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Insurance law is a legal mechanism for risk management. It's designed to allocate the risk of loss from one person to a group of people. Typically, every person contributes a set amount (the premium) to a fund. When a loss occurs to one person, that loss can be alleviated by the collective fund, or insurance. Premium rates are determined by the underwriters, who must evaluate the good and bad risks. Exclusions and limitations describe the types of conditions or the types of loss not covered by a particular insured's policy. Traditionally, insurance covered risks associated with home ownership, health insurance, liability in motor vehicle accidents, and disability or death/survivorship. Product lines then expanded to cover include such things as professional malpractice, unemployment, lender fraud, product liability, personal injury and crop insurance. New Product Lines continue to be developed. Recent additions fall into a category labeled as “specialty.” Examples of coverage in the specialty category encompass travel insurance, identity theft insurance, wedding insurance, insurance for college students, insuring household help, boat or winter sports insurance, dog bite liability, and risks associated with relying on technology and the Internet to conduct business. Continued... By Kathleen Goolsby