§ 3.8 All-risk and Named Perils Policies

• Library: Guide to South Carolina Liability and Property Insurance Law (SCBar) (2019 Ed.)

§ 3.8 All-Risk and Named Perils Policies

Where the language of a named perils policy is unambiguous, South Carolina courts have applied the language to determine whether a specific peril falls within their coverages. For example, the South Carolina Supreme Court considered whether the damages to an automobile while it was being carried over the river by a ferry was covered by the policy. The policy provided that coverage would be afforded against the following perils:

(a) Fire arising from any cause whatsoever and lightning.
(b) While being transported in any conveyance - stranding, sinking, collision, burning or derailment of such conveyance, including general average and salvage charges for which the insured is legally liable.⁶¹

The Court reasoned:

I think that the policy shows upon its face, plainly and without the slightest ambiguity, that the perils insured against were the stranding, sinking, collision, burning, or derailment of the conveyance in which the automobile was being transported at the time of the injury. The conveyance was a ferry boat; the evidence shows that the ferry boat was not stranded; it did not sink; it was not burned; it did not collide with anything; and, of course, was not derailed. While the automobile was being transported across the river, by improper handling, it suddenly and swiftly, "in the twinkling of an

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