Glossary

A common accident is one in in which two or more persons are injured.

A common carrier is a term used for a commercial individual or organization that carries persons or property from one place to another for payment—for example, a trucker. As contrasted with contract carriers, a common carrier is one that transports or handles the goods of the general public. Since enactment of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) Termination Act of 1995, a carrier can hold operating authority as both a common carrier and contract carrier, but a separate registration fee is required for each type of authority.

A common disaster is a situation in which the insured and the beneficiary of a life insurance policy appear to die simultaneously without evidence of who died first.

For years, cedents have been able to protect privileged information shared with a reinsurer from disclosure to its policyholder in a coverage dispute on the basis of the common interest doctrine. Generally, a party waives privilege if privileged information is disclosed to a third party. This doctrine is an exception to this general rule, permitting the sharing of privileged information with third parties who have a common legal interest in the outcome of a dispute. Recent case law suggests, however, that the common interest doctrine does not provide a blanket protection of privileged information shared between the cedent and its reinsurer, especially if there is no common legal interest.

Common law is a body of law derived from court decisions based on custom and precedent as opposed to being derived from statutes. It is contrasted to statutory law.

Common law defenses are defenses to suits for liability claims based in common law. Such defenses include but are not limited to assumption of risk, lack of proximate cause, last clear chance, and no negligence on the part of the defendant.

Common law liability is responsibility imposed on a party by law based on custom, as opposed to liability imposed by statute.

Common policy conditions are the part of the insurance policy typically relating to cancellation, changes in coverage, audits, inspections, premiums, and assignment of the policy. The commercial lines policy forms portfolio promulgated by Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), take a modular approach to structuring policies. A commercial lines policy is made up of a declarations page, the common policy conditions, one or more coverage forms, and endorsements that modify the coverage forms. The Common Policy Conditions form (IL 00 17) is used with the commercial property, general liability, and crime forms to specify the conditions applicable to the policy.

A communicable disease is spread from one person to another either by direct transmission of bacteria or viruses between the carrier and infected person or through a vector, such as food contaminated by the carrier and consumed by the infected person. Liability stemming from the transmission of communicable diseases—either by the person directly responsible for the transmission or by third parties with a legal duty to prevent transmission—has become the subject of a variety of insurance policy exclusions.

A communicable diseases exclusion is an exclusion found within a substantial minority of physicians professional liability insurance policies that precludes coverage for claims caused by the transmission of communicable diseases. The wording of this exclusion usually consists of two parts. The first part excludes coverage for claims caused by a physician's refusal to treat a person who has (or is suspected of having) a communicable disease. The second part of the exclusion eliminates coverage for claims in which a patient alleges that an insured physician transferred a communicable disease to the patient. The rationale for the first part of the exclusion is that, with proper precautions, even patients having communicable diseases can usually be treated without endangering the physician or other staff members. The rationale for the second part of the exclusion is that, given the nature of a doctor's work, a physician is usually in a good position to know if they have contracted a communicable disease. This means that physicians who are aware they have a communicable disease should not be practicing medicine until the disease is completely cured. Accordingly, many of the policies exclude coverage for claims involving a doctor who transmits a communicable disease to a patient they are treating.