Law Commons^™

Empirical Evidence And Malpractice Litigation, Philip G. Peters Jr.

Faculty Publications

Critics of medical malpractice litigation believe that expert testimony is often anecdotal and biased. To remedy this problem, several have recently suggested that attorneys should provide and courts should seek reliable empirical evidence of actual clinical norms. Their suggestion should be welcomed. If our expectations are realistic and the design pitfalls are avoided, greater use of use of empirical research will improve the fairness of malpractice adjudication. At least in theory, it could be useful in both the "easy" cases (where it reveals that a consensus standard of care exists) and also some of the harder cases (where clinical practices …

Insurance Insurance Generally: Requires Coverage For Colorectal Cancer Screening In Health Benefit Policies, Alan R. Godfrey

Georgia State University Law Review

The Act adds new Code section 33-2456.3. The Act requires most health benefit insurance policies to provide coverage for colorectal cancer screening. The Act further provides definitions to specify the health benefit policies affected and to identify the guidelines for the types of treatment to be covered by those health benefit policies.

Insurance Insurance Generally: Provide Coverage For Medically Necessary Equipment And Supplies For Individuals With Diabetes, Michael J. Brown

Georgia State University Law Review

The Act creates a provision requiring every major medical and group health insurance policy, group health insurance plan or policy, and any other form of managed or capitated care plans or policies to provide coverage for medically necessary equipment and supplies for individuals with various types of diabetes who adhere to a doctor-prescribed treatment regimen. The Act further requires the office of the Commissioner of Insurance to promulgate rules and regulations relating to standards of diabetes care to become effective July 1, 2002.

Insurance Kinds Of Insurance; Limits Of Risks: Mandate Limited Waiver Of Sovereign Immunity For Local Governments For Losses Caused By Negligent Use Of A Motor Vehicle; Allow Continued Immunity For Liabilities In Excess Of Statutory Thresholds; Require Waiver Of Immunity For Amounts Insured By Local Governments Beyond Statutory Thresholds, David Walker

Georgia State University Law Review

The Act limits the sovereign immunity of local governments for injuries arising from the negligent use of a motor vehicle. The Act provides that, for accidents occurring between January I, 2005 and December 31 2006, the waiver will be $100,000 per accident for claims involving personal injury or death to anyone person, with an aggregate waiver of $300,000 per accident for claims made by two or more people. The Act also waives immunity up to $50,000 per occurrence for injuries or destruction of property occurring after January 1, 2005. The Act provides a schedule for increasing waiver amounts to $250,000/$450,000 …

Insurance Insurance Generally: Prohibit Discriminatory Practices; Require Notification Of Cancellation, Nonrenewal, Or Other Termination Of Insurance To Certain Persons; Provide Standards And Procedures For Verification Of Benefits And Precertifications Relating To Managed Health Benefit Plans; Provide For Liability And Personnel; Include Certain Practices Among Unfair Insurance Practices; Provide For Remedies For Violations, Cheralynn M. Gregoire

Georgia State University Law Review

The Act, titled the Consumers Health Insurance Protection Act, provides that insurers must follow certain procedures when precertifying or verifying enrollee benefits. The Act requires insurers to provide continuity of care to certain individuals in the event they, or a physician, cancels a physician's contract. The Act also makes discrimination based on color, race, religion, and ethnic or national origin in the insurance industry generally an unfair practice. The Act requires insurers to notify enrollees of plan termination, cancellation, or nonrenewal, and of any resulting conversion or continuation rights.

Mandating Environmental Liability Insurance, Benjamin J. Richardson

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Jury In Modern Malpractice Law, Philip G. Peters Jr.

