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A liability policy considers damage to be accidental if it is unexpected and unintended from the standpoint of the insured. Property refers to’material property’ rather than property or intellectual property rights. See accidental damage for first-party coverage.
See Also: Accidental Bodily Injury
Short Definition: Insured’s death as a result of an accident.
Long Definition: As an insured event under personal accident insurance, it is defined as “death caused by violent, accidental, external, and visible means that shall solely and independently result in death occurring within 12 months.” The time limit is arbitrary, but the longer the period between the injury and subsequent death, the more likely an intervening cause will be. If the accidental death is caused by an accepted risk, the insurer makes no payment.
See Also: Accident; Accidental Means
Short Description: Policy that pays out in the event of the insured’s death as a result of an accident or incapacitating bodily injury.
Long Description: Typically, this coverage is written in conjunction with group life insurance contracts. The accidental death portion provides double indemnity coverage if death is caused by an accident, and the dismemberment portion provides benefits for the loss of a specific body part (e.g., eye, hand, leg). For example, if a member of the group dies of natural causes, the group life contract may provide £100,000 in coverage. If the death was caused by an accident, the benefit is £200,000. If an accident causes the loss of an arm rather than death, the benefit could be £50,000. Some AD&D riders pay half the benefit amount if the insured loses a limb or vision in one eye.
See Also: Double Indemnity.
An insurance benefit providing coverage in the event of accidental loss of life, limb, or eyesight, offered as a supplementary benefit to a group term life insurance plan.
Short Description: A lump sum payment made in the event of the death of an insured person as a direct result of an accident.
Long Description: A monetary compensation equal to the sum of the capital sum insured plus the sum of the accumulated cumulated benefit. In addition to the capital sum insured under the policy, certain other benefits are payable, such as funeral and transportation of the deceased, education fund for dependent children, and medical expenses incurred as a result of the accident, subject to the terms, conditions, and limitations of the Policy provision. Also, a provision added to a life insurance policy that provides for the payment of an additional benefit in the event of accidental death; this is commonly referred to as “double indemnity”. If the benefit is more than twice the principal sum, it is known as “multiple indemnity.”
A supplementary benefit provision that pays an additional lump-sum amount, beyond the basic death benefit of a life insurance policy, only if the insured’s death results from an accident. This provision is commonly known as “double indemnity” when the extra payout equals the original face amount of the policy.
A provision in a personal accident policy that pays either a specified lump sum or a multiple of the weekly disability benefit if the insured loses their sight or two limbs due to an accident. A smaller amount is payable for the loss of one eye, arm, leg, hand, or foot.
The Fire Prevention (Metropolis) Act 1774, Section 86, states that no action can be brought against anyone whose premises a fire starts by accident. Accidental fire was defined in Filliter v. Phippard (1847) as “fire produced by mere chance or incapable of being traced to any particular cause.” Thus, if the cause of the fire is negligence, nuisance, or a Rylands v. Fletcher object, the fire is not ‘accidental,’ and the defence under s.86 is inapplicable. It appears that any liability for fire was intended to be fault-based.
bodily injury that is unexpected and unintended.
A term appearing in some personal accident policies referring to an unexpected, unintended, or unforeseen cause of an accident, involving at least an element of fortuity. Under such policies, the “means” or cause leading to the accident must itself be accidental, not merely the resulting injury. Typically, the policy specifies that the bodily injury must arise from accidental means “solely and independently of any other cause.”
For example, if an individual chopping wood loses grip of an axe and accidentally cuts his foot, this qualifies as accidental means. However, if his finger simply gets in the way of the axe, this would generally not constitute accidental means. Modern courts, however, tend to avoid distinguishing strictly between “accidental bodily injury” and “bodily injury caused by accidental means,” often interpreting both similarly.