Q

We have an insured with coverage for valuable papers and records on a commercial inland marine floater. Often one of the corporate officers will take papers home to complete work. We are concerned about coverage—property in storage is not covered; but there is a coverage extension for $5,000 for loss to covered property away from premises. How is this seeming contradiction resolved?

Utah Subscriber

A

The key is the use of the word “storage.” According to a standard desk-top dictionary (Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition), “storage” means “the safekeeping of goods in a depository (as a warehouse).” If the valuable papers and records are being worked on, they are still necessary to the business. Being placed into storage implies that their current usefulness in the business is finished, and they have been relegated to a storage facility. If such is the case with the valuable papers and records, there is no coverage; however, if they are off premises—the example you give, or, perhaps, in the care of an accountant so that income taxes may be filed, the extension provides the limited coverage.