Glossary

Air toxins are any air pollutant for which a national ambient air quality standard does not exist (unlike ozone, carbon monoxide, PM-10, etc.) that may reasonably be anticipated to cause cancer, developmental effects, reproductive dysfunctions, neurological disorders, heritable gene mutations, or other serious or irreversible chronic or acute health effects in humans.

An aleatory contract is an agreement concerned with an uncertain event that provides for unequal transfer of value between the parties. Insurance policies are aleatory contracts because an insured can pay premiums for many years without sustaining a covered loss. Conversely, insureds sometimes pay relatively small premiums for a short period and then receive coverage for a substantial loss.

Premises that have been sold or given away to another or abandoned are called alienated premises. An exclusion in the standard commercial general liability (CGL) policy states that coverage does not apply to property damage (PD) to such premises arising out of those premises. An exception to this exclusion clearly leaves coverage intact for contractors' completed operations as long as the premises were never occupied, rented, or held out for rental by the named insured.

From a US perspective, an alien insurer is not domiciled in the United States but is authorized to operate within it. This is distinct from offshore insurers that are not authorized in the United States and must conduct business transactions outside the country.

Allegations are unsupported assertions that each party to a dispute intends to prove. Until each assertion is proven, it is only an allegation.

Allied healthcare professional liability insurance is designed to cover nonphysician healthcare professionals including nurses, dentists, physical therapists, technicians, and a variety of other persons providing medical services. Allied healthcare professional liability policy forms are similar to those used to cover physicians. The policies are often mass marketed to insureds through professional associations, which allows for reasonable pricing.

In workers compensation insurance, allocated expenses are expenses associated with handling a specific claim other than payments for medical or indemnity benefits.

Allocated loss adjustment expenses (ALAEs) are loss adjustment expenses that are assignable or allocable to specific claims. Fees paid to outside attorneys, experts, and investigators used to defend claims are examples of ALAEs.

Allocation is the assignment to individual policies of the obligation to defend or indemnify an insured when injury or damage has occurred during a succession of policy periods. It is also the determination of which elements of defense costs must be paid by the insurer and which elements may be subject to reimbursement by the insured, depending on covered and noncovered elements of the suit or claim brought against the insured. Some courts have ruled that an insurer is not obligated to pay the cost of defending noncovered elements of a claim.

All inclusive coverage is one of three approaches used for condominium insurance coverage, with the condo master policy covering all real property. Under the "all inclusive" or "all-in" coverage, the condominium association master policy covers all real property in a residential condominium structure, including fixtures in individual units and any structural improvements, betterments, or additions that the individual unit owner has made. It provides coverage to replace a unit to the condition it was in at the time of the loss. With this approach, the unit owner is responsible for covering only their personal property under the HO 6 or unit owners form. The other two methods to coordinate this coverage are the "single entity" coverage and the "bare walls" coverage. The condominium association rules and covenants typically specify which approach is required.