Almost everyone would agree that insurance to cover your home or car is a good idea.

How about insurance to cover your costs if your wedding gets canceled?

Or liability coverage if you’re a Little League coach and you get sued for hurting some kid’s feelings?

Or insurance to cover expenses in case you’re a victim of stalking?

The world of insurance includes all these possibilities and more.

Insurance broker Kenneth Kukral calls it “oddball, weirdo stuff.”

The Insurance Information Institute calls it “niche” or “specialty” insurance.

Worried about meteors? A sexual harassment lawsuit? There’s a policy for you.

Specialty insurance is a growing segment of the insurance market, says Jeanne Salvatore, spokeswoman for the institute, a New York-based industry group.

“There are only so many cars and homes out there to insure,” Salvatore says. And insurance products have to keep up with a changing world. For example:

Identity theft

Someone you know probably has been a victim of identity theft.

Last year, more than 255,500 such complaints were lodged at the Federal Trade Commission. Average losses were $2,400 per victim, the FTC says.

Cases were up 60 percent from the number reported in 2002.

So insurers are offering coverage. Policies offer reimbursement to victims for expenses related to restoring their good name and repairing credit reports – including phone bills, attorneys, notaries and mailings.

Some companies, such as MetLife and Grange, offer identity theft protection automatically at no extra charge with a homeowner’s policy. Others, including Allstate and St. Paul Travelers, sell it as a stand-alone policy or as a rider on a homeowner’s or renter’s policy. Identity theft insurance typically costs $25 to $50 for $15,000 to $25,000 worth of coverage.

“Identity theft insurance can be a good thing,” says Jay Foley of the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego.

A key element of a good policy is whether it covers lost income from time off work, Foley says. Victims spend an average of 600 hours untangling the mess over a period of years.

Identity theft policies generally do not cover any financial losses related to the crime itself, such as fraudulent charges or overlimit or nonsufficient funds fees. Insurers expect these expenses to be erased by banks or credit card companies.

Identity theft victims spend $6,100 on average to clear up all problems, according to the Institute of Consumer Financial Education, also in San Diego.

– COACH COVERAGE

Companies typically get “D&O insurance” to protect their directors and officers in case someone accuses them of wrongdoing in connection with company business and files a lawsuit against them personally.

But what if you’re serving as a Sunday school teacher or a board member for a volunteer group or a coach on a Little League team and you get sued? The entity you’re serving probably doesn’t have liability insurance for you personally.

If this sounds wacky, consider that Little League Baseball sees a couple of lawsuits a year involving things such as bad coaching or hurting a child’s feelings.

Some people will buy extra “personal umbrella” coverage that could cost $200 a year for $1 million coverage. The policies typically cover any kind of liability suit against you.

People who serve on numerous boards and volunteer groups can buy “individual D&O” insurance. The cost might range from $2,500 to $7,500 a year.

“It’s kind of like your own safety net,” says Kukral, who is president of International Excess in Richmond Heights, Ohio. His company, a wholesale broker, works with insurance agents who need unconventional products for their homeowner, auto or life insurance customers.

Extra liability coverage is also popular for parents who have a teenage driver, Kukral says.

– WEDDING HITCHES

So what happens if you spend a boatload of money on your big day and you have to postpone because of something like a flood or a hurricane or because the bride or groom or one of their parents is hospitalized?

Maybe you lose your deposits. Maybe you have to reschedule at great expense. Not to worry: Wedding insurance can help.

Such policies will cover expenses if you have to reschedule your wedding for a “covered reason,” such as Mother Nature, illness or military deployment.

If the bride or groom simply gets cold feet, though, forget it.

The policies cover expenses like forfeited deposits and travel expenses. If a rowdy dancer or drunken guest runs into your gift table at the reception and causes it to collapse and break some of your gifts, the damage is covered. If your wedding photos don’t turn out, the insurance will pay to reconvene your wedding party to take replacement photos. If the best man loses the wedding rings, it’s covered. And if a wedding postponement or cancellation causes the bride or groom to need professional counseling, the insurance will pay for the sessions.

One policy, WedSafe insurance through Robertson Taylor Insurance Brokers Ltd. of London, costs $185 for about $15,000 coverage, and $405 for about $75,000 coverage.

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– PARTY’S OVER

As with wedding insurance, special event insurance will cover expenses if you have to cancel or postpone a big party celebrating something like a bar mitzvah or a graduation.

Policies also cover things like host liquor liability and damage to rented property.

Policies through companies such as Fireman’s Fund start at $195.

– BAD DOG

Homeowner’s or personal liability insurance should cover you if your dog bites someone, but some policies exclude “vicious dogs” or dogs that have bitten before. Communities may require owners of certain kinds of dogs (usual suspects include pit bulls, Rottweilers and Dobermans) or previous biters to have extra liability coverage.

Insurers typically charge $700 to $1,000 per year per dog for $500,000 coverage.

Dogs are a big item for many insurers, says Salvatore, of the Insurance Information Institute. “With more people getting these aggressive dogs … the risk has changed,” she says.

– HURT REPUTATION

Some might call it hurt feelings. Others call it defamation.

Maybe someone at work makes up a rumor about you. Or maybe you’re wrongly accused of a crime.

In any case, you might have unexpected expenses or have difficulty continuing to earn a living.

Policies can cover lost wages, damage to your reputation and professional public relations services to help you restore your name. A policy for $1 million in coverage costs about $250 a year; $10 million in coverage costs $1,500 to $2,000.

– ADOPTION

You’ve spent years on a waiting list and finally are planning to adopt a child. What if the birth parents change their minds?

Adoption insurance can cover costs such as the birth mother’s expenses that you’ve paid (medical, travel, etc.), legal expenses and counseling fees.

One product, “Adoption Assurance” from Tangram Insurance Services, gives a price of $2,970 for $25,000 coverage with a $2,500 deductible.

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– STALKING

A handful of companies offer insurance to women in case they’re victims of stalking. The policies might cover security help and expenses related to repeated anonymous phone calls, pornographic or obscene messages or mailings and detective services to collect evidence.

Stalking protection can be purchased for $40 a month.

RB END MURRAY

(Teresa Dixon Murray is a reporter for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. She can be contacted at tmurray(at)plaind.com.)

AP-NY-08-29-06 1411EDT