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City’s insurer scurries free of covering squirrel damage

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Squirrel

West Liberty, Iowa, will have to use its own squirreled-away funds to pay for $213,000 worth of damage to the city’s electrical system, allegedly caused by a squirrel that triggered a high-voltage spark, The Associated Press reported Saturday.  

This, after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that the city’s insurance company doesn’t have to pay for damage, which the city claimed was caused by the squirrel climbing onto an electrical transformer at the city’s power substation, according to the wire service.

While the city argued that a squirrel caused the damage because the animal touched a 7,000-volt clamp and a grounded metal frame, which caused an electrical arc and shorted out the equipment, EMC Insurance cited an exclusion in its policy against damage caused by electrical arcs that aren’t related to lightning, the wire service reported.

The Supreme Court sided with lower courts in concluding the damage was caused by the electrical arc, not the squirrel, according to the article.

 

 

 

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