Glossary

Offer refers to the terms of an insurance contract as proposed by one party (the potential insurer) to another party (the potential insured).

An offeree is the party to whom the offer is made before a contract is executed.

Before a contract is executed, the party making an offer to enter into a contract is known as the offeror.

Offer of judgment is a legal strategy sometimes used in managing and settling employment-related litigation. An offer of judgment applies in the following manner: if a specific settlement made by a defendant (deemed an "offer of judgment") is rejected by the plaintiff, but the jury's verdict is lower than the defendant's offer of judgment, then the plaintiff who rejected the offer of judgment will be subject to specific penalties that are paid to the defendant who made the offer of judgment. Although the amounts of such penalties vary by state, they include certain legal fees, other litigation costs, and pre-judgment interest. In addition, the party that rejected the offer may lose its right to collect attorneys' fees, compensable litigation costs, and prejudgment interest. An offer of judgment therefore puts pressure on plaintiffs to accept reasonable offers.

Office burglary and robbery is commercial crime coverage plan 5 of the Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), portfolio that provides coverage for certain types of robbery and safe burglary as well as premises theft and robbery outside the premises. The following coverage forms are mandatory for the plan: Robbery and Safe Burglary Coverage Form—Property Other Than Money and Securities (Commercial Crime Coverage Form D) (CR 00 05); Robbery and Safe Burglary Coverage Form—Money and Securities (Commercial Crime Coverage Form Q) (CR 00 18); and Premises Theft and Robbery Outside the Premises Coverage Form—Property Other Than Money and Securities (Commercial Crime Coverage Form H) (CR 00 09).

Office of Motor Carrier Standards was an interim agency that dealt with interstate transportation between abolishment of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and establishment of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

The office sharing exclusion is an exclusion found in lawyers professional liability insurance policy forms. The exclusion eliminates coverage for claims made against attorneys who are not insureds under lawyers professional liability insurance policies yet who share office premises with attorneys who are insureds under such policies. For example, attorneys A and B share office space yet are not partners; nor do they collaborate on any cases. The exclusion is necessary because attorneys who share office premises with insured lawyers have, in the past, made claims under these insured lawyers' professional liability insurance policies. Such lawyers assert theories such as "apparent partnership" or "apparent" or "ostensible" agency or make the argument that, because they share the same office space, the insured lawyer is vicariously liable for the acts of any lawyers who also occupy the same office premises.

An offset clause is a provision in reinsurance agreements that permits each party to net amounts due against those payable before making payment. This is especially important in the event of insolvency of one party that ceases to remit amounts due to the other.

Offset (setoff) is the reduction of the amount owed by one party to a second party by crediting the first party with amounts owed it by the second party. The existence and scope of offset rights may be determined by reinsurance contract language as well as statutory, regulatory, and judicial law.

An offshore captive is a special purpose insurance company domiciled outside the country where the insured risk is located. The motives for using an offshore captive may include tax planning. Regulatory differences between onshore and offshore have become significantly less as the offshore captive industry has matured. Offshore domiciles popularly used for North American source business include Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, and Grand Caymans. Offshore domiciles for European source business include Dublin, Guernsey, Isle of Man, and Luxembourg. Asian source business may use Hong Kong, etc.