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A named-peril (also called specified-peril) form provides coverage only for the perils that are specifically listed in the policy. Open-peril or special-form coverage works in the opposite way: it covers all direct physical loss except for perils that are specifically excluded.

On a named-peril form the insured must show the loss was caused by a covered peril. On an open-peril or special form, the policy is presumed to cover all direct physical loss, so the burden shifts to the insurer to prove that an exclusion applies.

The traditional basic-form perils include fire, lightning, windstorm or hail, explosion, smoke, aircraft or vehicles, riot or civil commotion, vandalism, and sprinkler leakage (with sinkhole and volcanic action sometimes added). Flood, earthquake, war, and nuclear hazard are not basic-form perils; they are common exclusions. Wear, tear, and inherent vice are also excluded.

The broad form keeps the basic-form perils and adds five additional perils: falling objects; weight of ice, snow, or sleet; accidental discharge or overflow of water or steam from a plumbing, heating, or air-conditioning system; sudden and accidental tearing apart, cracking, burning, or bulging of a heating or steam system; and freezing. Flood, earthquake, war, and wear are excluded on all standard forms.

Flood is one of the standard property-policy exclusions, along with earth movement, war, nuclear hazard, intentional acts of the insured, wear and tear, and ordinance or law. Smoke, hail, and vandalism are covered perils under the basic, broad, and special forms.

Real property is the land and the structures or fixtures permanently attached to it. Personal property is movable property not permanently affixed, such as loose tools, inventory, and equipment that can be removed. The building and the bolted-in ovens behave as real property or fixtures; the loose bowls are personal property.

California Insurance Code section 2051 sets the standard measure for indemnity as actual cash value, defined essentially as the cost to repair or replace the property less a fair and reasonable deduction for physical depreciation. Replacement cost coverage, which waives the depreciation deduction, must be expressly added by endorsement or policy form.

Replacement cost coverage pays the cost to repair or replace with new materials of like kind and quality, without subtracting physical depreciation, subject to the policy limit and any loss-settlement conditions. Actual cash value would subtract depreciation, leaving only the depreciated value.

Should carry = 80% × $500,000 = $400,000. Did carry = $300,000. Ratio = 300,000 ÷ 400,000 = 0.75. Recovery before the deductible = 0.75 × $100,000 = $75,000. Subtract the $1,000 deductible and the insurer pays $74,000. The lesson is that insuring below the coinsurance requirement carries a real penalty: the insured does not recover the full $100,000 even though the policy limit is far above the loss.

A coinsurance clause encourages insureds to carry a limit close to the true value of the property, typically 80%, 90%, or 100%. If at the time of loss the insured carries less than the required percentage, recovery is reduced proportionally by the (Did/Should) ratio. It is not a 50/50 sharing of every loss and it does not waive the deductible.

A standard or union mortgage clause creates an independent contract between the insurer and the mortgagee. The lender's right to recover is not voided by the borrower's act or neglect (such as misrepresentation or vacancy) as long as the lender pays any premium due and gives notice of any change in occupancy or hazard that becomes known to it. An open or simple mortgage clause does not give the lender this independent protection.

An open or simple mortgage clause makes the lender a mere loss payee. The lender's right to recover depends entirely on the borrower's right, so any act or neglect that voids the borrower's claim also voids the lender's. The standard or union clause creates an independent contract that protects the lender even when the borrower's claim fails.

A liberalization clause provides that if the insurer broadens its form during the policy period (or within a short window before the effective date) without charging extra premium, that broadened coverage automatically applies to existing policies. It is one-way: it gives the insured the benefit of improvements without re-underwriting.

A typical vacancy clause suspends coverage for several listed perils (commonly vandalism, glass breakage, water damage, theft, and attempted theft) once the building has been vacant for more than 60 consecutive days, and reduces other covered loss payments by a stated percentage (often 15%). The exam answer is not that coverage simply ends, but that it is restricted in these specific ways.

