Household insurance clause defined in terms such as ‘your home has not been lived for more than 60 consecutive days. Cover is restricted and may be subject to regular visits by the insured as well as central heating being turned off or drained. Under commercial policies the requirements vary, but, as a minimum, cover will not operate if, without the insurer being informed, premises are left unoccupied or unused for 30 consecutive days. Some policies make special requirements as to water supply and may call for minimum temperature 10°C during the winter, or for the services to be shut down.

assumption that is not the result of a conscious decision. Risks are assumed inadvertently and are usually inconsequential.

Damages awarded by the court against a defendant who has failed to pay. Reverse liability and unsatisfied court judgments are insurance solutions to this problem.

If a damaged ship is not repaired, and has not been sold, then, when cover expires, the insured can claim the reasonable amount of depreciation resulting from the unrepaired damage not exceeding the cost of repairs of the damage (Marine Insurance Act 1906, s.69(3)). If an unrepaired vessel later becomes a total loss by an insured peril during the same policy term, the insurer is liable for the total loss only (s.77(2)). If the total loss occurs in a subsequent period, the insured is able to recover both the unrepaired damage and the total loss if both are caused by insured perils.

Means not fit for the road. The term is not confined to soundness of the vehicle. Packing eight people into a Ford Anglia made it unroadworthy (Clarke v. National Insurance & Guarantee Corporation Ltd (1963)).

An award of damages to an individual that remains unpaid. An employers’ liability policy pays for unsatisfied court judgments awarded against third parties in favour of employees injured in circumstances to which the ployers’ liability policy would have applied had the employer been the party liable. The insurer will pay the damages if they are unsatisfied six months after judgment provided no appeal is outstanding. It is a condition that the employee’s rights are assigned to the insurer. See REVERSE LIABILITY.

Expenses that are insured as a part of the gross profit item under a business interruption insurance. They relate to expenses that will continue despite the interruption in the business, e.g. rent and interest payments. See SPECIFIED WORKING EXPENSES.

Agreement between the Motor Insurers’ Bureau and the government under which the MIB compensates the personal injury victims of negligent motorists who remain untraced. The deliberate running down of victims is outside the scheme as compensation is available from the Criminal Injuries Board.

Property insurance in regard to which the amount to be paid on a total loss has not been agreed. The parties fix a sum insured representing the insurer’s maximum liability otherwise claims are to be dealt with on an indemnity basis subject, often, to pro rata average. Marine Insurance Act, s.16, provides a basis of valuation for the insurance of hulls, cargoes and freight, etc., which, in the absence of any agreed value, must be used for the purpose of indemnifying the insured. Hulls and cargoes are invariably insured under valued policies but freight is generally insured under unvalued policies. See VALUATION CLAUSE.
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A property insurance policy where the sum insured has not been agreed by the insurer in advance as the actual value of the property. In the event of a loss, therefore, the value is open to discussions with a view to the insured being indemnified against his true loss up to the sum insured.

Unknowing participation by a carrier in a CMR contract. Occurs when a road carrier accepts goods for part of a European road carriage between different countries when a single CMR contract governs the complete carriage. Each successive carrier, even if not crossing a national frontier, becomes a party to the contract and liable under CMR even if not aware of the contractual situation.