Law Commons^™

The Law Of Health Insurer Claims Handling In Montana, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

No abstract provided.

Montana Law, Procedure And Practice For Enforcing Stipulated Judgements In Insurance Cases, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

No abstract provided.

The Insured's Right To Settle When The Insurer Is Defending Under Reservation Of Rights, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article examines the insured's right to settle when the insurer purports to fully defend, but does so under reservation of rights with the express intention of not indemnifying. The article specifically addresses the extent to which the insured may settle the case and assign his rights against the insurer in return for a covenant when the insurer is defending but refusing indemnity.

Insurance, Rental Cars, And The "Collision Damage Waiver", Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article addresses insurance and other coverage available when a driver rents and automobile. The article discusses the issues of whether standard personal auto policies provide coverage to the driver of the rental car. The article also examines "collision damage waivers" offered by car rental agencies and the nature of those "CDWs" as they relate to torts and contracts. In addition, the article examines contract benefits commonly available to drivers today under major credit cards for addressing rental car damage losses. Finally, the article identifies pertinent damages or claims that may arise in the use of rental cars.

When The Undefended Montana Insured Settles And Assigns Rights In Return For A Covenant Not To Execute, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article sets out the law defining the insurer's duty to defend under liability policies in Montana and the insured's rights when the insurer refuses defense. It then specifically focuses on the insured's right to settle the case and assign the insured's rights against the insurer to the claimant in consideration for a covenant not to execute on the insured's assets.

Claims And Coverage In Montana For Damage To A Victim's Family Members, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article explores those situations in which Montana tort law now recognizes secondary injuries to family members resulting from primary severe injuries or death of another family member, which recognition may invoke additional auto insurance coverage. The article first makes a short survey of the development of Montana tort law insofar as it has come to take cognizance of family injuries. The article then looks at the application of insurance law to those claims with special emphasis on recent cases.

The "Discretionary Clause" In Erisa Health Insurance Plans, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article reviews the issue of the power of state insurance commissioners to regulate the use of the discretionary clause under ERISA. The article questions the remarkable power imbalance between insureds and insurers noting the courts' deference to decisions made under discretionary clauses and the abuse of discretion standard.

Auto Policy Conflicts Of Law In Montana, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article reviews the conflicts of law cases in Montana in chronological order. The article notes that the Montana Supreme Court followed a clear and predictable set of principles in dealing with the issue of what law applies to the out-of-state auto policy involved in an accident in Montana for almost thirty years, from Kemp in 1979 until Moodro in 2008. The end result of the last two years, however, is a confused abandonment of Montana's materially greater interest in its public policy protection for consumers of auto insurance. The article asserts that this interest needs to be inserted back …

Insurance And Climate Change, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article examines insurance industry awareness of climate change and its implications, what risks it presents to insureds and insurers, what action insurers are taking to address it, and how the insurance industry could be a major force in getting the world to address climate change and mitigate its effects.

Defeating The "Step-Down" Clause In Auto Insurance, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article addresses the increasingly occurring situations where "step-down" clauses are inserted in auto policies to defeat coverage for particular classes of claimants. The article points out that step-down clauses that reduce the recovery of family members to minimum limits and protection of permissive users to minimum limits are subject to challenge for being unfair, unconscionable, violative of public policy, violative of reasonable expectations, and for creating ambiguity in an auto policy, and as such, need to be scrutinized by the Montana Supreme Court.

Who Is An "Insured" Under Uninsured Motorist, Underinsured Motorist, And Medical Pay Coverages Of A Corporate Auto Policy?, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article examines Montana State and federal court cases involving attempts to secure coverage for an injured individual under a corporate auto policy and reviews them to reveal the arguments used to invoke coverage and the rulings that courts could have made.

The Reasonable Expectations Doctrine In Montana, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article analyzes cases in Montana State and federal courts dealing with the reasonable expectations doctrine. A review of those decisions reveals that the doctrine is frequently invoked by counsel for insurance consumers and is readily applied by state and federal courts either to void a provision altogether or to resolve an ambiguity in a policy. Nevertheless, reasonable expectations in Montana reflect a lack of clarity about the doctrine resulting in conflicting court pronouncements. The article concludes with suggestions on how both counsel and the courts might achieve clarity and equitable results.

Insurance For Pollution In Montana, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article reviews those Montana State and federal decisions involving insurance for pollution. The article begins by breaking down pollution insurance policies into four types over four periods: 1) "accident" based policies before 1966; 2) "occurrence" based policies post 1966; 3) policies containing "standard" pollution exclusion from 1970 until 1986; and 4) policies containing an absolute pollution exclusion from 1986 to date. The discussion of case decisions relates back to these policies and periods.

Continuing Development Of Insurance Bad Faith In Montana, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article adds to a previous article from the summer 2000 issue of Trial Trends, which recounted the history of insurance bad faith in Montana reviewing its common law and statutory development and attempted to set forth the status of insurance bad faith at the millennium. This article addresses court decisions and the continuing development of the tort of insurance bad faith in the intervening years since then and is designed to provide a broad understanding of the borders of insurance bad faith in Montana to date.

Voiding Auto Insurance Clauses For Violating Public Policy, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article addresses how a lawyer faced with an unambiguous auto insurance policy provision detrimental to his insured or claimant may analyze the provision to determine if it is potentially void and unenforceable.

From The People Who Brought You Safeco Field: Safeco Court Reporters!, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article questions the practice of an insurer involved in litigation contracting all of its deposition reporting services exclusively with a single court reporting service.