The pair-and-set clause prevents an insured from collecting as if a whole pair or set were destroyed when only one part is damaged. The insurer pays the reduction in value (the value of the pair before the loss minus the value of the remaining piece) or may restore the pair, but the loss is not treated as a total loss of the entire pair.

Once the insurer has paid the insured the full insured value of a damaged item, salvage rights let the insurer take possession of the damaged property and recover whatever value remains by selling it. Subrogation is different: it lets the insurer pursue a third party whose fault caused the loss.

Subrogation is the insurer's right to step into the insured's legal shoes and pursue a third party whose conduct caused the loss, up to the amount the insurer paid. The insured cannot impair this right (for example, by releasing the wrongdoer before settlement), and the insured must not recover twice for the same loss.

A pro-rata clause shares the loss in proportion to each policy's limit relative to the total of all applicable limits. Total limits = $200,000 + $300,000 = $500,000. Policy A pays 200/500 x 50,000 = $20,000. Policy B pays 300/500 x 50,000 = $30,000. Contribution by equal shares would have each policy pay equally up to the smaller limit, which is a different sharing method.

Under contribution by equal shares, each policy pays an equal dollar share of the loss until the lower-limit policy is exhausted; the policy with the higher limit then continues to pay alone up to its remaining limit. This method is common in commercial liability; pro rata by limit is the common method in property insurance.

Building ordinance or law costs - the increased cost to comply with newer codes, the cost to demolish undamaged portions of the structure, and the loss in value of the undamaged portion - are excluded from standard property forms. An ordinance-or-law endorsement is required to add this coverage.

Standard property forms exclude earth movement (including earthquake), flood, war, nuclear hazard, intentional acts of the insured, wear and tear, and ordinance or law. Earthquake and flood normally require separate policies (such as a CEA earthquake policy or NFIP flood policy). Fire, lightning, smoke, vandalism, riot, sprinkler leakage, and windstorm are covered perils.

ACV pays the cost to repair or replace minus a fair and reasonable deduction for physical depreciation. RC pays the cost to repair or replace with materials of like kind and quality without subtracting depreciation, typically conditioned on actually replacing the damaged property and subject to the policy limit. RC settlements often pay ACV first and the depreciation holdback after the insured replaces the property.

Actual cash value equals the current replacement cost of the property minus depreciation for age, wear, and obsolescence. It reflects what the property is actually worth at the time of loss, not what it would cost to buy new. Replacement cost coverage, by contrast, pays to repair or replace with new property of like kind and quality without deducting depreciation, subject to policy conditions.

The coinsurance formula is: (amount carried / amount required) x loss = payment. The amount required is 80% of $500,000 = $400,000. The amount carried is $300,000. So $300,000 / $400,000 = 0.75, and 0.75 x $100,000 = $75,000. Because the insured carried only 75% of the required amount, the insurer pays 75% of the loss and the insured absorbs the rest as a penalty for underinsurance.

Under a named-perils (specified perils) form, only perils listed in the policy are covered, so the insured must prove the loss was caused by one of those named perils. Under an open-perils (all-risk) form, coverage applies to any cause of loss not excluded, so the burden shifts to the insurer to prove an exclusion applies. This distinction is a core property concept and does not vary by state.

A deductible is the portion of a loss the insured pays before the insurer pays. It reduces premiums by eliminating small claims that are costly to process, and it gives the insured a stake in preventing losses. Deductibles do not guarantee profit and are a separate concept from coinsurance, which addresses the adequacy of the amount of insurance carried.

An other-insurance clause, commonly using a pro rata method, coordinates payment when more than one policy covers the same loss so the insured is indemnified but not overpaid. Each insurer pays its share based on the proportion of total coverage it provides. Coinsurance addresses whether enough insurance was purchased, and subrogation lets an insurer recover from a responsible third party after paying a claim.

