Actual total loss
The goods are destroyed, gone, or no longer the thing they were.
Definition
Section 57 of the Marine Insurance Act 1906: where the subject-matter is destroyed, or so damaged that it ceases to be a thing of the kind insured, or where the insured is irretrievably deprived of it. A ship missing for a reasonable time is presumed an actual total loss under section 58.
Why it decides money
It is the cleanest claim there is. The sum insured is paid and the argument, if there is one, is about the cause rather than the amount.
Related terms
- Constructive total loss
- Not destroyed, but not worth saving.
- Particular average
- A partial loss borne by one interest alone.
More in claims and recovery
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