Definition of "Long-tail liability"

One where an injury or other harm takes time to become known and a claim may be separated from the circumstances that caused it by as many as 25 years or more. Some examples: exposure to asbestos, which sometimes results in a lung disease called asbestos; exposure to coal dust, which might cause black lung disease; or use of certain drugs that may cause cancer or birth defects. These long-tail liabilities became very expensive for many corporations in the 1970s and 1980s, also causing problems for insurers because it was unclear when the situation that gave rise to the claim happened and who should pay the claim. One theory, the MANIFESTATION/INJURY THEORY, states that the insurer is responsible whenever the disease is diagnosed. The other view, the OCCURRENCE/INJURY THEORY, states that the insurer must pay only when the person is injured.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Insurance Terms

Provision by an employer for the economic and social welfare of employees. Generally include: pension plans for retirement; group life insurance for death; group health insurance for ...

Possibility of a reduction in value of an insurance instrument resulting from a decrease in the value of the assets incorporated in the investment portfolio underlying the insurance ...

Inability to divide a cash value life insurance policy into a savings element and a protection element because, in theory, if the policyowner withdraws a portion or ail of the cash value, ...

each individual has an unlimited insurable interest in his or her own life, and therefore can select anyone as a beneficiary. parent and child, husband and wife, brother and sister have an ...

Excess funds above the amount required to establish legal reserves for the policies in force. These excess funds are generated as the result of mortality savings, excess interest earned on ...

Same as term Fair access to Insurance Requirements: insurance that grew out of the urban demonstrations and riots of the 1960s. Because of the deteriorated social and economic circumstances ...

Modified endowment insurance policy under which the insured receives one-half the death benefit as the maturity value of the policy. ...

Relationship of the frequency of illness, sickness, and diseases contracted by individual members of a group to the entire group membership over a particular time period. ...

Performance of managerial and clerical functions related to an employee benefit insurance plan by an individual or committee that is not an original party to the benefit plan. In selecting ...

Popular Insurance Questions