Gradual damage

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Allmählichkeitsschaden is a term from the field of liability insurance . Until the General Liability Conditions (AHB) 2002, gradual damage was considered an exclusion from insurance benefits. As a rule, such an exclusion no longer exists since the AHB 2008.

Gradual damage included personal injury, property damage and property damage caused by the gradual effects of temperature, gases, vapors or moisture and precipitation (smoke, soot, dust).

The decisive factor here was not whether the actual damage occurred gradually (this can also have happened suddenly), but rather that the event that triggered the damage led to a long-lasting harmful effect.

It was not possible to precisely determine from what period of time the impact was to be regarded as “gradual” before the damage occurred. The following periods were considered sufficient in the case law :

  • 3 years if a power cable is damaged by an excavator and has been exposed to moisture
  • 6 months when exposed to temperature on a fireclay wall
  • 4–5 weeks exposure to moisture as a result of incorrect installation, which leads to the discarding of a parquet floor
  • 4 days if the room temperature drops, causing the heating system to freeze (controversial)

Web links

§ 4 I. (5) AHB 2002. (PDF; 68 kB) Retrieved on October 8, 2009 .

Current AHB 2008. (PDF; 152 kB) Retrieved on March 6, 2012 .

Individual evidence

Gradual damage in personal liability insurance. Retrieved October 8, 2009 .