Marine Insurance Act, 1963
60. Constructive total loss defined
(1) Subject to any
express provision in the policy, there is a constructive total loss where the
subject-matter insured is reasonably abandoned on account of its actual total
loss appearing to be unavoidable, or because it could not be preserved from
actual total loss without an expenditure which would exceed its value when the
expenditure had been incurred.
(2) In particular,
there is a constructive total loss-
(i) where the assured is deprived of the
possession of his ship or goods by a peril insured against, and
(a) it is unlikely that he can recover the
ship or goods, as the case may be, or
(b) the cost of
recovering the ship or goods, as the case may be,
would exceed their
value when recovered; or
(ii) in the case of damage to a ship, where
she is so damaged by a peril insured against that the cost of repairing the
damage would exceed the value of the ship when repaired.
In estimating the cost of repairs, no
deduction is to be made in respect of general average contributions to those
repairs payable by other interests, but account is to be taken of the expense
of future salvage operations and of any future general average contributions to
which the ship would be liable if repaired; or
(iii) in the case of damage to goods, where
the cost of repairing the damage and forwarding the goods to their destination
would exceed their value on arrival.