Glossary

Screening risk refers to the risk that a proposal for foreign investment will not be accepted following a government review (screening) of it. The process of undergoing screening can be quite time-consuming and costly, and screening risk insurance provides compensation for at least some of those costs in the event a proposal is rejected.

The standard market is a term often used to refer to licensed or admitted insurers. In contrast, unlicensed or nonadmitted insurers are considered part of the nonstandard market, which is commonly called the excess and surplus lines market.

Insurers may exclude or limit coverage for strikes, riots, and civil commotion (SRCC) perils on policies covering retailers, hotels, and other vulnerable businesses. Such businesses can obtain separate coverage for riot and civil commotion by purchasing a political violence policy.

In the construction context, surcharge is where you place more of something than is natural; for example, they will add 20 feet of stone over a construction site to "surcharge" the soil underneath from the weight. This is a common term for adding more weight to the edge of an excavation where there was no weight before. These additional vertical loads or weights placed on the ground surface near an excavation can include spoil piles, equipment, vehicles, or other materials. The closer a surcharge load is to the edge of the excavation, the greater the potential for destabilizing the soil and causing a cave-in.

The Sutton Rule is named for a 1975 Oklahoma case where a tenant's 10-year-old son, while using his chemistry set, damaged a rented home owned by the Suttons. The Suttons' insurer paid for the damage and then attempted to subrogate against the tenant. The court ruled that subrogation was not permitted because the tenant, absent an express agreement to the contrary, is an implied coinsured under the landlord's policy. Part of the rationale is that the tenant pays the premium indirectly through the payment of rent.