Actual cash value is replacement cost minus depreciation. The roof had used 15 of its 20 years, so 75 percent of its life was gone: $48,000 x 0.75 = $36,000 of depreciation, leaving $48,000 - $36,000 = $12,000. Paying the full $48,000 would be a replacement cost settlement, and $36,000 is the depreciation itself rather than the value that remained.

Depreciation measures the value the property has already used up: its age, its physical wear, and how much serviceable life was left the moment before the loss. Premium paid is irrelevant to valuation, because premium buys the promise rather than measuring the loss. The proportion of the limit a loss represents belongs to the coinsurance test, which asks whether enough insurance was bought, not what the carpet was worth.

A replacement cost policy normally advances the actual cash value and holds back the recoverable depreciation until the property is actually repaired or replaced. The advance here is $18,000 of actual cash value less the $1,000 deductible, or $17,000, and the $12,000 gap between $30,000 and $18,000 is the recoverable depreciation still held back. Paying $29,000 up front would release that holdback before any work was done.

Replacement cost settlement is conditioned on actually repairing or replacing the damaged property, so until the work is done the insurer owes only actual cash value. Cashing the actual cash value draft settles nothing further by itself, and a proof of loss documents the claim rather than releasing the holdback. An insured who takes the money and never rebuilds keeps the actual cash value and loses the depreciation.

Functional replacement cost pays to restore the property with modern, readily available materials that do the same job, rather than duplicating obsolete or ornamental construction. It keeps the amount of insurance realistic for buildings whose faithful reproduction would cost far more than the building is worth. Reproducing the plaster and tin is straight replacement cost, and taking depreciation off is an actual cash value settlement, which is a different valuation basis.

Insurable value is the cost to replace the structure, and the lot survives the fire that destroys the house, so there is no loss on the land to indemnify. That is why a purchase price and an insurable value rarely match: market value bundles in the land and the neighborhood, while insurable value does not. No property policy issues separate land coverage, and the mortgage clause protects a lender's financial interest rather than the ground itself.

Dwelling coverage is written on the cost to rebuild the structure, which is the contractor's $310,000 figure, because the $130,000 lot is not exposed to fire. Insuring to the $420,000 purchase price buys coverage the owner can never collect, since indemnity limits recovery to the actual loss. The $290,000 figure is the price less the lot, which is a real estate calculation rather than a rebuilding cost and understates what construction would take.

The coinsurance formula is the amount carried divided by the amount required, times the loss. The amount required is 90 percent of $1,200,000, or $1,080,000, and $810,000 / $1,080,000 = 0.75, so 0.75 x $150,000 = $112,500. Multiplying the loss by the 90 percent coinsurance figure gives $135,000 and is the most common wrong turn, because the clause compares the limit carried with the amount required, not the loss with the percentage.

The clause required 80 percent of $750,000, or $600,000, and the insured carried $675,000, so the coinsurance test is met and there is no penalty: $95,000 - $2,500 = $92,500. Comparing the $675,000 limit with the building's full $750,000 value produces $85,500 and is wrong, because the ratio is built on the amount required, not on total value. Paying $95,000 satisfies coinsurance but forgets the deductible.

Run the coinsurance formula on the loss first, then subtract the deductible. The amount required is 80 percent of $800,000, or $640,000, and $480,000 / $640,000 = 0.75, so 0.75 x $80,000 = $60,000, less the $5,000 deductible = $55,000. Taking the deductible off before applying the ratio gives $56,250 and understates the underinsurance penalty, while $60,000 is the figure of a candidate who stops before the deductible.

A percentage deductible is figured on the stated base, here 5 percent of the $600,000 amount of insurance, or $30,000, and that comes off the loss: $125,000 - $30,000 = $95,000. Taking 5 percent of the loss instead gives $118,750 and is the classic error, because this deductible grows with the amount of insurance rather than with the size of the claim. The $30,000 figure is the deductible itself, the share the insured absorbs.

