Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 33. INSURANCE AND INSURANCE COMPANIES

CHAPTER 1. ADMINISTRATION AND GENERAL PROVISIONS

Part 2. Definitions and Insurance Coverages

Commercial Property

33-1-228. Commercial property. Risks generally covered by commercial property floaters covering property pertaining to a business, profession, or occupation may be covered by marine, inland marine, and transportation policies. This category includes:

(1) radium floaters;

(2) physicians' and surgeons' instrument floaters. The policies may include coverage of furniture, fixtures, and tenant assured's interest in the improvements of buildings that are located in that portion of the premises occupied by the assured in the practice of the assured's profession.

(3) pattern and die floaters;

(4) theatrical floaters, excluding buildings and improvements, furniture, and fixtures that do not travel with theatrical troupes;

(5) film floaters, including a builders' risk during the production and coverage on completed negatives, positives, and sound records;

(6) salesperson's samples floaters;

(7) exhibition policies on property while it is on exhibition and in transit to or from exhibitions;

(8) live animal floaters;

(9) builders' risks and installation risks policies covering the interest of owner, seller, or contractor against loss or damage to machinery, equipment, building materials, or supplies being used with and during the course of installation, testing, building, renovating, or repairing. These policies may cover property at points or places where work is being performed, while in transit, and during temporary storage or deposit of property designated for an awaiting specific installation, building, renovating, or repairing. The coverage is limited to builders' risks or installation risks when perils in addition to fire and extended coverage are to be insured. If written for the account of the owner, the coverage ceases upon completion of work and acceptance of the work, or if written for the account of a seller or contractor, the coverage terminates when the interest of the seller or contractor terminates.

(10) mobile articles, machinery, and equipment floaters, excluding motor vehicles designed for highway use and motor homes, trailers, and semitrailers except when hauled by tractors not designed for highway use, and snowplows constructed exclusively for highway use, covering identified property of a mobile or floating nature, not on sale or consignment or in the course of manufacture, that has come into custody or control of parties who intend to use the property for which it was manufactured or created. The policies may not cover furniture and fixtures not customarily used away from premises where the property is usually kept.

(11) property in transit to or from and in the custody of bailees, not owned, controlled, or operated by the bailor, but the policies may not cover the bailee's property at the bailee's premises;

(12) installment sales and leased property policies covering property sold under conditional contract of sale, partial payment contract or installment sales contract or leased, but excluding motor vehicles designed for highway use. These policies must cover property in transit but may not extend beyond the termination of the seller's or lessor's interest. This subsection does not include machinery and equipment under certain "lease-back" contracts.

(13) garment contracts' floaters;

(14) furriers' or fur storers' customer's policies, which are policies under which certificates or receipts are issued by furriers or fur storers, covering specified articles that are the property of customers;

(15) accounts receivable policies and valuable papers and records policies;

(16) floor plan policies, covering property for sale while in possession of dealers under a floor plan or any similar plan under which the dealer borrows money from a bank or lending institution to pay the manufacturer if:

(a) the merchandise is specifically identifiable as encumbered to the bank or lending institution;

(b) the dealer's right to sell or otherwise dispose of the merchandise is conditioned upon its being released from encumbrance by the bank or lending institution; and

(c) the policies cover property in transit and do not extend beyond the termination of the dealer's interest;

(17) sign and street clock policies, including neon signs, automatic or mechanical signs, and street clocks, while in use as intended;

(18) fine arts policies covering paintings, etchings, pictures, tapestries, art glass windows, and other bona fide works of art of rarity, historical value, or artistic merit, for account of museums, galleries, universities, businesses, municipalities, and other similar interests;

(19) policies covering personal property, which may include coverage of money in locked safes or vaults on the assured's premises and may also include coverage of furniture, fixtures, tools, machinery, patterns, molds, dies, and a tenant insured's interest in improvements of buildings, which when sold to the ultimate purchaser may be covered specifically by the owner under inland marine policies, including:

(a) musical instrument dealers' policies, covering property consisting principally of musical instruments and their accessories, but radios, televisions, record players, and combinations of them are not musical instruments for the purposes of this subsection;

(b) camera dealers' policies covering property consisting principally of cameras and their accessories;

(c) furrier dealers' policies covering property consisting principally of furs and fur garments;

(d) equipment dealers' policies covering mobile equipment consisting of binders, reapers, tractors, harvesters, harrows, tedders, and other similar agricultural equipment and accessories for the equipment and covering construction equipment consisting of bulldozers, road scrapers, tractors, compressors, pneumatic tools, and similar equipment and accessories for the equipment, but excluding motor vehicles designed for highway use;

(e) stamp and coin dealers' policies covering property of philatelic and numismatic nature;

(f) jewelers' block policies; and

(g) fine arts dealers' policies;

(20) wool growers' floaters;

(21) domestic bulk liquids policies covering tanks and domestic bulk liquids stored in the tanks;

(22) "difference in conditions" coverage, excluding fire and extended coverage perils; and

(23) electronic data processing policies.

History: En. Sec. 8, Ch. 467, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 1060, Ch. 56, L. 2009.