Abandonment Clause
In marine insurance, clause giving an insured the right to abandon lost or damaged property and still claim full settlement from an insurer (subject to certain restrictions). Two types of losses are provided for under abandonment clauses:
- Actual total lossproperty so badly damaged it is unrepairable or unrecoverable; causes include fire, sinking, windstorm damage, and mysterious disappearance. For example, until the 1980s the Titanic, which sank off Newfoundland in 1912, was deemed to be unrecoverable and the Commercial Union Insurance Company had paid its owners for their loss due to sinking. Owners of ships that mysteriously disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle have been able to collect insurance proceeds. Disappearance of pleasure craft due to drug pirates has resulted in indemnification of owners through insurance proceeds.
- Constructive total lossproperty so badly damaged that the cost of its rehabilitation would be more than its restored value. For example, a ship and/or its cargo is damaged to such a degree that the cost of repair would exceed its restored value. The insured can abandon the property if (a) repair costs are greater than 50% of the value of the property after it has been repaired and (b) the insurance company agrees to the insured's intent to abandon.
Popular Insurance Terms
The space created between the total death benefit and the cash value of a universal life insurance policy. An automatic increase in the death benefit results when the cash value approaches ...
Utilization of life insurance to make annual gifts into a trust in order to produce the largest tax-free death benefit possible to the trust beneficiaries. ...
Policy that pays a specified sum not related in any way to the extent of the loss. The term applies to a life insurance policy rather than to a contract of indemnity because the former does ...
Assembly of people formed only for obtaining group insurance. Such a group is uninsurable and violates underwriting principles concerning group insurance. ...
Subrogation clauses are used in both the real estate and insurance industries to follow lawful claims against a third party that damaged the property of the insured. If we encounter a ...
Specified limit on the dollar amount of coverage for a given loss. ...
Ratio commonly used by the property and casualty insurance industry as a measure of financial strength or to indicate to what degree a particular insurance company is leveraged. A low ratio ...
Provides the same coverage as a comprehensive personal liability insurance policy, plus coverage to exposures that are peculiar to farms, such as farm business operations, farm employees ...
Same as term Debit Insurance: life insurance on which a premium is collected on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis, usually at the home of a policyholder. The face value of the policy is ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.