Glossary

The substitute physician coverage endorsement refers to an endorsement sometimes attached to physicians professional liability insurance policies providing coverage for a substitute physician who treats the insured physician's patients in the insured's absence. While there is no generally accepted period in which they apply, substitute physician endorsements are usually written only for periods of prolonged physician absence.

A successor life rider is a survivor life insurance policy rider that guarantees that the survivor can increase their original face amount by a predetermined amount without evidence of insurability after the death of the other insured under the policy.

This exception to the 1973 comprehensive general liability (CGL) pollution exclusion preserved coverage with respect to pollution incidents that were "sudden and accidental." Prolonged litigation tested whether the term sudden meant merely unexpected, as some dictionary definitions specify, or whether the term necessarily has a temporal element—referring to a brief time period, or being synonymous with all at once. A majority of courts eventually adopted the latter view.

A sue and labor clause found in an ocean and inland marine insurance provision requires the insured to protect damaged property from further loss once a loss has occurred. It also establishes that the expenses of doing so will be borne by the insurer and the insured "in proportion to their respective interests" in the property. Thus, the insurer will pay the full "sue and labor" costs if the amount of insurance is equal to or greater than the value of the property. Current property and marine forms usually contain a similar provision, but it is seldom labeled a sue and labor clause. Instead, it is typically included as one of the insured's "Duties in the Event of Loss." An example would be the temporary placement of a tarp over a damaged roof to mitigate further damage.

The suicide provision is a provision found in most life insurance policies that provides that if the covered individual dies as a result of suicide within 2 years of the policy issued date, the policy will not pay the death benefit. After the 2-year suicide provision period, the policy will pay the death benefit, even if death is a result of suicide.

A summary judgment is based on the judge's conclusion that the litigation involves only a question of law, with no associated questions of fact. Disputes as to the meaning of insurance policy provisions, when they involve only the interpretation of the policy itself and not the determination of the circumstances of the loss, are often the subject of a summary judgment.

A summons is an instrument used to commence a civil action or special proceeding and as a means of acquiring jurisdiction over a party. It is process directed to a sheriff or other officer, requiring the sheriff to notify a person named that an action has been commenced against him or her. A general liability insured is required by the standard commercial general liability policy to provide the insurer immediately with copies of any summons received in connection with a claim or suit.

A sump pump is found at the lowest level of a building. Its purpose is to pump water away from the foundation. Most property policies exclude damage arising from sump pump failure.

Superfund is the program operated under the legislative authority of Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act as well as the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 that funds and carries out Environmental Protection Agency solid waste emergency and long-term removal and remedial activities. These activities include establishing the National Priorities List, investigating sites for inclusion on the list, determining their priority, and conducting and/or supervising the cleanup and other remedial actions.

A superseded surety rider is a provision or endorsement on a bond under which the surety company assumes liability for claims that cannot be recovered from a prior bond because of the lapse of the discovery period.