Glossary

A courthouse steps settlement is a settlement or resolution reached just before a dispute is set to go to trial.

A court reporter is person who records and transcribes verbatim the dialogue at a court hearing, trial, or deposition.

Covariance is a measure of the volatility inherent in any risk-taking venture or activity. It also indicates the manner in which two or more risk profiles react, when combined, to create either greater or lesser overall volatility. If multiple risk profiles are uncorrelated, lower overall volatility may result compared to the individual risk profiles prior to the combination. For example, a book of high-excess property insurance business is not correlated to a group of directors and officers (D&O) liability policies and would therefore produce lower overall volatility if an insurer were to write both types of coverage.

Covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&R) are the part of a homeowners' association agreement that stipulates various rules, regulations, and promises by which a homeowner agrees to abide when purchasing a residence. These types of agreements are commonly used in condominium and other residential neighborhoods in an attempt to protect the living environment and preserve property values.

A covenant not to execute is an agreement by the plaintiff in a lawsuit not to enforce a money judgment against a defendant. Covenants not to execute are sometimes given to an insured in exchange for the insured's agreement to allow a consent judgment and an assignment of the insured's potential bad faith claim against a liability insurer.

A covenant not to sue is an agreement by an injured party not to sue the party that caused the injury. It is distinguishable from a release of liability. A release is a waiver or relinquishment of a known right. A release of liability will relinquish or destroy the injured party's cause of action. A covenant not to sue preserves the existence of the cause of action but places contractual restrictions on the injured party's right to file suit. An injured party cannot assign a cause of action after it has been released. However, an injured party can assign a cause of action that is merely subject to the injured party's covenant not to sue, after which the assignee may be free to file suit. A covenant not to sue, on the other hand, is not a waiver of a known right; nothing is relinquished or destroyed. Under the law of some states, a policyholder that releases a tortfeasor from liability may be held to have prejudiced the insurer's right of subrogation. Where a policyholder merely enters a covenant not to sue, under which the policyholder's cause of action against the tortfeasor still exists and can be assigned to an insurer that may be free to file suit on its own, the policyholder may be held to have preserved the insurer's right of subrogation.

Cover, in an insurance context, means any of the following: (1) a contract of insurance, (2) to effect insurance, or (3) to include within the coverage of a contract of insurance.

Coverage, in an insurance context, is used synonymously with "insurance" or "protection."

A coverage form is one of the primary standardized insurance forms used to construct an insurance contract. The coverage form generally contains the insuring agreement, coverage conditions, exclusions, and policy definitions.

The coverage territory is determined by contractual provisions limiting coverage to geographical areas within which the insurance is effected.