What is defined as a demand for payment resulting from a loss?

A claim is properly defined as a demand for payment resulting from a loss. In the context of insurance and risk management, when an incident leads to a loss—whether it's property damage, bodily injury, or another type of covered event—the affected party submits a claim to their insurance provider. This claim is essentially a request for payment or compensation based on the terms of the insurance policy.

Understanding the nature of a claim is crucial in risk management, as it reflects the impact of risk on financial stability and can influence decisions regarding coverage levels, underwriting, and claims management practices. Claims are fundamental to the claims process, which involves documentation, assessment, and resolution, and ultimately serves to restore the policyholder to their pre-loss financial condition as much as possible.

While the other terms pertain to related concepts—accident refers to the unexpected event causing the loss, occurrence is a broader term that can describe a series of events leading to losses, and severity indicates the extent of damage or loss incurred—they do not encapsulate the idea of requesting payment for that loss.