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Articles 1 - 26 of 26
Full-Text Articles in Insurance Law
Should I Stay Or Should I Go? The National Flood Insurance Program And Where We Go When The Next Storm Hits, Kevin Fitzpatrick
Should I Stay Or Should I Go? The National Flood Insurance Program And Where We Go When The Next Storm Hits, Kevin Fitzpatrick
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
This article argues that what makes the difference in success between these two regimes is how strictly the scientific advice underlying catch limits the advice is adhered to, and the influences allowed unto decisionmakers in the catch limit negotiation process. Whereas the United States uses the scientific advice about the MSY as a strict upper limit in determining annual catch limits, the EU does not. This allows stakeholders in the EU’s CFP governance, in particular fishing industry actors, to influence regulators to raise TACs above adequately precautionary levels in the name of “balancing” sustainable fishing with short-term economic interests. The …
Private Coverage, Public Risk: The Role Of Cyber Insurance In National Security Governance, Deborah L. Johnson
Private Coverage, Public Risk: The Role Of Cyber Insurance In National Security Governance, Deborah L. Johnson
Faculty Publications
This Article explores the growing yet underexamined role of the commercial cyber insurance market in shaping the United States' approach to cybersecurity readiness. It argues that, as cyber threats against U.S. critical infrastructure and essential services increase, commercial cyber insurance has quietly come to function as a de facto governance tool in national cybersecurity. In hospitals, water and energy systems, and other public-facing sectors, policy language, underwriting questionnaires, and post-breach claims practices help define what counts as "reasonable" security, influence how organizations plan for and respond to incidents, and affect the pace and scope of recovery after an attack. Yet …
Maritime Personal Injury In The New England Fishery, Ralph J. Gillis
Maritime Personal Injury In The New England Fishery, Ralph J. Gillis
Maine Law Review
Commercial fishing, as carried on by the "down east" fisherman, is an industry fast succumbing to the economic inequities of vessel operation. Over the past two decades, the prices for fish boats have not increased as rapidly as the operating costs involved in fitting and maintaining the fishing vessel. Today, this situation has been compounded by the economic inability of the individual trawler owner to obtain protection and indemnity insurance to compensate crew members for injuries received during the course of maritime employment. The present consequence of these developments is that, although judicial and legislative regulatory guidelines have been set …
Security Ins. Group V. Emery: A Step Backward For Interest Analysis In Maine, William F. Julavits
Security Ins. Group V. Emery: A Step Backward For Interest Analysis In Maine, William F. Julavits
Maine Law Review
Security Insurance Group, the Connecticut insurer, sought declaratory relief' alleging that failure by its insured to furnish timely notice of the accident as prescribed by the policy precluded its liability. The insured contended that Maine's notice statute was applicable, requiring only that the insurer receive notice of the action before judgment, and that this requirement was satisfied. Alternatively, the insured contended that even if the Connecticut notice term were held applicable, since there was no contact between the two cars, it was his belief that he was not at fault and thus had no reason to notify his carrier of …
Variable Life Insurance And The Federal Securities Laws, Maine Law Review
Variable Life Insurance And The Federal Securities Laws, Maine Law Review
Maine Law Review
The Securities and Exchange Commission has recently ruled that variable life insurance contracts are "securities" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and, therefore, subject to the registration and disclosure requirements of those acts. Perhaps more significantly, the SEC also found the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 applicable to companies issuing variable life insurance, but decided to exempt insurance companies from the requirements of these statutes in deference to developing state regulation. This comment explores the legal issues raised by the SEC decision.
Variable Life Insurance And The Federal Securities Laws, Maine Law Review
Variable Life Insurance And The Federal Securities Laws, Maine Law Review
Maine Law Review
The Securities and Exchange Commission has recently ruled that variable life insurance contracts are "securities" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and, therefore, subject to the registration and disclosure requirements of those acts. Perhaps more significantly, the SEC also found the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 applicable to companies issuing variable life insurance, but decided to exempt insurance companies from the requirements of these statutes in deference to developing state regulation. This comment explores the legal issues raised by the SEC decision.