Insurance Coverage For Damages For Emotional Distress In Montana, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article has the twin purposes of exploring the circumstances in which Montana tort law recognizes emotional distress as compensable and examining the problem of securing insurance coverage of emotional distress damages.

Obtaining Attorney Fees In Actions Against Insurers, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article reviews the law regarding awards of attorney fees in cases against insurance companies by insurance consumers or third-party claimants as developed by the Montana Supreme Court. The article outlines the Court's significant remedial body of law that can be used to obtain attorney fees and costs in cases where civil litigation has been necessary to secure the insurance benefit. The article concludes that the continued development of the remedy of attorney fees in such cases will help resolve the problem of insurers denying claims based on the simple economics of saving money by failing to pay claims and …

Exposing "Illusory" Underinsured Motorist Coverage, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article addresses auto insurers that use the "narrow" Underinsured Motorist Vehicle definition and couples it with a "reducing clause." The article discusses the conflict between what the declarations page promises and the UIM benefit the policy will actually pay and argues that the definition and reducing clause violate the consumer's expectations and defeat the very purpose of UIM coverage causing an injustice to the insured who has been prudent enough to purchase UIM coverage to guard against the tortfeasor who carries minimum limits. The article urges attorneys to persuade the courts in Montana to invalidate the narrow definition and …

Obtaining Separate Limits Of Auto Coverage For Each "Occurrence" Or "Accident", Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article examines the issue of what constitutes an "accident" or "occurrence" in auto liability policies that limit the insurer's liability for indemnity, defense, or other benefits to a set amount per "accident" or "occurrence." The article reviews a selection of cases from other jurisdictions because there is little Montana law delineating single "accidents" or "occurrences" for purposes of auto insurance. The article concludes with a list of factors that may be determinative and should be argued on the issue of whether there are multiple "accidents" or "occurrences" for purposes of triggering additional limits of auto insurance coverage.

Exclusions For War And Terrorism: Who Will Pay For Man-Made Catastrophes?, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article examines the effect the coordinated attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11 had on insurers. The article notes that losses from an act of terrorism could rival those of acts of war and threaten the financial viability of the insurers that make American enterprise possible. The article points out that the insurers agree that they will survive this loss but will not take the chance on another of the same or greater magnitude. The article addresses ways that the risk of loss from terrorist acts may be spread across American society .

The Constitutional Attack On Montana's Anti-Stacking Statute, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article presents MTLA member Randy Bishop's amicus curiae arguments that challenge the validity of the Montana anti-stacking statute under four provisions of the Montana Constitution. The argument was written in support of the plaintiff in Hardy v. Progressive Specialty Insurance Company.

The Duty Of The Agent Or Broker To Recommend Underinsured Motorist Coverage With Adequate Limits, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article addresses the question of whether an insurance agent or broker have any duty in Montana to recommend a particular coverage in a specific adequate amount. More specifically, the article explores what the agent or broker's duty is, if any, to recommend that the insured purchase UIM coverage and do so with an adequate limit of liability. Although the article focuses on the agent's duty to explain and recommend auto UIM coverage, the law and arguments discussed can be extrapolated to other coverage lines such as homeowners or commercial general liability.

The Case Against Montana's Anti-Stacking Statute, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article begins by noting that the 1997 anti-stacking statute is the number one problem faced by plaintiff's' counsel in Montana in attempting to secure adequate compensation for clients' injuries arising out of the operation of automobiles. The article charges that the brutal economics of the 1997 anti-stacking statute, which prohibits consumers from obtaining the benefit of multiple coverages for which they paid while allowing insurers a windfall by permitting them to collect multiple and ever increasing premiums for no coverage, has compelled attorneys to attack the statute.

The article presents a status report of a compendium of "stacking" cases …

Invalidating The Family Or Household Exclusion In Auto Insurance, Gregory S. Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

No abstract provided.

Driving The Stake Into The Comparative Bad Faith Defense And Reverse Bad Faith Claims, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article reviews case law precedent from Montana and California that exposes holes in the legal theory of comparative fault in insurance bad faith.

The Insurer's Reservation Of Rights Letter And The Duty To Defend, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article examines the specific body of law and standard of care that has developed around the reservation of rights letters and the duty to defend.

Avoiding The Intentional Acts Exclusion In Casualty Insurance, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article examines public policy that forbids the use of insurance to indemnify willful wrongdoing by an insured. The article notes that this policy against insuring the intentional wrongdoer is expressed in casualty insurance policies in which the basic insuring agreements restrict coverage to an "occurrence" which is defined in the policies as an "accident." The article discusses the importance of knowing how to plead and develop the facts so that the claim comes within the coverage of an "occurrence" so as to avoid the intentional acts exclusion of the policy.

Development And Status Of Insurance Bad Faith In Montana, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article outlines the development of the tort of bad faith as it applies to insurance in Montana ending with particular attention to the issue of the existence now of bad faith tort outside the Unfair Claim Settlement Practices Act. The article concludes that the tort of insurance bad faith and the attendant potential for punitive damages are potent weapons in the fight to make insurance companies honor their promises and duties to claimants and insureds.

The "Household" Or "Family" Exclusion In Auto Policies, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article examines the household or family exclusion in casualty policies and how the Montana Supreme Court has responded to challenges to the exclusion. The article concludes that if attorneys adequately prepare the challenge, the courts in Montana will scrutinize the exclusion carefully.