Insurance Law Commons^™

Reflections On The Effects Of Federalism On Opioid Policy, Matthew B. Lawrence

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

No abstract provided.

The Kids Are Not Alright: Leveraging Existing Health Law To Attack The Opioid Crisis Upstream, Yael Cannon

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The opioid crisis is now a nationwide epidemic, ravaging both rural and urban communities. The public health and economic consequences are staggering; recent estimates suggest the epidemic has contracted the U.S. labor market by over one million jobs and cost the nation billions of dollars. To tackle the crisis, scholars and health policy initiatives have focused primarily on downstream solutions designed to help those who are already in the throes of addiction. For example, the major initiative announced by the U.S. Surgeon General promotes the dissemination of naloxone, which helps save lives during opioid overdoses.

This Article argues that the …

Dead Or Alive? The Law, Policy, And Market Effects Of Legislation On Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits, James M. Carson, Robert E. Hoyt, Tim R. Samples

Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy

A wave of multi-state audits on the insurance industry’s use of the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File (DMF) stirred national controversy over the status of unclaimed life insurance proceeds. Multi-state investigations uncovered “asymmetric” use of the DMF among many large insurance companies. Accusations of unethical behavior led to numerous settlement agreements between state regulators and insurers. Payouts and fines stemming from these settlements already number in the billions of dollars. Legislative responses are also underway. Some states have adopted—and others are considering—legislation requiring life insurers to search the DMF to identify and pay (or eascheat) unclaimed death benefits. Currently, …

Gandhi’S Prophecy: Corporate Violence And A Mindful Law For Bhopal, Nehal A. Patel

Nehal A. Patel

AbstractOver thirty years have passed since the Bhopal chemical disaster began,and in that time scholars of corporate social responsibility (CSR) havediscussed and debated several frameworks for improving corporate responseto social and environmental problems. However, CSR discourse rarelydelves into the fundamental architecture of legal thought that oftenbuttresses corporate dominance in the global economy. Moreover, CSRdiscourse does little to challenge the ontological and epistemologicalassumptions that form the foundation for modern economics and the role ofcorporations in the world.I explore methods of transforming CSR by employing the thought ofMohandas Gandhi. I pay particular attention to Gandhi’s critique ofindustrialization and principle of swadeshi (self-sufficiency) …

Studying Is Dangerous? Possible Federal Remedies For Study Abroad Liability, Robert J. Aalberts, Chad G. Marzen, Darren A. Prum

Chad G. Marzen

Every year, thousands of U.S. students study abroad for academic credit. Study abroad programs have traditionally garnered strong congressional support, and proponents of the programs emphasize the educational, cultural, and diplomatic benefits from study abroad experiences.

Despite the many benefits of study abroad programs, risks are incurred overseas. In the past several years, a number of incidents have resulted in which students studying abroad have not only incurred physical harm, but in some instances have died while enrolled in a study abroad program. The current liability standards governing study abroad programs are murky. This article not only discusses the various …

Waging War On Specialty Pharmaceutical Tiering In Pharmacy Benefit Design, Chad I. Brooker

Chad I Brooker

Specialty drugs represent a growing concern for both health insurance issuers and beneficiaries given their exceedingly high (and growing) costs—representing almost half of all drug spend by 2017. Payers have sought to reduce their specialty drug spend by sharing more of the cost of these drugs with the beneficiaries who depend on them through the creation of specialty drug tiers. This has forced some patients to choose between forgoing other needs to pay for their medications or not take them at all. While several states have sought to outlaw the use of specialty drug tiers or limit pharmaceutical OOP cost-sharing, …

Regulation Not Prohibition: The Comparative Case Against The Insurable Interest Doctrine, Sharo Michael Atmeh

Sharo M Atmeh

American law requires an insurable interest—a pecuniary or affective stake in the subject of an insurance policy—as a predi-cate to properly obtaining insurance. In theory, the rule prevents both wagering on individual lives and moral hazard. In practice, the doctrine is avoided by complex insurance transaction structuring to effectuate both origination and transfers of insurance by individuals without an insurable interest. This paper argues that it is time to ab-andon the insurable interest doctrine. As both the English and Aus-tralian experiences indicate, elimination of the insurable interest doctrine will have little detrimental pecuniary effect on the insurance industry, while freeing …

Shirking The Duty To Defend In Florida: Is Assignment The Exception To Argonaut?, Matthew J. Jowanna

Matthew J. Jowanna

A lawsuit is filed by a plaintiff and the defendant is served. The defendant has a drawer full of liability insurance policies and, therefore, the insured defendant sends a copy of the served complaint to any and all insurance carriers that may provide coverage for the claim. The insured defendant then receives a few coverage denials for reasons such as the event at issue did not occur within a certain policy period or that the insured’s private automobile policy does not provide coverage for a commercial general liability claim. In any event, the denials appear to be valid -so the …

The Individual Mandate, Sovereignty, And The Ends Of Good Government: A Reply To Professor Randy Barnett, Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Working Paper Series

Randy Barnett has recently argued that the individual mandate is unconstitutional because it is an improper regulation under the Necessary and Proper Clause (in conjunction with the Commerce Clause) because it improperly "commandeers" the people and thereby violates their sovereignty. In this paper, I counter that the argument from sovereignty is unavailing because it is, among other defects, hopelessly ambiguous. The variety of historically attested meanings of "sovereignty" renders the concept useless for purposes of answering questions of comparative authority, including the authority of the Congress to mandate that individuals purchase health insurance from a private market. There is no …

Health Care Law, Kathleen M. Mccauley, Kristi L. Vanderlaan

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

Bond Repudiation, Tax Codes, The Appropriations Process And Restitution Post-Eminent Domain Reform, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

This brief comment suggests where the anti-eminent domain movement might be heading next.

“It’S The [Tort System], Stupid:” Consumer Deductibles; How To More Equitably Distribute The Risks Of Medical Malpractice And Adequately Compensate Victims Without Statutory Damage Caps., Bradford Luke Ledbetter

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Doctors, Hmos, Erisa, And The Public Interest After Pegram V. Herdrich, Jeffrey W. Stempel, Nadia Von Magdenko

Scholarly Works

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 was enacted in the wake of highly publicized pension disasters in order to protect employee pension rights. Born as a piece of pro-worker legislation, it initially was criticized by business groups as a cause of bureaucratic arteriosclerosis that was worse than the disease of pension failures. Even worse, it prompted many employers to consider dispensing with pension plans altogether rather than struggle with the administrative and financial obligations of ERISA. Business, labor, and the public all complained about the law's complexity. It even became something of a national joke as regulators took …

The Tort Crisis: Causes, Solutions, And The Constitution, Wallace M. Rudolph

Seattle University Law Review

The thesis of the Article is that the expansion of tort liability based on strict liability or enterprise liability without regard to the proper measurement of damages in such cases is at the root of the insurance crisis rather than the awarding of excessive damages in ordinary fault cases. Stated another way, the expansion of tort liability was based upon the appropriateness of internalizing the cost of economic activity by spreading the risk among the beneficiaries of such activity, but the damages were measured under full compensation theories rather than a more appropriate insurance approach. This divergence between basing liability …

Survey Of Developments In West Virginia Law: 1976

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

No-Fault Automobile Insurance In Pennsylvania - A Constitutional Analysis, Joel M. Martel

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Preventive Detention: The Lesson Of Civil Disorders, William A. Dobrovir

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.