Glossary

Anti-indemnity statutes are laws that restrict the scope of legal liability one party may transfer to another in a contract. Anti-indemnity statutes may prohibit the transfer of some or all liability attributable to the transferor's negligence. In some states, anti-indemnity statutes also limit the ability of one contracting party to require additional insured coverage under the other party's insurance policies that would apply to liabilities that cannot legally be transferred in the indemnity agreement. Anti-indemnity statutes are commonly used to regulate the risk transfer provisions in specific types of contracts including construction, energy, and transportation contracts.

Anti-stacking provisions are intended to avoid the application of multiple sets of deductibles or multiple sets of limits to a single loss event. They are sometimes included in insurance policies covering exposures that may occur over long periods, triggering coverage under multiple policies. They stipulate that, in such an event, only one policy limit or one deductible (rather than the limit or deductible under each policy) applies to the occurrence. Anti-stacking provisions (or stacking provisions) may be addressed in a state's motor vehicle insurance statutes with respect to uninsured motorists (UM)/underinsured motorists (UIM) coverage. These provisions vary widely from one state to another; and where a state's legislators or court system has addressed the issue, the UM/UIM endorsements in the state are often modified to reflect the state's stance on the issue.

An antitheft device is a device in a car that reduces the chance that the vehicle will be stolen or vandalized or increases the chance of recovering a stolen car. Such devices include Global Positioning Systems (GPS), local alarms, and starter disablers.

Antitrust liability consists of violations of the Sherman and Clayton Acts that prohibit restraints of trade of monopolies. In 1982, the US Supreme Court decided that cities are not immune to antitrust laws. Exclusions for alleged violations should be avoided in the public officials liability policy.

Apparent agency is a legal doctrine applied in connection with estoppel stating that an agent has whatever power a reasonable person would assume that agent to have.

An appeal is the submission of a lower court decision to a higher court for its review and possible reversal. An example is a plea to an appellate court for review of an order issued by a trial court.

An application is a form providing the insurer with certain information necessary to underwrite a given risk. The applicant completes it to receive insurance.

An application of retention under an excess liability policy is the practice of specifying a retention amount that applies on a different basis to different types of covered loss. For example, under most excess policies, the retention specified applies "per accident/occurrence" for losses other than occupational disease claims and "per employee" for occupational disease.

Apportionment involves the question of "how much" each of two or more policies covering a risk that sustained a loss will contribute to that loss. In workers compensation insurance, it is the division of liability for an occupational illness among various entities. Usually, this means dividing it among a group of employers in whose employment the employee was exposed to the conditions that contributed to the illness. It can also mean division of liability between an employer and a fund, such as a second injury fund, that pays for the portion of a claim attributable to preexisting conditions.

An appraisal clause is a property insurance provision allowing either the insurer or the insured to demand a binding appraisal of damaged property in the event of a dispute as to its value and establishing the required appraisal procedure. A few jurisdictions allow either party to reject the demand for appraisal, as evidenced in state amendatory endorsements for commercial property policies, homeowners policies, or both. Allowing the insurer to reject an insured's demand for appraisal is disadvantageous for insureds.