Intro to liability (Liability - KY)

Which of the following would NOT be classified as personal property for insurance purposes?

A house. Personal property is property that is moveable; real property is nonmoveable.

What type of liability would a person who owns a swimming pool have?

Absolute. Any conduct that is inherently dangerous (swimming pools, using explosives, keeping wild animals) imposes absolute liability. The claimant does not have to prove anything.

Which of the following describes contributory negligence?

Any degree of negligence by the injured party may bar recovery.

Which of the following defenses attests that if a person recognizes and understands that there is danger involved in an activity and voluntarily chooses to encounter it, he or she may be barred from seeking recovery for injuries due to negligence?

Assumption of risk

A couple bought tickets to a college hockey tournament. At the game, a stray puck flies into the stands and hits the wife in the face, breaking her nose. Which legal defense may bar her from recovering damages for the injury she received at the hockey game?

Assumption of risk This defense of an action for recovery for injuries attests that if a person recognizes and understands that there is danger involved in an activity and voluntarily chooses to encounter it, this assumption of risk may bar recovery for injury caused by negligence.

What is the legal defense that can be used in most states in which proportionate damages may be awarded when both the plaintiff and defendant were negligent?

Comparative negligence. Comparative negligence is the apportionment of damages when both the plaintiff and the defendant are at fault. Recovery by the plaintiff is lessened or increased depending upon the degree of each party's negligence.

Which of the following is a statutory defense?

Comparative negligence. Many states, by statute, require that damages be apportioned based upon the degree of negligence of each party in an accident.

An insured is driving above the posted speed limit. As he rounds a curve, he crashes into an illegally parked car. This is an example of

Contributory negligence. When one is partially responsible for his or her own loss, it is termed contributory negligence.

The section of an insurance policy that details what perils are not insured against and what persons are not insured is known as the

Exclusions.

The policy conditions define

How parties to the contract must act following a loss.

The part of the insurance contract that describes the covered perils and the nature of coverage of the contractual agreement between the insurer and the insured is called the

Insuring agreement.

Which of the following terms describes the concept of disrupting the chain of events?

Intervening cause. An intervening cause breaks the required uninterrupted chain of events necessary to establish negligent liability.

After a storm dumps several inches of snow, an insured spends several hours clearing his sidewalk and driveway. Later that night it begins to sleet. Before the insured can clear his walks again, his neighbor slips and falls while walking past the insured's house, breaking his arm. Which defense will reduce recovery for the neighbor's injury?

Intervening cause. The intervening cause doctrine bars or reduces recovery to an injured person if an intervening cause interrupted the chain of events and sets in motion a new chain of events.

Which of the following lists all the required elements for establishing a charge of negligence?

Legal duty owed, breach of legal duty owed, proximate cause, damages. Negligence is failure to do what a reasonable and prudent person would do under the same circumstances. Four elements must be present for negligent liability to exist.

An insured's home is mortgaged by the local bank. The insured is required to carry insurance on the home, showing the bank as the mortgagee. If the home is damaged by a covered peril, which of the following is true?

Losses will be paid to the mortgagee and mortgagor as their interest appears. If a mortgagee is shown on a property policy, in the event of loss, the insurer agrees to pay its financial interest of the loss up to the policy limits. If the policy is to be cancelled, the insurer agrees to give the mortgagee at least 10 days' prior notice of the cancellation.

According to the doctrine of contributory negligence, when an individual is found to have contributed to his or her own loss in any way, another party

May not be held liable. Contributory negligence is a common law defense that denies recovery to an injured party who contributed to the loss by failing to meet standards required for self-protection.

According to the standard mortgage clause, who has the right to bring a suit in their own name to recover damages, pay policy premiums, and submit a proof of loss?

Mortgagee.

Which of the following does the term proximate cause refer to?

Negligence that leads to an injury. Proximate cause is the reasonably foreseeable act or event that results in an injury or damage. Negligence may often be the proximate cause of the damage; without it, the accident would not have happened. This is also called direct liability.

An insured who has coverage for all his personal property has his TV stolen from the shop of the repairman. The owner of the repair shop filed a claim under the insured's policy, but it paid nothing to the owner of the store. Which provision does the policy have?

No benefit to bailee clause

Which of the following is NOT one of the four primary elements considered in establishing negligence?

Proof of carelessness. It must be shown that the defendant had a legal duty to act or not to act and he or she must have used a standard of care that breached that legal duty. Actual injury or damage must have been suffered by the party seeking recovery.

What fundamental principle in property insurance holds that when there is an unbroken connection between an occurrence and damage that grows out of the occurrence, then the resultant damage is all a part of the occurrence?

Proximate cause

What type of information would be found in a policy's insuring agreement?

Renewal dates. An Insuring Agreement establishes the obligation of the insurance company to provide the insurance coverages as stated in the policy. The insuring agreement lists the parties to the contract, effective and renewal dates, the description of coverage provided, and perils (among other things). Location of premises, policy limits, supplemental representations, and insurer's name and address can all be found in the Declarations.

All of the following are conditions commonly found in the insurance policy

Subrogation. Appraisal. Cancellation and nonrenewal.

Negligence may be defined as

The failure to use reasonable and prudent care. Just because something bad happens does not mean there was negligence. Negligence is when the failure to use proper care results in injury or damage.

What will happen if a house covered by a standard mortgage clause is a total loss?

The insurer pays the mortgagee according to the mortgagee's interest in the property.

A mortgage company is named as a loss payee on the insured's homeowners policy, under the standard mortgage clause. If the insured suffers a loss due to a fire, which of the following is true?

The loss is payable to the insured and the mortgagee. Loss is payable to the insured and mortgagee to protect the mortgage company's interest. This prevents the insured from cashing the check and not completing repairs.

When a direct chain of events resulting from a negligent act causes injury or damage, that act is considered to be

The proximate cause. The proximate cause of a chain of events resulting in injury is one that is sufficiently related to an injury that the courts determine it is in fact the cause of that injury.

An insured's 9-year-old son threw a ball, accidentally breaking a neighbor's plate glass window. The insured was found legally liable for the cost of replacing the window. This is an example of

Vicarious liability. Under vicarious liability, an insured may be held responsible for the acts of other family members or independent contractors engaged by the insured to perform work.

Liability imposed on one party as a result of the actions of another person is known as

Vicarious liability. Vicarious liability is liability imposed on one party as a result of the actions of another person; i.e., parent/child or employer/employee.