Property Damage Insurance Claim Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of property damage insurance claims, focusing on the concept of indemnity, the accrual of a cause of action, and the rights and duties of both the insurer and the insured. It delves into the legal aspects of insurance policies, explaining the roles of the indemnifier and indemnity holder, and how claims are processed. The report also covers different types of general insurance, including home, travel, and marine insurance, and discusses the conditions under which an insurance claim can be made. Case laws are cited to illustrate the legal principles involved in property damage insurance claims. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of fulfilling contractual obligations and protecting one's rights under the law.

Claim for indemnity under a
property damage insurance policy

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFRERENCES..............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Insurance policy is the contract between the insurer and insured. The insured person
determines the claim to insurer in which the company has to pay an required amount. For any
damages of the property insurer promises to pay the loss amount which is occurred due to perils.
There are two type of insurance i.e. general and life. If there is any damage to property then it
comes under the general insurance 1. On other side, if any person is injured then it will covered in
life insurance. The person is having right if any damages has been occurred to their property. In
present report the what are the causes of action accrue for a claim for indemnity under a property
damage insurance policy has been explained.
TASK
Indemnity is compensation amount which has been received due to damage or loss to our
property. In legal language, indemnity is refers to the exemption from liability for any damages.
Indemnity insurance is used to conveying the transaction to cover sort of amount which cannot
be resolve by person swiftly. The damage of property is covered in liability coverage along with
Bodily injury liability insurance that gives right to person for the insurance. The act indemnity
protects the right of people which are performing by other person and protected from the illegal
activities. This exemption is typically applies to public officers. For example, if government
officer break any law in order to carry out their responsibilities then they can get the right from
the protection of people for doing a particular thing.
Indemnity holder
The holder is the person that has the responsibility of the any commercial paper like the
promissory note, cheque and the bills of exchange 2. And the holder is entitled to its own name to
the relation of the negotiable instrument and received the due amount. The person have some
rights which are against to the indemnifier related with the legal provisions. There are some
rights of the indemnifier and these are:
 all the damaged amount mention in to the contract.
 The indemnity amount can be compelled pay the loss to thyme third party.
1 . Appleman, J. A., Appleman, J. and Holmes, E. M., (2015). Excuses for Nonpayment and
Defenses to Actions for Premiums (Vol. 5). Appleman on Insurance Law and Practice.
2 Beard, R., 2013. Risk theory: the stochastic basis of insurance (Vol. 20). Springer
Science & Business Media.

 At the time of the case filed the amount which are spend on the case by the person
connection with contact which is related to the indemnity holder.
There are some duties of the indemnity holder. These are:
 It is the duty of the indemnity holder that if the indemnity holder act with any intention
for any type of loss then in this case the indemnifier will not responsible to pay the loss.
 The duty of the indemnity holder that to work judiciously.
Indemnifier
The indemnifier is the person who protests against the damage or the loss. The car
insurance is the example of this 3. There are some rights of the indemnifier. These are :
 The instruction which has been acting against to the other party by the indemnity holder
 The indemnifier acts with the any intention of the any type of damage and the loss.
 The indemnity holders acts as the neglectful.
There are some duties of the indemnifier. These are:
 If there is any loss occurred according to the contract then indemnifier has a right to
claim for the compensation amount.
 If the loss of property is not occurred by the negligence or haphazard behaviour then it is
the duty of the indemnified to demand the claim money.
When does cause of action accrue
A cause of action arises when the second party refuses to fulfil their obligations which
has been written in the contract. When the injury is not readily discoverable then the cause of
action accrues, when the act of plaintiff discovery has been found. This cases are done for the
fraud or malpractices. For example, if indemnifier fails to pay the amount to indemnify-holder on
the due date then this will cause of action accrue will take place. A statue of limitation is said to
start when the time of running claim cause accrues. At the time of any damages the second party
is responsible to pay the compensate amount to plaintiff. In this plaintiff have right to suit against
the second person in case of recovery of loss amount.
Case law STB Marketing Corp. v. Zolfaghari (1920), it was held that cause of action accrues
when the any of the party has been discovered with the fraud with reasonable due diligence. In
this case, the plaintiff had no reason to believe that the conveyances of fraudulently taken place
3 Einav, L. and Finkelstein, A., 2011. Selection in insurance markets: Theory and
empirics in pictures. The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 25(1). pp.115-138.

