Glossary

Commmercial Property Coverages

Property Insurance is any type of insurance that indemnifies an insured party who suffers a financial loss because property has been damaged or destroyed. Property is considered to be any item that has a value. Property can be classified as real property or personal property. Real property is land and the attachments to the land, such as buildings. Personal Property is all property that is not real property. The Building and Personal Property coverage form is the form used to insure almost all types of commercial property. The insuring agreement in the Building and Personal Property coverage form promises to pay for direct physical loss or damage to covered property at the premises described in the policy when caused by or resulting from a covered cause of loss. The following is a brief outline of coverages and how they are used within the Commercial Building And Personal Property coverage form.  

Buildings and Business Personal Property

Coverage for the building includes the building and structures, completed additions to covered buildings, outdoor fixtures, permanently installed fixtures, machinery and equipment. The building material used to maintain and service the insured's premises is also insured. Business Personal Property owned by the insured and used in the insured's business is covered for direct loss or damage. The coverage includes furniture and fixtures, stock, and several other similar business property items when not specifically excluded from coverage. The policy is also designed to protect the insured against loss or damage to the personal property of others while in the insured's care, custody or control.

Coverage Extensions and Additional Coverages

In addition to the limits stated in the Building and Personal Property coverage form, the policy has a coverage extensions section and an additional coverages section. The coverage extensions section provides limited coverage for newly acquired or constructed property, property of others, certain outdoor property, and the cost to research and reconstruct information on destroyed records. When coverage is placed on the all risk form, two additional extensions are added for property in transit and coverage for certain repair costs related to damage caused by water. The two additional extensions are covered by certain perils only. The additional coverage section provides coverage for indirect losses that result from a direct loss. The coverage applies to removal of debris, preservation of property, fire department service charges and pollutant cleanup and removal. The coverage extensions and the additional coverages have limitations and are subject to certain conditions.

Limit of Insurance

The most the insurer will pay for loss or damage in any one occurrence is the limit of insurance stated in the policy declarations.

Deductible

The standard deductible is $250. However, other deductible amounts are available and the deductible applies only once per loss.

Causes of Loss

The term peril is used when discussing losses. A peril is a cause of loss. Basic property insurance policies are written to cover the perils of fire, lightning, explosion, windstorm, hail, smoke, aircraft or vehicle damage, riot or civil commotion, vandalism, sprinkler leakage, sinkhole collapse, and volcanic action. Other property insurance policies, often referred to as the broad form policy, add coverages for water damage, weight of snow, ice or sleet, breakage of glass and coverage for falling objects. The broadest coverage is the special form, which is best known as the all risk form. All risk covers all causes of loss, except those specifically excluded from coverage. It is possible for a commercial property policy to have more than one cause of loss form.

Replacement Cost and Actual Cash Value

Property can be valued in several different ways. Insurance companies commonly use two approaches to determine value, which also determines how a loss will be paid; the replacement cost method and the actual cash value method. Insurers consider replacement cost of a property item to be the cost to replace it with new property of like kind. Actual cash value is replacement cost, minus the accumulated depreciation for age and condition.

Coinsurance

Most building and business personal property polices have a coinsurance clause which requires the insured to carry insurance equal to at least a specified percentage of the actual cash value of the property. If a loss occurs, and it is determined that the amount of insurance carried is less than the amount required, a penalty could be placed on the insured.

Commercial General Liability Coverages

The Commercial General Liability Policy provides the insurance protection needed to pay damages for bodily injury or property damages for which the insured is legally responsible. The policy provides coverage for liability arising from personal injury and advertising injury. Coverage for medical expense is also provided. The policy also covers accidents occurring on the premises or away from the premises. Coverage is provided for injury or damages arising out of goods or products made or sold by the named insured. The insured is the named insured and the employees of the named insured. However, several individuals and organizations, other than the named insured, may be covered, depending upon certain circumstances specified in the policy. In addition to the limits, the policy provides supplemental payments for attorney fees, court costs and other expenses associated with a claim or the defense of a liability suit.

There are two commercial general liability coverage forms available, the occurrence form and the claims-made form. Both forms are somewhat identical in the coverages offered. The main difference is in the way claims are handled under the two forms. The occurrence form covers bodily injury or property damage claims that occur during the policy term, regardless of when the claim is reported. The claims-made policy form only covers claims made against the insured during the policy term. A claim made after the policy expires is not covered by a claims-made policy unless the claim is covered by an extended reporting period. The claims-made policy will only have the extended reporting period. The following terms reflect both forms.

General Aggregate

The General Aggregate Limit is the most money the insurer will pay under a certain coverage for all claims occurring during the policy term.

Premises/Operations

Coverage is provided for damages arising out of ownership or occupancy of the insured premises when not maintained in a reasonable manner. This also covers damages arising out of operations performed by the insured business.

Products/Completed Operations

Products coverage is provided for damages arising out of products manufactured, sold, handled or distributed by the insured. Completed Operations covers damages occurring after operations have been completed or abandoned, or after an item is installed or built and released for it's intended purpose.

Medical Expense Limit

Medical payments coverage pays medical expenses resulting from bodily injury caused by an accident on premises owned or rented by the insured, or locations next to such property, or when caused by the insured's operations. These payments are made without regard to the liability of the insured.

