 00 03 04 91 form to follow along with the coverages.

The homeowner’s policy covers any personal property ‘owned or used by’ an insured if it is damaged or lost due to a covered peril.

The student was certainly using the property, and theft is a covered peril. The term ‘insured’ includes a resident relative, and courts have determined consistently that a dependent child away at school is still a resident of the named insured’s household.

One limitation does apply: For personal property ‘usually located at’ an insured’s ‘residence’ other than the residence premises, only 10% of the Coverage C limit (or $1,000, if greater) is available for losses. But in this case, 10% of the Coverage C limit is more than adequate for the loss of the computer. In addition, policy conditions require that theft losses be reported to the police. Although ‘police’ is not defined, notice to the campus police could suffice. That being done, this appears to be a clearly covered claim.

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