Disposition Of Life Insurance Proceeds When Owner Beneficiary Murders The Insured: Estate Of Draper V. Commissioner, Maine Law Review
Disposition Of Life Insurance Proceeds When Owner Beneficiary Murders The Insured: Estate Of Draper V. Commissioner, Maine Law Review
Maine Law Review
A beneficiary of a life insurance policy who has murdered the insured generally is barred from receiving the proceeds of the policy covering the life of the deceased. This rule reflects the common law maxim that no one shall be permitted to profit from his own wrong. Some courts have also denied the beneficiary recovery on the ground that it is unreasonable to hold that the insurer assumed the risk of the beneficiary's intentional killing of the insured. Other courts rely primarily on the rationale that public policy forbids construing contracts in a manner that encourages or rewards crime. Although …
Liability Insurer's Duty To Defend: American Policyholders' Ins. Co. V. Cumberland Cold Storage Co., Maine Law Review
Liability Insurer's Duty To Defend: American Policyholders' Ins. Co. V. Cumberland Cold Storage Co., Maine Law Review
Maine Law Review
Liability insurance policies generally contain a standardized provision that requires the insurer to defend the insured against all suits alleging bodily injury or property damage covered by the terms of the policy, even if the claims are "groundless, false or fraudulent.” This provision is the basis for the general rule that a liability insurer's duty to defend an insured will arise when the allegations in a complaint against the insured state a claim within the terms of his policy coverage. In addition to creating a duty to defend, this clause generally affords the insurer the exclusive right to control the …
The Dilemma Of Concurrent Coverage: Carriers Insurance Co. V. American Policyholders Insurance Co., Joanne F. Cole
The Dilemma Of Concurrent Coverage: Carriers Insurance Co. V. American Policyholders Insurance Co., Joanne F. Cole
Maine Law Review
Insurance draftsmen responding to consumers' demands for comprehensive automobile liability protection have attempted to create precise, extensive coverage for the insured while at the same time limiting the insurer's liability if possible. One consequence of this effort is that when two or more policies cover the same risk and person and concurrent coverage results, the insurers may attempt to reduce their liability on the grounds that other insurance is available. Insurers achieve this contingent coverage through the device of "other insurance" clauses—a judicially approved means of reducing or avoiding liability if other valid and collectible insurance exists. These clauses originated …
Baybutt Construction Corp. V. Commercial Union Insurance Co.: A Question Of Ambiguity In Comprehensive General Liability Insurance Policies, Peter Alexander Meyer
Baybutt Construction Corp. V. Commercial Union Insurance Co.: A Question Of Ambiguity In Comprehensive General Liability Insurance Policies, Peter Alexander Meyer
Maine Law Review
A critical issue pervading the realm of commercial insurance contract law concerns the clarity of provisions contained in policy agreements. Insurance policies containing unclear or complicated language may give rise to situations in which the actual intentions of the contracting parties are not reflected in the technical terms of the policy. The parties' conflicting expectations often lead to costly litigation. In such cases, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, has made it clear that it will ordinarily rule against the party who wrote the policy (the insurer) and in favor of the party whose expectations were …
Stacked Recovery Under Maine's Uninsured Motorists Statute: Connolly V. Royal Globe Insurance Company, Edward R. Benjamin Jr.
Stacked Recovery Under Maine's Uninsured Motorists Statute: Connolly V. Royal Globe Insurance Company, Edward R. Benjamin Jr.
Maine Law Review
Foremost among the problems of automobile travel facing state legislatures may be that of ensuring adequate compensation for injuries and deaths suffered in traffic accidents. Frequently an injured party wins an award of damages against a negligent motorist, only to find the negligent party unable to meet the financial burden which the judgment imposes. The injured party, though innocent of any wrongdoing, may receive little or no compensation for injuries suffered. State legislatures have attempted to prevent such situations by enacting mandatory liability insurance laws, creating victim compensation funds, or requiring uninsured motorist coverage. Inherent weaknesses exist, however, in both …
American Home Assurance Co. V. Ingeneri: Misrepresentations In Insurance Applications, Richard P. Bennett
American Home Assurance Co. V. Ingeneri: Misrepresentations In Insurance Applications, Richard P. Bennett
Maine Law Review
In American Home Assurance Co. v. Ingeneri, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, addressed the issue of when an incorrect response to a question on an insurance application constitutes a sufficient misrepresentation to render the policy voidable under Maine law. Reversing the trial court, the Law Court held that to render the policy voidable, the applicable statutory provision required the insurer to prove that the insured's misrepresentation was fraudulent, material to the insured risk, and actually relied upon by the insurer. The Law Court determined that the word "or" in the misrepresentation statute should be read …
Improved Regulation Of Maine Physicians: One Solution To The Medical Malpractice Crisis, Joanne Buttolph Steneck
Improved Regulation Of Maine Physicians: One Solution To The Medical Malpractice Crisis, Joanne Buttolph Steneck
Maine Law Review