Fire Damage Limit

The fire damage limit provides coverage for fire damage caused by negligence on the part of the insured to premises rented to the named insured. If a fire occurs because of negligence of the insured and causes damage to property not rented to the insured, coverage would be provided under the occurrence limit.

Personal Injury

Personal Injury means injury other than bodily injury. Coverage is provided for injury resulting from offenses such as false arrest, malicious prosecution, detention or imprisonment, the wrongful entry into, wrongful eviction from and other acts of invasion, or rights of private occupancy of a room. Coverage for libel and slander is also provided in the policy.

Advertising Injury

This coverage pays for damages done in the course of oral or written advertisement that disparages, libels or slanders a person's or organization's goods, products or services. Coverage for these offenses is provided under advertising injury coverage only if they occur during the course of advertising the named insured's own goods, products or services.

Each Occurrence

Each occurrence is considered to be an accident, which could include continuous or repeated exposure to the same harmful conditions. An occurrence can also be a sudden event, or a result of a long term series of events.

Commercial Automobile Coverages

Liability Coverage

The liability coverage of the commercial auto policy provides protection against legal liability arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of any insured automobile. The insuring agreement agrees to pay damages for bodily injury or property damage for which the insured is legally responsible because of an automobile accident resulting from the ownership, maintenance, or use of a covered auto. The insuring agreement also states that in addition to the payment of damages for which the insured is legally liable for, the insurer also agrees to defend the insured for all legal defense cost. The defense cost is in addition to the policy limits.

Medical Payments Coverage

The insuring agreement states that the insurer will pay all reasonable and necessary medical and funeral expenses incurred by an insured because of bodily injury caused by an accident. The insured is the named insured, the insured's employees and guests, and any other person occupying a covered auto. These payments are made without regard to fault.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage

Uninsured Motorist

This insuring agreement pays for bodily injury to an insured who is injured by an uninsured motorist, a hit-and-run driver, or a driver whose insurer becomes insolvent. These benefits are paid under the named insured's policy.

Underinsured Motorist

This coverage is added to supplement the Uninsured Motorist Coverage, the coverage applies only when the other driver has liability limits at the time of an accident, but the liability limits carried may be insufficient to pay for damages for which the driver is responsible. This is when the insured's underinsured motorists coverage would apply and payment for the difference could be made. The two coverages are mutually exclusive and do not overlap or duplicate each other.

Any Automobile

Coverage is provided for any auto, including autos owned by the insured, autos the named insured hires or borrows from others, and other non-owned autos used in the insured's business.

Owned Auto

Coverage is provided for all autos owned by the named insured. The owned auto symbol is used for liability insurance only.

Non-Owned Autos

Coverage is provided only for autos not owned, leased, hired, or borrowed by the named insured. Coverage includes autos owned by the insured's employees or members of their households, but only while used in the named insured's business or personal affairs.

Hired Auto

Coverage is provided only for autos leased, hired, rented or borrowed for use in the named insured's business.

Physical Damage Coverages

Collision Coverage

This coverage provides protection against loss or damage to a covered auto or a non-owned auto resulting from the impact with another vehicle or object. Collision losses are paid regardless of fault.

Comprehensive Coverage

Comprehensive coverage provides protection against loss or damage to a covered auto resulting from loss other than a collision or upset. This coverage also provides for supplemental payments for transportation expenses in the event of total theft of a covered auto or a non-owned auto. Coverage begins forty-eight hours after the theft.

Umbrella Liability Coverages

Umbrella liability insurance provides excess liability coverage over several of the insured's primary liability policies. Most umbrella liability policies provide coverage that is broader than the insured's primary policies. An excess liability policy may be what is called a following form policy, which means it is subject to the same terms as the underlying policies; it may be a self-contained policy, which means it is subject to its own terms only; or it may be a combination of these two types of excess policies. Umbrella policies have three functions: (1) To provide additional limits above the each occurrence limit of the insured's primary policies; (2) To take the place of primary insurance when primary aggregate limits are reduced or exhausted; and (3) To provide broader coverage for some claims that would not be covered by the insured's primary insurance policies, which would be subject to the policy retention. Most umbrella liability policies contain one comprehensive insuring agreement. The agreement usually states it will pay the ultimate net loss, which is the total amount in excess of the primary limit for which the insured becomes legally obligated to pay for damages of bodily injury, property damage, personal injury, and advertising injury.

Limits of Insurance

All umbrella liability policies contain an each occurrence limit of insurance. Some umbrella liability policies may have a separate limit that applies to all personal and advertising injury for one person or for the organization. Also, some policies are written with aggregate limits for only one type of loss. Other policies may have one or more aggregates for all losses. Umbrella policies can be written with several different variations of the aggregate limits. There are no standard umbrella policies.

Pay on Behalf

This is an insuring agreement used in some umbrella policies. The agreement promises to make direct payment on behalf of the insured for those sums of money the insured becomes legally obligated to pay because of liability imposed upon the insured by law, or assumed under contract.

Indemnity

This is the insuring agreement clause found in most umbrella policies as opposed to the pay on behalf agreement. When the indemnity insuring clause is used, the insurer will indemnify or reimburse the insured for those sums of money the insured becomes obligated to pay by reason of liability imposed upon the insured by law, or assumed under contract.

Self Insured Retention

The self insured retention is the amount of the loss an insured must pay before the umbrella policy would be required to respond. The self insured retention would only apply when a loss is excluded from coverage under the primary policy, but not excluded under the umbrella policy.