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A Model First-Party Insurance Excess-Liability Act, Eric M. Holmes

Scholarly Works

The purpose of this article is to study the various statutes concerning first-party, excess-liability in an effort to compose a model act. The primary issues affecting this problem are two-fold: First, what type of extra-contract damages should be available (e.g., attorney fees, litigation expenses, consequential losses, emotional distress, punitive damages); and second, should these extra-contract damages be based on an equitable standard of good-faith conduct (fault) or on strict liability principles (no fault)? These are crucial questions as the division between contract and tort becomes ever more blurred in modern law.