PAGE 4 What’s Your Policy Toward Pets? Continued 800.248.2888 | greenspanai.com Sheila E. Salvatore, Editor | Editor@AdjustersInternational.com Copyright © 2019 Adjusters International, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. E09-1017 Insights for Your Industry® is published as a public service by Adjusters International, Inc. It is provided for general information and is not intended to replace professional insurance, legal and/or financial advice for specific cases. PROTECTING YOUR PROPERTY ® unfriendly animals coming onsite which could cause injury. There will still be questions about the impact of animals on workplace hygiene, safety, and decorum, but many enterprises are finding these matters to be manageable. In any case — be it leasing, employment, or retail traffic — property owners and business owners considering whether to allow pets onsite need to pay careful attention to the pet owners’ insurance coverage. A tenant or employee may accurately report that there is liability coverage for his or her pet under a homeowners or renters policy, but that coverage could be subject to a business activities exclusion, depending on the circumstances. Even if pet owners under consideration clearly have coverage for damage or injury caused by their animals, property and business owners need to consider having their own coverage in the event a loss exceeds the pet owner’s insurance limits. Owners will generally want the pet owner’s insurance to be the primary coverage that responds first to a claim. It’s new and perhaps unnerving for enterprises to consider these questions, but again, many are finding that they can accommodate pets. By doing so, they can leverage the emotional connection employees and customers have to their companion animals. If a pet becomes accustomed to a workplace, an employee will think twice before leaving a job. If a pet looks forward to visiting an establishment, its owner may patronize it more often, and stay longer. It adds a whole new meaning to “going to the dogs.” ____________________ 1 American Pet Products Association (APPA), The 2017-2018 APPA National Pet Owners Survey Debut, accessed at https://americanpetproducts.org/Uploads/MemServices/GPE2017_NPOS_Seminar.pdf 2 Research and Markets, “United States Pet Population and Ownership Trends Report 2017--Focus on Dogs, Cats, and Other Pets,” July 17, 2017; summarized at https://www.packagedfacts.com/product/print/10858348; available at https://www.researchandmarkets.com/ research/f9ws72/pet_population 3 APPA, op. cit. 4 Research and Markets, op. cit. 5 Ibid. 6 References to leasing in this section are drawn, in part, from Beth Pace Tiggelaar, “Is Your Lease Ready For The Pet-Friendly Workplace?,” April 5, 2016; accessed at http://www.mondaq.com/ unitedstates/x/479712/landlord+tenant+leases/Is+Your+Lease+Ready+For+The+PetFriendly+Workplace Stimmel, Stimmel & Smith P.C., “Landlord’s Right to Prohibit Pets and Animal-Limits,” accessed at https://www.stimmel-law.com/en/ articles/landlords-right-prohibit-pets-and-animal-limits Joanne Woodsum, “Consequences for Violation of a Commercial Tenant’s Dog Policy,” accessed at http://www.jleasinglaw.com/ blog/2016/11/8/consequences-for-violation-of-a-commercial-tenants-dog-policy
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