A flat deductible is a fixed dollar figure taken off each covered loss, while a percentage deductible is computed from a stated base such as the amount of insurance, so raising the limit raises the deductible with it. It is not an annual aggregate; like a flat deductible it applies to each occurrence. And a deductible only reduces what the insurer pays, which leaves the adequacy of the limit to the coinsurance clause.

An open-perils form insures risk of direct physical loss except as excluded or limited, so once the insured shows a fortuitous physical loss, the insurer carries the burden of proving that an exclusion removes it. A named-perils form reverses that arrangement: nothing is covered until the insured shows the cause of loss appears on the policy's list. Requiring the insured to name the peril applies the named-perils rule to the wrong form.

Direct loss is the physical damage the peril does to the property itself; indirect or consequential loss is the financial harm that follows from that damage, such as lost net income and continuing expenses during the shutdown. Business income coverage exists precisely because the property forms pay for the burned kitchen and stop there. Calling it a liability loss confuses harm the owner suffers with damages the owner owes to someone else.

Proximate cause asks what set in motion an unbroken chain of events leading to the damage, and when a covered peril starts that chain the resulting damage is treated as loss by that peril. Lightning is the proximate cause here, so water used to fight the fire it started is a covered consequence even though water by itself is not a listed peril. Treating the last event in the chain as the cause would defeat most fire claims, since smoke and water do much of the damage.

Pro rata sharing splits a loss in proportion to each policy's limit against the total insurance in force. The $200,000 policy is 40 percent of the $500,000 total, and 40 percent of $80,000 is $32,000, while the larger policy pays the remaining $48,000. Splitting the loss evenly at $40,000 ignores that the limits differ. Either way the insured collects the $80,000 once and not twice, which is what an other-insurance clause is for.

Insurable interest means standing to suffer a financial loss if the property is damaged, and a mortgagee's loan is secured by that building, so the lender plainly qualifies. A seller gives up that interest at closing, which is why a prior owner cannot collect on a fire the following year. A losing bidder and an adjuster have a business relationship with the property rather than a financial stake in whether it survives.

A limit is a ceiling and not a promise: the insurer pays the loss as the valuation clause measures it, up to that figure and no further. An insured who reads the limit as the amount payable for any covered loss expects a full-limit check for a broken window. Nor is the limit the insurer's opinion of value; choosing an adequate limit is the insured's job, which is the behavior the coinsurance clause polices.

A blanket limit applies to all the described property at all the described locations, so the insured is not penalised when values move from one warehouse to another. Specific insurance is the opposite arrangement, a separate stated limit for each building or class of property, and it is the one that leaves a location short when stock shifts. Blanket writing does not delete coinsurance either; the test is simply run against the combined values on the statement of values.

Under a blanket limit the coinsurance test runs against the combined values on the statement of values, not building by building. The amount required is 80 percent of $1,200,000, or $960,000, and only $900,000 was carried, so the insurer pays $900,000 / $960,000 x $250,000 = $234,375. Dividing by the full $1,200,000 of values gives $187,500 and skips the 80 percent step, and multiplying the loss by 80 percent gives $200,000, which misreads the clause as a flat copayment.

Agreed value is written after the insured files a statement of values that the insurer accepts, and in exchange the coinsurance condition is suspended, so a partial loss is settled without any underinsurance penalty. It does not turn the policy into a promise to pay the limit for every loss: the loss is still measured and the deductible still applies. Automatic increases in the limit as costs climb are the work of an inflation guard, not of agreed value.

Because the agreed value provision suspends coinsurance, the climb in replacement cost creates no penalty: the insurer pays the $300,000 loss less the $10,000 deductible, or $290,000. Running a coinsurance ratio of $900,000 against the $1,050,000 value would produce about $257,143 before the deductible, and that penalty is exactly what the agreed value provision was bought to remove. Paying $300,000 forgets the deductible.

