Insurance Guide
Know the Lingo
Insurance can be confusing, but we are here to make it easy! Below are brief explanations of the most common insurance terms to help in your understanding of insurance lingo and coverages that may be important to your organization!
General Liability
Provides protection should a visitor to your organization trip and fall resulting in an injury and/or a lawsuit, loss from an animal bite, etc. This coverage includes both bodily injury and property damage to 3rd parties (i.e. visitors, public).
Each Occurrence
Each accident or loss.
Aggregate
Total amount of money paid out by an insurance company for the total of all liability losses in a policy term. AWOIP’s policy term is one year.
Professional Liability
Providing protection for errors or omissions made in the performing of professional for the organization. AWOIP can extend professional liability to include coverage for claims or lawsuits resulting from veterinary services, training and animal control officers.
Personal Injury
May provide coverage for lawsuits arising from slander or false arrest as a result of your calling the police due to a visitor attempting to come into the organization that was not known or invited or may not be permitted. It also provides coverage for slander of another person or organization.
Advertising Injury
May provide coverage for unintentional false advertisement or misrepresentation in advertising. If you misrepresent your organization through a newsletter or on your website regarding the services and animals your organization has for adoption to attract more customers, and it results in a claim then this would be covered.
Products & Completed Operations Liability
May provide coverage for injury or damage resulting from a product you sell or service. This could include dog food provided by the organization to someone who is in financial distress and result in food poisoning to the animal.
Directors & Officer's Liability (D&O)
Provides coverage for Directors and Officers of an organization if they are sued for Breach of Duty.
Employment Practices Liability
Provides coverage for wrongful termination suits for both employees and volunteers.
Medical Payments
Coverage that reimburses others for medical as a result of bodily injury.
Volunteer Medical Expense
Customers of AWOIP have access to volunteer medical expense coverage through the Association for Animal Welfare. Volunteer medical expense pays for a volunteer being injured while performing duties for the organization. Each volunteer is covered up to $50,000 and there is NO DEDUCTIBLE. This protection is excess of any major medical insurance the volunteer may have.
Non-Owned Auto Liability
Non-Owned Auto Liability was specifically designed to protect animal welfare organizations from loss due to employees or volunteers driving their personal vehicles for tasks specific to the organization. An example of this protection would be an employee of volunteer transporting an animal or picking up supplies and is involved in an auto accident and the organization is included in a lawsuit as a result of the accident that occurred.
Animal Care Custody & Control Liability
Animal Care, Custody & Control liability offers protection in the event that an animal under your care becomes sick, lame, or dies while he/she is not legally owned under the insured organization. This could be an animal that had been brought in by an animal control or humane officer that is not owned by the organization becoming injured resulting in veterinary bills to the owner of the animal.
Animal Adoption and Suitability Liability
Protects the organization against a lawsuit for declining adoption of an animal due to the inability of an adoptive or foster family for suitable reasons.
Transmissible Pathogens
“Bodily injury” caused by a “transmissible pathogen” emanating from premises you own, rent or occupy or arising out of the insured’s operations. An example of this may be zoonotic disease.
Crisis Management
Indemnifies your crisis management costs resulting from a violent act, premises contamination, specific felonies and other crisis incidents described in the policy. Indemnity can include related public relations, medical treatment, psychological counseling and mental health treatment.
Spoilage Coverage
Damage to perishable stock resulting from a change in temperature or humidity.
Examples could be a refrigerator or freezer breaking down due to mechanical failure and animal food or medications are spoiled.
Relocation of Animals
Pays for the relocation of animals away from your scheduled location resulting from a covered loss.