Beware the “Acts of God”

Let me discuss the 'act of god” and why everyone should be concerned. This is not a biblical rant, or a tale of a spiritual awakening, but a serious discussion of how an unforeseeable event has put me at the mercy of a powerful corporation.

One would think that in our secular governing system an 'act of god” would have no legal standing. I thought the same, but unfortunately that did not stop the supernatural from bringing down the divine powers that has left my car undriveable.

What is all of this about? To begin, an 'act of god” is a legal term that traces itself back centuries in British tort laws. Much of our legal system is rooted in British law. Many concepts such as the 'quickening” - a term used to identify when life of an unborn child began in a woman's womb - have lost legal standing; however, an 'act of god” is alive and well. This legal phrase, no matter how ridiculous it sounds, has been a loophole for insurance companies to avoid liability in peculiar situations.

For me, a certain insurance company is investigating whether or not an 'act of god” caused the damages to my parked car. Obviously an 'act of god” has nothing to do with the fact that a vehicle insured by this company hit my unoccupied vehicle. However, our great insurance system only convicts liability if there was negligence involved.

An 'act of god” defense takes the position that an unforeseeable action caused the accident, (making the negligence that of 'God” I suppose). To my understanding all accidents are unforeseeable; at least I hope they are. Either way, the issue with an 'act of god” is that if the insurer is able to uphold this ambiguous defense, they avoid liability. In other words, to fix something that I had no involvement in (besides having my car legally parked outside my home), I will have to pay the deductible of my insurance policy to have my vehicle repaired - since 'God” does not have insurance.

No one foresees a misfortune happening to them. Insurance protects us from the risks that are involved in many instances. The higher the risk, the more likely one is to have insurance to protect against the risks involved. Driving is a high risk activity, 'acts of god” do not change this, therefore we pay for auto insurance. But the 'act of god” ignores this logical assessment of why laws require vehicles to be insured.

While it is uncommon for an insurance company to use the 'act of god” defense in auto claims, they have increasingly applied it to weather-related events (this is the reason we all should be concerned).

The increased severity of hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters due to climate change - a position that the overwhelming majority of the scientific community supports - have been claimed to be 'acts of god” by insurance companies. Victims of these disasters have been denied insurance coverage for their homes due to these 'unforeseeable” events. What is foreseeable is that these natural disasters will increase in frequency and severity, and the 'act of god” defense will remain a loophole for insurance companies to avoid fulfilling their purpose. The only way to avoid the latter is for people to take action. Write to your legislators, talk to your friends, and please consider that insurance companies are not people. They are massive corporations who spend substantial amounts of money on advertisement. They can afford to pay for the damages caused by 'God.”

' John Williams is a second year graduate student at the University of Northern Iowa studying modern U.S. history. Comments: willijby@uni.edu