Knowledge Corner

When you think of insurance, most of the time you don’t think of fun. However, there are some words that just make you smile when you hear them. Here is a list of a few fun sounding insurance words:

Force Majeure
(This is a French word that means superior force, pronounced force may-zhur). In insurance, it is a clause that provides protection for financial losses arising out of the inability to complete a project due to events outside the control of the contractor. These events can include “acts of God” such as natural disasters such as fire, earthquake, and flood, as well as other events such as war and revolution.

Bumbershoot
An excess liability coverage for insureds with major wet marine exposures. The policy covers both nonmarine and maritime liability exposures that is, protection and indemnity, general average, collision, sue and labor, and general liability hazards.  

Tail Insurance
Tail coverage extends the insurance reporting period beyond the end of the policy period up to a given date. Typically offered for Claims-Made policy such as professional liability in which coverage ceases at the end of the policy term, tail coverage allows the insured to file a claim after the expiration date. It is also known as an extended reporting period (ERP). It does not cover removal of tails: human, dog, or otherwise.

Nose coverage
Nose coverage is a feature of claims-made insurance that provides coverage for incidents that occurred prior to the policy inception date.  This can always be known as a Retroactive Date or Prior Acts coverage, which will cover claims that occurred from a specified date before the policy began and forward, so long as the is reported during the policy period (or during the tail). Sadly, it does not cover botched nose jobs.

Inchmaree
A clause in maritime insurance policies that provides coverage for damage or loss caused by negligence of a vessel’s captain or crew or by any defect in the ship’s hull or machinery, causes that are not ‘perils of the sea’. This insurance is named after a ship that didn’t have that coverage, because it didn’t exist yet!

Key Person
Hint, not just someone with the keys to the office. Key person is someone whose loss (through death or severe illness) is a detriment to business operations. Key Person insurance is a policy that transfers that risk to the insurance company, which will pay out and provide a business with the working capital to maintain business operations and fund the recruitment or training of a replacement.

 If you have any questions about these fun words or the more serious sounding insurance words, reach out to TSIB and speak with one of our Risk Consultants today!

TSIB’s Risk Consultants are currently servicing the following locations:
East Coast: New York City, NY; Bergen County, NJ; Fairfield County, CT; Philadelphia, PA
Texas: Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas
California: Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, San Diego County

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