Ordinance or Law Coverage?

In reviewing your policy you probably have seen the above term, "Ordinance or Law Coverage" and probably didn't pay much attention, believing it to be just another of those insurance terms stuck in to your policy having no real impact upon you and your coverage. It might be important for you to pay attention to this coverage and how it impacts you. Ordinance or Law Coverage protects against the increased loss incurred by the insured due to the enforcement of building, zoning, or land use laws. Such costs could include changes to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), new earthquake reinforcement requirements, or new life safety requirements. This coverage would most likely be of greater importance to those business owners that own their own building. This coverage can be broken down into four parts - Demolition Cost - Pays the cost to demolish and clear undamaged parts of the property due to enforcement of building, zoning, or land use laws; Loss of the undamaged part - Pays the value of the undamaged part of the building that must be replaced if the building ordinance requires complete demolition and reconstruction; Increased cost of construction - Pays the increased cost to include the required building upgrades to comply with current building codes; and Increased period of restoration - Pays the loss of income during the increased time to rebuild, caused by enforcement of building ordinances, zoning, or land use laws. Next time it might be prudent to review this coverage in detail with your agent to ensure you are properly covered.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Delaware Legislature Preparing To Revisit Dram Shop Liability

Here we go again. Representative Peterson is preparing to introduce limited dram shop liability for consideration. The legislation caps the liability at $250,000 but, as is usually the case, this creates a starting point where limits are eventually increased once it's decided by the powers that be that the current limit is too low. This also puts restaurants, bars, etc, at an increased risk due to the vague wording of the legislation, specifically "reckless" sale of alcohol by the business. Also, you can be sure that if this legislation is passed, that rates will go up commensurately for not only Liquor Liability coverage, but if actual damages begin to be paid out under this law, that insurance rates on the whole will see an increase.
Read more

Get employees back to work quickly to keep work comp costs down

Image
In the past I have spoken to clients regarding a particular workers compensation claim affecting them and have asked if they have brought the employee back to work yet. Too many times the answer is no, they have nothing for that employee to do since said employee is not 100% and unable to perform their specific job prior to their workers compensation injury/claim. The problem with this is that too often employers miss the point that even though an employee can't perform in the position they were in prior to their injury, it behooves the employer to create some type of alternative task/job the employee can do until such time they are able to resume their normal duties. Bringing that employee back to work means that work comp benefits /payments in that particular claim are being curtailed, thereby saving the employer potentially more being paid out, while adding to their experience mod and driving their overall work comp expenses up.
Read more

Important to notify insurance company of potential liability claims

Image
When trying to manage their insurance policies, many business owners make the decision not to turn in potential claims and decide to take care of them on their own. By paying for small claims, such as property damage, etc, they strive to keep claim frequency down and in turn keep renewal premiums down. One area of insurance they should not try to manage though is potential liability situations/claims. Most policy conditions require prompt notification of any potential liability claims to the insurance company and if a claim isn't turned in promptly, the policy language does note that the company can deny a claim due to late notification. It's important to do this early on since information/memories are still fresh and it gives the insurance company time to completely investigate the potential claim. The potential for a liability claim is most likely the small business owner's greatest area of risk, whether they operate a restaurant, cleaning service or any other busi
Read more