A stated amount is a ceiling the insured declares for hard-to-value property, and settlement is the smallest of that figure, the property's value at the time of loss, and what it costs to repair or replace the item. That is what separates it from agreed value, where the figure the insurer accepted is binding. Reading a stated amount as a guaranteed payout is the common misunderstanding, and it leaves an insured paying premium on a number no claim will ever produce.

An inflation guard raises the amount of insurance automatically during the term, so limits keep pace with construction costs and the insured stays near the amount coinsurance requires. It moves the limit only, leaving the deductible and the coinsurance condition alone. It also adds no money at claim time: whatever the limit has grown to on the day of loss is still the ceiling on what the insurer will pay.

Vacancy means the building is empty of the contents and the activity needed to carry on customary operations, while unoccupancy means it is still furnished and equipped but nobody is present for a time. The difference matters to underwriters because an empty building invites vandalism, undetected water damage and late discovery of fire, and property forms restrict certain perils once a vacancy has run long enough. A family away on a long trip leaves a home unoccupied, not vacant.

The standard mortgage clause creates a separate contract between the insurer and the lender, so the mortgagee can still be paid its interest when the owner's own claim is denied for something like arson or misrepresentation. The lender is also entitled to its own notice of cancellation or non-renewal and may pay the premium to keep coverage alive. That independence is what distinguishes it from a bare loss payee, whose rights rise and fall with the owner's.

Appraisal is a valuation mechanic rather than a coverage forum: each side names an appraiser, the two appraisers select an umpire, and agreement by any two of the three sets the amount of the loss. Coverage questions, such as whether an exclusion applies or a condition was breached, stay with the parties and, if it comes to that, the courts. An insurer that pays an appraisal award normally keeps its right to contest coverage on other grounds.

Salvage is the insurer's right to take and dispose of damaged property once it has paid the loss in full, and the proceeds offset what the claim cost. It is not abandonment: property policies state that the insured may not abandon property to the insurer and demand a total loss payment on it. Subrogation is a different recovery, aimed at the third party whose negligence caused the loss rather than at the damaged goods.

Property policies require the insured to do nothing after a loss that impairs the insurer's right of recovery, because the insurer expects to step into the insured's place and pursue whoever caused the fire. Signing away the claim against the welding contractor destroys that right, and the insurer may cut or refuse payment to the extent it was prejudiced. An insured cannot settle privately with the wrongdoer and still collect the whole loss, which would be a double recovery.

The pair or set clause measures the difference between the value of the set before the loss and the value of what is left: $2,400 - $1,500 = $900. That captures the loss in value the survivors suffer from no longer being a set. Paying one quarter of the set value gives $600 and ignores that damage entirely, while the insured cannot force the insurer to pay the full $2,400 and take the three good chairs away.

A partial loss is measured by what it costs to repair or replace the damaged portion, valued as the policy's valuation clause requires, while under the policy's own valuation terms a total loss is settled at the lesser of the property's value and the limit, which is why an underinsured owner feels the limit at a total loss. Coinsurance is tested on partial losses as usual, and the deductible comes off either kind of loss. Purchase price does not govern, because it carries land and market factors the policy does not insure.

Two caps run at the same time. Five percent of the $360,000 Coverage A limit is $18,000, far more than this loss needs, so the per-item cap controls: six trees at $500 each is $3,000. The $7,200 figure is the trees' actual value and ignores the per-item limit, while $18,000 is the outer ceiling the loss never reaches. A percentage sublimit sets the boundary, and an inner per-item limit can bind long before it.

The full reporting condition limits recovery to the proportion the last reported value bears to the value that should have been reported: $200,000 / $250,000 = 80 percent, and 80 percent of $100,000 is $80,000. Reporting forms exist so a business with a heavy peak season pays premium on the values it actually holds month by month instead of insuring the seasonal high all year. Under-reporting buys the cheaper premium and the smaller recovery with it.