Maine began regulating allopathic and osteopathic physicians around the turn of the century with the passage of two statutes, in 1895 and 1919, commonly referred to as the Medical Practice Acts. As originally enacted, these statutes provided for the establishment of boards, composed of physicians, and empowered the boards to examine and license all persons seeking to practice as physicians and surgeons within the state. The boards were also responsible for investigating complaints of noncompliance with, or violations of, the Acts' provisions, and for revoking licenses for such violations. The boards were left to undertake these licensing and review functions …
Ending The Never-Ending Medical Malpractice Crisis, Allen Redlich
Ending The Never-Ending Medical Malpractice Crisis, Allen Redlich
Maine Law Review
Another nationwide outbreak of what is commonly called the medical malpractice "crisis" is spreading. Once again, as during prior episodes, the public hears of dramatic increases in the cost of malpractice insurance, of growing numbers of multimillion dollar awards, and of increases in the number of suits filed. Already several states have passed statutes in attempts to resolve the crisis. This crisis atmosphere resembles the crisis of the mid-seventies when every state enacted so-called "remedial" statutes, which failed to solve the crisis. A physician would define a "crisis" as a turning point in the course of a disease; nonmedical definitions …
Affirmative Judicial Case Management: A Viable Solution To The Toxic Product Litigation Crisis, Patrick Francis Harrigan
Affirmative Judicial Case Management: A Viable Solution To The Toxic Product Litigation Crisis, Patrick Francis Harrigan
Maine Law Review
With increasing frequency, federal courts throughout the nation have confronted a multiplicity of "toxic tort" claims, claims for relief arising from chronic and latent illnesses or diseases allegedly caused by toxic substances. Toxic substances are substances whose manufacture, processing, distribution, use, or disposal presents or will present an unreasonable risk of injury to a person's health or to the environment. Because many of these unreasonable health risks are caused by consumer and industrial products, many toxic tort claims are actually "toxic product" claims. Examples of toxic product claims include those arising from the use, exposure to, or consumption of chemicals …
30 Years Removed, Oil-Spill Liability Insurance's Evolution Since The 1989 Exxon Valdez Incident, Rejo Mathew
30 Years Removed, Oil-Spill Liability Insurance's Evolution Since The 1989 Exxon Valdez Incident, Rejo Mathew
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
In the thirty years since the Exxon Valdez incident, much has changed. This article looks back at the events of the accident and the subsequent changes to the marine pollution insurance industry, from the statutes regulating oil tankers in 1989 to the Oil Pollution Act of the 1990. The regulatory framework resulting from the Exxon Valdez is examined and compared to the litigation deriving from the spill.
Patient Decision Aids Improve Patient Safety And Reduce Medical Liability Risk, Thaddeus Mason Pope
Patient Decision Aids Improve Patient Safety And Reduce Medical Liability Risk, Thaddeus Mason Pope
Maine Law Review
Tort-based doctrines of informed consent have utterly failed to assure that patients understand the risks, benefits, and alternatives to the healthcare they receive. Fifty years of experience with the doctrine of informed consent have shown it to be an abject catastrophe. Most patients lack an even minimal understanding of their treatment options. But there is hope. Substantial evidence shows that patient decision aids (PDAs) and shared decision making can bridge the gap between the theory and practice of informed consent. These evidence-based educational tools empower patients to make decisions with significantly more knowledge and less decisional conflict than clinician-patient discussions …
The Color Of Property And Auto Insurance: Time For Change, Jennifer B. Wriggins
The Color Of Property And Auto Insurance: Time For Change, Jennifer B. Wriggins
Faculty Publications
Insurance company executives issued statements condemning racism and urging change throughout society and in the insurance industry after the huge Black Lives Matter demonstrations in summer 2020. The time therefore is ripe for examining insurance as it relates to race and racism, including history and current regulation. Two of the most important types of personal insurance are property and automobile. Part I begins with history, focusing on property insurance, auto insurance, race, and racism in urban areas around the mid-twentieth century. Private insurers deemed large areas of cities where African Americans lived to be “blighted” and refused to insure all …
Comprehensive General Liability Policies Under Maine's Ground Water Protection Act: The Law Court's Extraordinary Definition Of Ordinary Intelligence, Andrew M. Strongin
Comprehensive General Liability Policies Under Maine's Ground Water Protection Act: The Law Court's Extraordinary Definition Of Ordinary Intelligence, Andrew M. Strongin
Maine Law Review
In Patrons Oxford Mutual Insurance Co. v. Marios, the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, sitting as the Law Court, joined the current debate in the state and federal judiciaries as to whether comprehensive general liability (CGL) insurance policies obligate the insurer to indemnify the insured for cleanup costs incurred pursuant to governmentally mandated cleanup of hazardous substances. In that decision, the court held that cleanup costs incurred pursuant to court order authorized by the Maine Underground Oil Storage Facilities and Ground Water Protection Act are not covered by such policies. The explicit basis of the court's decision was that the …
Comprehensive General Liability Policies Under Maine's Ground Water Protection Act: The Law Court's Extraordinary Definition Of Ordinary Intelligence, Andrew M. Strongin
Comprehensive General Liability Policies Under Maine's Ground Water Protection Act: The Law Court's Extraordinary Definition Of Ordinary Intelligence, Andrew M. Strongin