until the disposition of judgement had been taken by the debtor. Therefore, cause of action were
not time-bared.
General insurance
The general insurance is the non life insurance policies. In the general insurance includes
the home insurance, car insurance and the insurance of the other valuable things. And it is the
insurance which are not concluded in the life insurance. The general insurance also known as the
casualty insurance and the property insurance. The general insurance are of the many types.
These are:
Travel insurance- In the travel insurance includes the student travel insurance, individual
travelling policies, insurance of the senior citizen health 4.
Marine insurance- In this covers the goods, freight, and any other which are against the
damages and the losses at the time of transit through the road, rail, sea, etc.
Health insurance- In the health insurance includes the family health insurance, insurance
of the individual health and the insurance of the critical illness.
Home insurance- From the home insurance, it protests the house from any type of the
accidents.
The property damage insurance policy is for the any loss which is from the accident and
any damage of the property. This policy covers the damages of the property. The property
damage insurance includes the many forms of the insurance like for instance home insurance,
flood insurance, earth insurance 5. And the property can be insured in the two ways that are
named perils and the open perils.
In the named perils includes the actual loss which are to be listed in the insurance policy.
And in the Open perils means the loss which are not excluded under the policy. In the open
perils includes the floods, earth quakes, wars etc.
The insurance has been provided by the organisation or any financial institution against
the indemnity claims. The insurer protects the holder from having to pay the full amount of the
indemnity, if the holder has done any fault for the cause of indemnity for the first time. The cases
regarding the damages of property are include in the civil nature. If there is any loss in the
4 Levy, S. and Schady, N., 2013. Latin America's social policy challenge: education,
social insurance, redistribution. The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 27(2). pp.193-
218.
5 Michel‐Kerjan, E. O. and Kousky, C., 2010. Come rain or shine: Evidence on flood
insurance purchases in Florida. Journal of Risk and Insurance. 77(2). pp.369-397.

property then it include in the indemnity clauses. For example, if there is any cause in the
property, then tenant is responsible for damages which has been occurred whether due to
negligence, they have to pay the fines. Indemnity insurance provide the compensate beneficiaries
of the policies for which actual economic loss has been occurred. In this the insured has been
required to prove that for to recover the amount of loss 6. The recovery is given to up to certain
amount even if the amount of policy is higher. For example, if the property of any person has
been damaged and the insurance has been done then the company will not compensate all the
amounts but they will provide them up to a certain amount.
The property which got the damages then the insured and insurer have some rights and
responsibilities. These are as follows.
Rights and duties of insurer.
Right of reinstatement – The insurance company has an option to reinstate or replace
the property damage instead of paying the loss of amount in monetary terms. The insured person
have no right to claim reinstatement. From this right, it protect the exaggerated claims.
Right to subrogation – After making the payment of the policy, the insurer is entitled to
get all the rights and remedies in which they are possessed by the insured person for the subject
matter of insurance. When the amount has been paid by the insurer before that they can claim the
right of subrogation 7. But before the payment also, the insurer are enable to exercise the right of
subrogation due to some appropriate policy conditions has been made.
Right of contribution – When any person has taken out more than one policy, against
the damaged of property, then all the amount of insured will be discharged from their liability.
The insurer have to paid an entitled amount against the loss. This right can be also called as
contribution right among the co-insurer.
The duty of insure is to properly identified damaged whether the damage to property has
been occurred or not. They have to see all the policies that actually the damage has taken place
or not. After all the verification of documents then they have to compensate the amount.
Rights and duties of insured.
6 Ostrager, B. R. and Newman, T. R., 2012. Handbook on Insurance Coverage Disputes.
Aspen Publishers Online.
7 Ostrager, B. R. and Newman, T. R., 2012. Handbook on Insurance Coverage Disputes.
Aspen Publishers Online.

