Extra Expense Extra Expense means reasonable and necessary expenses you incur during the "period of restoration" that you would not have incurred if there had been no direct physical loss of or damage to property caused by or resulting from a Covered Cause of Loss. We will pay Extra Expense (other than the expense to repair or replace property) to: Avoid or minimize the "suspension" of business and to continue "operations" at the described premises or at replacement premises or temporary locations, including relocation expenses and costs to equip and operate the replacement premises or temporary locations;

Note: The "period of restoration" begins "immediately" as stated in the declarations.

ADDITIONAL COVERAGES Claim Data Expense We will pay the reasonable expenses you incur in preparing claim data when we require such data to show the extent of loss. This includes the cost of taking inventories, making appraisals, preparing income statements, and preparing other documentation.

PROPERTY LOSS CONDITIONS Duties in the Event of Loss or Damage You must see that the following are done in the event of loss or damage to Covered Property: Take all reasonable steps to protect the Covered Property from further damage, and keep a record of your expenses necessary to protect the Covered Property, for consideration in the settlement of the claim.

QUESTIONS:

Would firefighting labor of insured be a covered expense?

Would firefighting labor of impromptu assistants be a covered expense?

Would insured's performance of "duties in the event of loss" (including protection of covered property, and preparation of claim data) be a covered expense?

Oregon Subscriber

A responsible insured should as a matter of course take reasonable steps to protect their property from damage, or further damage, regardless of a claim situation. This is to protect their own interests and minimize their own financial loss and making it a condition of the policy simply reinforces what the insured should be already doing. That being said, if an insured's efforts actually result in a reduction of the financial impact of a loss then the policy makes provision to review the extent of that financial impact in the settlement of the insured's claim.

In the situation you describe, the insured assumed expenses directly associated with firefighting efforts to protect the property. From the events described, it would appear that these expenses may be at least partially covered. However, there is a caveat in the policy that calls for the insured to make no expense or settle any claim without the consent of the insurer. As such, the insured would need to coordinate these efforts with the insurer's claim adjuster to determine what expenses were necessary and whether the firefighting efforts did indeed result in reducing the amount of the loss, or shortening the period of restoration.

As for the coverage for claim data expenses, these are reasonable expenses the insured incurs to provide the insurer with documentation of what is needed to substantiate the amount of a claim. The caveat here is that the information must be at the insurer's request.

Overall, these are expenses that could be justified under Claim Data Expense or Property Loss Conditions if they meet the parameters of the policy, given the right circumstances and the insurer's consent. The insurer is only agreeing to pay what it considers to be reasonable expenses for preparing inventories and other documentation that it requested, and to consider paying reasonable expenses to protect the property from further loss. As long as the insurer reasonably reviews and considers the expenses incurred by the insured, whether or not it pays them, it has fulfilled its obligations under the policy.

Extra Expense coverage would not apply as that is designed to cover additional expenses in order to keep the operation running, and not for the preparation of claims documentation.