Maine Law Review
In Patrons Oxford Mutual Insurance Co. v. Marios, the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, sitting as the Law Court, joined the current debate in the state and federal judiciaries as to whether comprehensive general liability (CGL) insurance policies obligate the insurer to indemnify the insured for cleanup costs incurred pursuant to governmentally mandated cleanup of hazardous substances. In that decision, the court held that cleanup costs incurred pursuant to court order authorized by the Maine Underground Oil Storage Facilities and Ground Water Protection Act are not covered by such policies. The explicit basis of the court's decision was that the …
Advancing The Aquaculture Industry Through The Federal Crop Insurance Program, Matthew H. Bowen
Advancing The Aquaculture Industry Through The Federal Crop Insurance Program, Matthew H. Bowen
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
In recent times, the aquaculture industry has experienced dramatic growth. The growth of the industry is a direct result of an increase in demand for seafood, and a decrease in supply from wild fisheries. The industry, however, is also experiencing growing pains. Aquaculture species, compared to their wild counterparts, are at a higher risk of catastrophic loss from a variety of different perils. These perils make investment in the aquaculture industry significantly risky. The federal crop insurance program could be a tool that mitigates these risks, but the program was designed around terrestrial agriculture, and while aquaculture may be covered …
Insurer Prejudice Analysis Of An Expanding Doctrine In Insurance Coverage Law, Richard L. Suter
Insurer Prejudice Analysis Of An Expanding Doctrine In Insurance Coverage Law, Richard L. Suter
Maine Law Review
All contracts of insurance place certain requirements on the insured both before and after a covered loss has occurred. For example, all insurance policies require that an insured notify the insurer of a covered loss and cooperate with the insurer in the investigation of the loss and in the pursuit or defense of any claims arising out of the loss. Traditionally, if an insured failed to comply with such notification or cooperation requirements, the insurer could flatly deny coverage of the claim. Recently, however, an increasing number of courts are requiring that the insurer show that it has been prejudiced …
The Unappreciated Importance, For Small Business Defendants, Of The Duty To Settle, Robert Heidt
The Unappreciated Importance, For Small Business Defendants, Of The Duty To Settle, Robert Heidt
Maine Law Review
This paper suggests how the duty to settle, which requires liability insurers to pay damages awarded against their insured in excess of the policy limits when the insurers reject a reasonable settlement offer within the limits, may have indirectly led certain of their insureds--small business recreational vendors like horse riding stables or some motels offering swimming pools with diving boards--to sanitize the recreational activities they offer. More generally, the duty to settle's effect on the lawsuits injured customers brought against small business recreational vendors may have led a wide variety of such vendors to sanitize activities the vendors previously offered …
Anthem Health Plans Of Maine, Inc. V. Superintendent Of Insurance: Judicial Restraint Or Judicial Abdication?, David E. Sorensen
Anthem Health Plans Of Maine, Inc. V. Superintendent Of Insurance: Judicial Restraint Or Judicial Abdication?, David E. Sorensen
Maine Law Review
When Maine’s Superintendent of Insurance told the state’s largest health insurer that it could not profit in 2009, her decision ended up on appeal before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, in Anthem Health Plans of Maine, Inc. v. Superintendent of Insurance. As part of its annual rate approval process, Anthem had requested a 3% profit and risk margin on its individual lines of health insurance in Maine. Superintendent Mila Kofman denied this request under her statutory authority to deny any rate increase proposals that are “excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory.” The Superintendent held that a …
In Deep: Dilemmas Of Federal Flood Insurance Reform, Jennifer Wriggins
In Deep: Dilemmas Of Federal Flood Insurance Reform, Jennifer Wriggins
Faculty Publications
Floods are the most expensive form of natural disaster in the United States. Recent massive floods in Louisiana show the magnitude of the devastation floods can cause. Climate change and population growth are likely to lead in the coming decades to more severe, frequent, and costly floods. How we pay for flood losses is an urgent public policy issue. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) provides most of the flood insurance policies on homes in the United States. The U.S. Flood Insurance Program is a complex scheme that uses insurance coverage subsidies, mandates, and other tools to support various policies …
Mandates, Markets, And Risk: Auto Insurance And The Affordable Care Act, Jennifer Wriggins
Mandates, Markets, And Risk: Auto Insurance And The Affordable Care Act, Jennifer Wriggins
Faculty Publications
Now that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual health insurance mandate has been upheld by the United States Supreme Court, it is an opportune time to examine precedents for the individual mandate that were not considered in the legislative debate or litigation about the ACA’s constitutionality, particularly auto insurance mandates. Although opponents’ arguments were cast largely as Commerce Clause claims, the arguments have a deeper foundation as claims about liberty and coercion which go far beyond the Commerce Clause. Although auto insurance mandates are obviously different, particularly in that they are state rather than federal, auto insurance mandates can help …