Also known as: all sum · total sums · all amounts
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A contractual provision requiring payment of the full amount of liability or sums due for covered obligations. The clause operates without reduction for other triggered policies or allocation among multiple obligors.
Anchor Bank accelerated the mortgage after Alexis Archer missed three payments. Two days before the scheduled foreclosure sale Archer tendered a certified check covering every installment that would have been due absent acceleration plus the lender's documented foreclosure expenses. The bank received the check and was required to halt the sale because the tender satisfied the statutory cure requirements.
Apollo Energy faced a long-tail environmental claim spanning several policy periods. Each triggered CGL policy contained an all-sums clause. Apollo selected one policy year and recovered its entire liability from that insurer up to the policy limit, leaving the selected insurer to seek contribution from the other carriers.
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The clause obligates the insurer to pay the full amount of the insured's covered liability without reduction for other triggered policies. Courts treat the language as requiring complete indemnification up to policy limits once coverage is triggered.
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Yes. The insured may choose any triggered policy year to cover the entire loss subject only to that policy's limits. The selected insurer then bears the burden of seeking contribution from other carriers.
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All-sums permits the insured to recover the full loss from one policy. Pro-rata allocation spreads the loss across all triggered policies according to their time on the risk or limits.
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…that Hartford issued to Keene from 1971 to 1974 is typical. It states that [t]he company will pay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injury ... to which this insurance applies, caused by an occurrence, and the company shall have the…