The insured have to represent the property that how much damage has been there. If the
damaged of property is low then they will not receive the amount. The insured person has to
satisfied the following two conditions in which they can receive the compensation amount.
Firstly, the claim which has been made by the person should satisfy the coverage 8. It means that
the claim amount should be fall into the policy coverage grant. Secondly, in all insurance policy
there are some certain terms and conditions which also imposed on the parties. If the policy
terms and conditions do not purport and define the coverage of policy then the people cannot
claim for the compensation amount. The insured person has to take some certain steps after the
damage has been occurred to the property. If the person has not been compiled with all the duties
then they will not get the compensation amount.
The most important duty of insured person is that they have to properly coordinate with
the insurer person and duty to notify about the loss or damage to insurer person. If there is any
consequences in the breach of contract between the insured and insurer and the damage has been
occurred due to the insured person, then insurer has right to claim the amount.
If the property has been damaged under the liability coverage restrictions and exceed to
bodily inquiry then the insurer has to select limit for liability. For example if the insurance has
taken for the multiple vehicles then liability insurance for all the vehicles must have equal rights
and the selected damage property have set the limit for the all the same vehicles on the policy 9.
Every country has make the law regarding the property damage liability for residents.
The person has to fill the form regarding the damaged of property in the commercial auto
insurance policy. The extra amount will be charged if late submission form has been submitted.
According to the insurance policy, if any cause of action is arises to any person another
party is liable to damages for same. They have to pay compensation equal to the amount of
which is specified in the law. If cause of action is arises among two parties then both are liable to
perform their duty and try to fulfil obligation which are imposed on them according to law. As
per the insurance act, person is able to file claim for the damages which are caused to them so
that, another party have to pay the amount which is mentioned under the law. According to this
them person who provide surety against any person is known as indemnifier and for whom they
8 Rosenbaum, S., 2011. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: implications for
public health policy and practice. Public health reports. 126(1). pp.130-135.
9 Saunders, A. and Cornett, M. M., 2014. Financial institutions management. McGraw-
Hill Education,.

provide surety is known as indemnity holder. Both parties have to fulfil their duties which are
imposed on them according to law 10. As per this law, there is no bodily harm is caused to any
person but legal injury has been arises to them. So that, if the case has been file against any
person then they have to perform their duty and try to fulfil all terms and condition which are
imposed on them.
Case: ESTES EXPRESS LINES, INC., et al. v. CHOPPER EXPRESS, INC., 2007, in this
case it has been decided that, the the indemnity has been file the case is unenforceable by law.
And the judgement has been passed by the court that remand the case for further proceeding.
Case: VEPCO v. Wilson, 1981, in this case it has been defines that the features of indemnity
must be necessary to grow which are out of the contractual relationship among two or more
parties.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above report it has been concluded that, insurance has been filed by the
one party against another party for which they cause damages. According to the insurance act,
the person who provide surety to another person is known as indemnity holder and another party
is known as indemnifier. Both parties are have to performance their duties which are imposed on
them according the act and the person whom against the case has been file is liable to pay
damages which are caused to another party. They have to perform their duty and with the help of
law protect their right as well.
10 Sommers, B. D., and et. al., 2013. The Affordable Care Act has led to significant gains
in health insurance and access to care for young adults. Health affairs. 32(1). pp.165-
174.

REFRERENCES
Books and Journals
Appleman, J. A., Appleman, J. and Holmes, E. M., 2015. Excuses for Nonpayment and Defenses
to Actions for Premiums (Vol. 5). Appleman on Insurance Law and Practice.
Beard, R., 2013. Risk theory: the stochastic basis of insurance (Vol. 20). Springer Science &
Business Media.
Einav, L. and Finkelstein, A., 2011. Selection in insurance markets: Theory and empirics in
pictures. The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 25(1). pp.115-138.
Levy, S. and Schady, N., 2013. Latin America's social policy challenge: education, social
insurance, redistribution. The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 27(2). pp.193-218.
Michel‐Kerjan, E. O. and Kousky, C., 2010. Come rain or shine: Evidence on flood insurance
purchases in Florida. Journal of Risk and Insurance. 77(2). pp.369-397.
Ostrager, B. R. and Newman, T. R., 2012. Handbook on Insurance Coverage Disputes. Aspen
Publishers Online.
Rosenbaum, S., 2011. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: implications for public
health policy and practice. Public health reports. 126(1). pp.130-135.
Saunders, A. and Cornett, M. M., 2014. Financial institutions management. McGraw-Hill
Education,.
Sommers, B. D., and et. al., 2013. The Affordable Care Act has led to significant gains in health
insurance and access to care for young adults. Health affairs. 32(1). pp.165-174.
Online
Types of Insurance Policies You Need. 20010. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.gsdrc.org/docs/open/eirs4.pdf>. [Accessed on 5th May 2017].