Law Commons^™

Since this country was created, the insurance industry has been principally

regulated by the states with infrequent Congressional interventions.

As the insurance industry has evolved in recent decades, however, individual

states have become unable to adequately regulate some insurers, such

as multinational insurers and foreign insurers, because they lack jurisdiction

over such entities. Simply having the federal government assume responsibility

for regulating insurers will not solve the current regulatory

problems, however, because Congress’ past forays into regulating certain

areas of insurance generally have yielded poor results. Consequently, this

Article makes the novel proposal and argument that, with the creation of …

Insurance policies commonly are understood to be a species of standardized contracts. This Article challenges that conventional wisdom and argues that insurance policies do not actually qualify as contracts under the doctrinal and theoretical bases of contract formation. It examines the process by which insurance policies are created and sold, and measures that process against the requirements for contract formation. This Article also distinguishes insurance policies from other types of standardized contracts, such as wrap agreements, which currently are the subject of much litigation and scholarly commentary. It then explores the doctrinal and theoretical bases underlying the specialized rules that …

Flooding is the most common natural catastrophe Americans face, accounting for 90% of all damage caused by natural catastrophes. Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, for example, collectively caused over $160 billion in damage, but only approximately 10% of the Hurricane Katrina victims and 50% of the Hurricane Sandy victims had insurance to cover their flood losses. Consequently, both their homes and lives were left in ruins in the wake of the storms. Nationwide, only approximately 7% of homeowners have insurance that covers flood losses even though the risk of flooding is only increasing as coastal areas continue to be developed and …

Risks in the world abound.  Every day there is a chance that each of us could be in a car accident.  Or, one of us could be the victim of a tornado, flood or earthquake.  Every day someone becomes deathly ill from an insidious disease.  Our properties are in constant peril—one’s house could catch fire at any time or a tree could fall on it during a storm.  Any one of these events could have devastating financial consequences, and they are just a few of the many risks that impact our daily lives.  One of the principal ways we manage …