Faculty Publications

This article explores the policy issues raised by the choice between a custom-based standard of care and a jury-determined reasonability standard. The author examines not only traditional legal arguments but also the recent findings of cognitive psychology, jury performance studies, and health industry research. Not surprisingly, this analysis reveals that both options are imperfect. However, the author cautiously recommends the reasonable physician standard. The revolutionary transformation of the health care industry in last quarter of a century has transferred considerable power from physicians to the health insurance industry, an industry that has not yet earned the privilege of self-regulation. Unlike …

Insurance Implications Of September 11 And Possible Responses, Jeffrey E. Thomas

Faculty Works

September 11 was a "defining moment" for this generation. The graphic images of that day will forever remain seared into people's individual and collective consciousness. Americans responded in many ways, both individually and collectively. The government, with nearly unanimous public support, immediately responded by declaring "war" on terrorism and by adopting measures to provide relief for victims of the attack.

September 11 was also a defining moment for the insurance industry. It was "the largest single insured event in history." Insurance companies are expected to pay some $50 billion to victims of the attack -more than eight times what the …

Introduction: Favorite Insurance Cases Symposium, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Insurance law scholars and teachers sometimes feel, with a mixture of paranoia and justification, that insurance law simply does not receive its proper respect in the hierarchy of legal education and law generally.

Consider the law school curriculum. In none of America’s nearly 200 ABA-approved law schools in insurance law a required course. Nor is it considered a course that, although not required, prudent students “must” be sure to take before they graduate (e.g. Evidence, Corporations). Enrollments may be respectable but the class is seldom oversubscribed, even where the law school is located in an insurance hub city. Although other …

The Insurance Aftermath Of September 11: Myriad Claims, Multiple Lines, Arguments Over Ocurrence Counting, War Risk Exclusions, The Future Of Terrorism Coverage, And New Issues Of Government Role, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

September 11, 2001, is an unforgettable date for many reasons. In addition to its political, social, and historical importance, it may mark a watershed of insurance history as well. The value of the insurance losses due to the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers is estimated to total at least $35 billion and perhaps $75 billion. In addition, most of the people killed by terrorism were covered by life insurance. Many business operations were affected, invoking possible business interruption coverage. The airplanes that became weapons of destruction carried passengers whose estates are likely to press claims against the …

Crisci V. Security Insurance Co.: The Dawn Of The Modern Era Of Insurance: Bad Faith And Emotional Distress Damages, Jeffrey E. Thomas

Faculty Works

Crisci v. Security Insurance Co. typifies the doctrine of "bad faith," one of the most interesting and important contributions of insurance law to the general body of law. It "typifies" the doctrine with its classic, if somewhat extreme, fact pattern, and with its reliance on the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing for the recognition of a cause of action that sounds in tort. Yet it also represents a potential for bad faith law that has not yet been fulfilled: the promise of emotional distress damages for an insurer's failure to settle.

This article explores both what Crisci …

Insurance, Terrorism, And 9/11: Reflections On Three Threshold Questions, Robert H. Jerry Ii

UF Law Faculty Publications

For most of us, the collapse of the World Trade Center towers exists at the outermost edge of human comprehension. Even after one visits Ground Zero, the events of 9/11 retain a surreal quality, invoking feelings beyond words as one tries to contemplate losses immeasurable with numbers. Indeed, the insurance losses are insignificant when compared to the human tragedies caused by the terrorist attacks -- and in insurance terms, we witnessed the most costly, complex events to transpire in a single day in the history of the planet. Many years will pass before all the insurance ramifications of 9/11 are …

A Control-Based Approach To Shareholder Liability For Corporate Torts, Nina A. Mendelson

Articles

Some commentators defend limited shareholder liability for torts and statutory violations as efficient, even though it encourages corporations to overinvest in and to externalize the costs of risky activity. Others propose pro rata unlimited shareholder liability for corporate torts. Both approaches, however, fail to account fully for qualitative differences among shareholders. Controlling shareholders, in particular, may have lower information costs, greater influence over managerial decisionmaking, and greater ability to benefit from corporate activity. This Article develops a control-based approach to shareholder liability. It first explores several differences among shareholders. For example, a controlling shareholder can more easily curb managerial risk …

A New Old Look At Terrorism Insurance: Jack Hirshleifer’S War Damages Insurance After 50 Years [Essay On War Damages Insurance, By Jack Hirshleifer, 35 Rev. Econ. & Statist. 144 (1953)], Peter Siegelman

Peter Siegelman

No abstract provided.