Hawaiian Homeowners Caught In Limbo When Insurers Meet Kilauea

Residents on Hawaii’s Big Island are discovering that their homeowner’s insurance covers all sorts of damage — but not from lava, smoke and other volcanic hazards as the Kilauea eruption enters its fourth month. “I cannot count how many homeowners told me that their insurance agents told them to not worry about their lava exclusion, because everyone knows that fires burn houses during an eruption,” said Molly Ward, a Hawaii-based lawyer who specializes in insurance law. “That is what the agents themselves said.” Lava exclusion clauses in homeowner insurance policies complicate an already troubling situation for the Big Island’s 190,000 or so dwellers.