Insurance Law Commons^™

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 …

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 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 …

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.

Insurance Causation Issues: The Legacy Of Bird V. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., Peter N. Swisher

Law Faculty Publications

In all of Anglo-American law, there is no concept that has been as been so pervasive - and yet so elusive - as the causation requirement; and even today this causation requirement in American law has resisted all efforts to reduce it to a useful, understandable, and comprehensive formula regarding its underlying nature, content, scope, and significance. Indeed, no less an authority than William Lloyd Prosser has stated that there "is perhaps nothing in the entire field of the law which has called forth more disagreement, or upon which the opinions are in such a welter of confusion" than legal …

The Serpent In The Garden Of Eden: A Look At The Impact Of Physician Financial Incentive Programs And A Reconsideration Of Herdrich V. Pegram , Amy L. Cralam

Journal of Law and Health

The impact of physician incentive programs is at the heart of the recent Supreme Court case Herdrich v. Pegram. In Herdrich, the patient, Cynthia Herdrich, challenged the use of a common incentive structure that allowed physicians to profit from decreased utilization of expensive medical procedures.' Ms. Herdrich alleged that the use of these incentive programs created a conflict of interest for her treating physician and that conflict of interest caused a misdiagnosis of her appendicitis." The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Ms. Herdrich but was later overruled by the Supreme Court. This article suggests that Herdrich v. Pegram …

Financial Services In The 21st Century: The Perspective Of Insurance, Jeffrey E. Thomas

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

The Incalculable Risk: How The World Trade Center Disaster Accelerated The Evolution Of Insurance Terrorism Exclusions, Jane Kendall

University of Richmond Law Review

"The deliberate and deadly attacks, which were carried out yesterday against our country, were more than acts of terror. They were acts of war."

- President George W. Bush, September 12, 2001.

The Sounds Of Silence: Waiting For Courts To Acknowledge That Public Policy Justifies Awarding Damages To Third-Party Claimants When Liability Insurers Deal With Them In Bad Faith, Francis J. Mootz Iii

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Cockle: Importing Health Benefits Into Wages—An Invitation For Legislative Review Of The Wage Definition Under Washington's Industrial Insurance Act, Matthew H. Adams

Seattle University Law Review

This Note addresses the efficacy of construing the term "wages" RCW 51.08.178 to include employer-provided health insurance, hoping to serve as a resource for the Legislature to reevaluate IIA's wage definition in light of Cockle. First, this Note gives a general background of IIA and the Act's time-loss compensation scheme. Next, this Note discusses how Washington and other jurisdictions treat fringe benefits in defining "wages." This Note then examines the Washington Supreme Court's ground-breaking decision in Cockle, in which the court held that the value of employer-provided medical and dental benefits are part of the basis used to …

The Sounds Of Silence: Waiting For Courts To Acknowledge That Public Policy Justifies Awarding Damages To Third Party Claimants When Liability Insurers Deal With Them In Bad Faith, Francis J. Mootz Iii

Scholarly Works

A long-standing and virtually unchallenged doctrinal rule provides that a liability insurance carrier owes no duties in tort or contract to a third-party claimant who has been injured by its insured. As a matter of doctinal consistency and logic, the traditional rule makes some sense. The liability insurer has no contractual relationship with the claimant, and third-party beneficiary doctrine is not easily used to impose duties. Moreover, by stepping into the shoes of the insured tortfeasor to whom it owes a heightened duty of good faith, the insurer is in an adversarial relationship with the claimant that makes it difficult …

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 …

Timeless And Ahead Of Its Time: Lach's V. Fidelity & Casualty Of New York, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

The publication of Judge Keeton's important article “inventing” the reasonable expectations doctrine in 1971 is notable for infusing a good deal of intellectual energy into the study of insurance law, particularly judicial decisions about insurance coverage. Keeton's article, which deduced from cases the principle that courts tended to interpret policies to vindicate the objectively reasonable expectations of the insured, has rightly been viewed as a milestone. It clarified an area of law long seen as inconsistent or result-oriented. It spurred additional important scholarship in the area and elevated insurance caselaw from something of a backwater to at least a respectable …

Classic Insurance Law In A Postmodern World, Leo P. Martinez

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.