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Other States Should "Get With The Program" And Follow Louisiana's Lead: An Examination Of Louisiana's Direct Action Statute And Its Application In The Marine Insurance Industry, Jonathan C. Augustine

Jonathan C. Augustine

Generally speaking, an insurance agreement is a contractual obligation between two parties, the insured, who pays a premium for the benefit of coverage, and its insurer, who receives the payment and issues a guarantee against loss. Accordingly, by strict definition, the contract of insurance and the insured’s consequential ability to recover for sustained damages is limited as a two party agreement. The Louisiana legislature has been forward thinking in the field of insurance. The state enacted a “direct action statute,” allowing aggrieved third parties to proceed directly against insurers in either tort or contract, for the recovery of damages, when …