# Act of War clauses—have any insurance companies tried invoking them?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/act-of-war-clauses-have-any-insurance-companies-tried-invoking-them/82790>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 20, 2001, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/act-of-war-clauses-have-any-insurance-companies-tried-invoking-them/82790 "2001-09-20T14:44:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/act-of-war-clauses-have-any-insurance-companies-tried-invoking-them/82790/1 "2001-09-20T14:44:31Z")

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I wince when I hear the Pres calling this an “act of war” because so many insurance policies deny benefits for acts of war. Have any tried using that weasel method yet?

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**Author:** ![KeithB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@KeithB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KeithB)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/act-of-war-clauses-have-any-insurance-companies-tried-invoking-them/82790/2 "2001-09-20T14:50:25Z")

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According to NPR last night (you can go to [http://www.npr.org](http://www.npr.org) and look up “All Things Considered” to hear yesterdays stories) one insurance company from the middle east is invoking this clause. The thrust of the story was that direct insurer’s would not invoke the clause due to the PR issue, but that Re-insurers might. Stay tuned for lots of lawsuits.

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**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/act-of-war-clauses-have-any-insurance-companies-tried-invoking-them/82790/3 "2001-09-20T14:54:56Z")

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There was a comment on CNN yesterday about Congress explicitly warning the insurance industry not to try this, but I can’t find a cite.

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**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/act-of-war-clauses-have-any-insurance-companies-tried-invoking-them/82790/4 "2001-09-20T15:01:25Z")

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Apparently it was the House Financial Services Committee that made the statement I heard about:

> **[Instant Business Insurance Quotes](https://www.insure.com/business-insurance/)**
>
> Business insurance provides property and liability protection, including loss against theft, fire, fraud, lawsuits and other perils. Get instant business insurance quotes from Insure.com

> [@](#):
>
> “Through necessity our government is expressing America’s outrage through words of war,” reads the letter. “But this rhetoric reflects the passion and determination of our country, not the legal reality of Tuesday’s destruction.”

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**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/act-of-war-clauses-have-any-insurance-companies-tried-invoking-them/82790/5 "2001-09-20T15:10:51Z")

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THANKS!