Aetna total loss

In marine insurance. The total loss of the vessel covered by a policy of insurance, by its real and substantive destruction, by injuries which leave it no longer existing in specie, by its being reduced to a wreck irretrievably beyond repair, or by its being placed beyond the control of the insured and bsyond his power of recovery. Distinguished from a constructive total loss, which occurs where the vessel, though injured by the perils insured against, remains in specie and capable of repair or recovery, but at such an expense, or under such other conditions, that the insured may claim the whole amount of the policy upon abandoning the vessel to the underwriters. "An actual total loss is where the vessel ceases to exist in specie,
—becomes a 'mere congeries of planks,' incapable of being repaired; or where, by the peril insured against, it is placed beyond the control of the insured and beyond his power of recovery. A constructive total loss is where the vessel remains in specie, and is susceptible of repairs or recovery, but at an expense, according to the rule of the English common law, exceeding its value when restored, or, according to the terms of this policy, where 'the injury is equivalent to fifty per cent, of the agreed value in the policy,' and where the insured abandons the vessel to the underwriter. In such cases the insured is entitled to indemnity as for a total loss. An exception to the rule requiring abandonment is found in cases where the loss occurs in foreign ports or seas, where it is impracticable to repair. In such cases the master may sell the-vessel for the benefit of all concerned, and the insured may claim as for a total loss by accounting to the insurer for the amount realized on the sale. There are other exceptions to the rule, but it la sufficient uow to say that we have found no case in which the doctrine of constructive total loss without abandonment has been admitted, where the injured vessel remained in specte and was brought to its home port by the insured. A well marked distinction between an actual and a constructive total loss is therefore found in this: that in the former no abandonment is necessary, while in the latter it is essential, unless the case be brought within some exception to the rule requiring it. A partial loss is where an injury results to the vessel from a peril insured against, but where the loss is neither actually nor constructively total." Globe Ins. Co., v. Sherlock, 25 Ohio St. 50, 64; Burt v. Insurance Co., 9 Hun (N. Y.) 383; Carr v. Insurance Co., 109 N. Y. 504, 17 N. E. 369; Monroe v. Insurance Co., 52 Fed. 777, 3 C. C. A. 280; Murray v. Hatch, 6 Mass. 465; Livermore v. Insurance Co., 1 Mass. 264; Delaware, etc., Ins. Co. v. Gossler, 96 U. S. 645, 24 U Ed. 863 ; Wallenstein v. Insurance Co., 3 Rob. (N. Y.) 528.

Defined under Total Loss in Black's Law Dictionary.