Insurance Law Commons^™

Uninsured Motorists Coverage Validity Of Other Insurance Provisions; Curran V. State Automobile Mutual Insurance Co., Dennis J. Fox

Akron Law Review

It was the contention of the defendant-appellant insurers that their liability was limited in both instances by the "other insurance" provisions of their respective policies. These provisions were both "excess insurance" clauses. The Ohio Supreme Court, in ruling upon what it considered to be the sole issue in this case, denied effectiveness to these clauses.

Uninsured Motorists Coverage Validity Of Other Insurance Provisions; Curran V. State Automobile Mutual Insurance Co., Dennis J. Fox

Akron Law Review

It was the contention of the defendant-appellant insurers that their liability was limited in both instances by the "other insurance" provisions of their respective policies. These provisions were both "excess insurance" clauses. The Ohio Supreme Court, in ruling upon what it considered to be the sole issue in this case, denied effectiveness to these clauses.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage - Scope Of The Term - "Uninsured Motorist"; Porter V. Empire Fire And Marine Insurance Co., Dennis J. Fox

Akron Law Review

The appellant, James T. Porter, was involved in an automobile accident in which he and four other persons were injured. The tortfeasor was insured to the extent of the statutory minimum ($10,000-$20,000) as provided for by the Arizona Financial Responsibility Act.' The appellant subsequently obtained a judgment against the tortfeasor for $10,000. He then entered into a proposed settlement with the tortfeasor's insurer under which he was to receive $2,500 of the $20,000 of insurance proceeds available for allocation among the injured parties. Mr. Porter notified his insurer (the appellee) of the proposed settlement and requested the appellee satisfy the …

Property Insurance For Ohio's Urban Areas, R. D. Welsh

Akron Law Review

Thirty-eight million dollars damage to property occurred in Watts in 1965, $49,000,000 in Detroit, and $10,000,000 in Newark, New Jersey in 1967, plus many others that have resulted in about $187,000,000 being paid in the five years ending in 1968. Until Watts, riot coverage was provided as an afterthought by the insurance industry with little or no additional charge. Besides this problem, insurers were faced with loss of reinsurance by foreign reinsurers alarmed by inability of Government authorities to maintain law and order.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage - Scope Of The Term - "Uninsured Motorist"; Porter V. Empire Fire And Marine Insurance Co., Dennis J. Fox

Akron Law Review

Absent a statutory definition of "uninsured motorist," the court under its powers of construction must, in a functional sense, legislate the gap-filling language. The outcome elsewhere on facts similar to those in Porter will depend, in part, on whether the legislature in adopting uninsured motorist statutes, have incorporated a definition of its terms.

Automobile Insurance Rates: Promulgation, Regulation, And Equal Protection, James J. Mcgraw

Akron Law Review

T HE INTEREST in the price one pays for automobile insurance continues to grow at a rapid pace. The reason for this growing consumer interest may be attributed to the equally increasing need for automobiles, the price paid for them, and consequently, the need for insurance protection. This insurance protection has developed into a matter of major economic consequence to the auto owner.....The key to improved and efficient rate-watching is in the good faith efforts and perseverance of the policyholders themselves. Accordingly, an examination of the effects of consumerism along with a discussion of modern rate and regulatory developments is …

Some Comments In Favour Of The Abolition Of Fault Law, William F. Foster

Akron Law Review

THE ALARMING NUMBER of automobile accidents resulting in death or injury to thousands of persons each year and the direct and indirect costs associated with these accidents is one of the more depressing features of modern life. Unfortunately, there is no reason to believe that there will be a dramatic improvement in this situation in the foreseeable future because: automobile transportation is central to the North American way of life, the majority of drivers have no competence in anything but routine driving situations, and often factors beyond a motorist's control cause or contribute to accidents. For these reasons it is …

Burglary Insurance Policies; Reasonable Expectations; Unconscionability; Application Of Implied Warranty Of Fitness; C & J Fertilizer, Inc. V. Allied Mutual Ins. Co., Janice Gui

Akron Law Review

THE IOWA SUPREME COURT handed down a landmark decision in C & I Fertilizer, Inc. v. Allied Mutual Ins. Co.', in holding that insurance policies carry implied warranties that they are fit for their intended use. The impetus for this decision was a clause in a burglary and robbery policy which defined "burglary" as . . . the felonious abstraction of insured property . . . from within the premises by a person making felonious entry therein by actual force and violence, of which force and violence there are visible marks made by tools, explosives, electricity or chemicals upon, or …

After Tackett: Incomplete Contracts For Post-Employment Healthcare, Maria O'Brien

Faculty Scholarship

This paper examines the recent U.S. Supreme Court retiree health care decision in Tackett v. M & G Polymers and focuses, in particular, on the ostensibly odd silence with respect to a critical contract term — whether the parties in fact agreed that these benefits were vested. Although the union in Tackett insisted these welfare benefits were clearly intended to vest and the employer now asserts they can be modified at any time, the collective bargaining agreement and supporting documents are ambiguous on this question. This paper examines how and why this “silence” persisted for so many decades and concludes …

Climate Change, Catastrophe Risk And Government Responsibilities, Qihao He

Qihao He

Due to climate change and an increasing concentration of the world’s population in vulnerable areas, how to manage catastrophe risk efficiently and cover disaster losses fairly is still a universal dilemma. Under the current political-economy configuration of “socialism with Chinese characteristics”, China’s mechanism for managing catastrophic disaster risk demands for the participation of private insurance. This article starts a broader discussion about government responsibilities for developing catastrophe insurance in China and may provide insights for other transitional nations. I propose a catastrophe insurance market-enhancing framework which marries the merits of both market and government to manage catastrophe risks. There are …

Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari. Rochow V. Life Insurance Company Of North America, 136 S. Ct. 480 (2015) (No. 15-163), 2015 U.S. S. Ct. Briefs Lexis 2657, Eric Schnapper, Erik W. Scharf, John J. Cooper

Court Briefs

QUESTION PRESENTED When a benefit plan, in violation of ERISA, wrongfully denies or delays payment of a benefit, the court may award relief because of the improper delay in the payment of that benefit. The question presented is: Should 'the amount of a remedy based on the improper delay in the payment of a benefit be based on: (1) only the amount needed to redress the loss that the beneficiary sustained as a result of the wrongful delay (the rule in the Sixth Circuit), (2) either the amount needed to redress the loss that the beneficiary sustained as a result …

Policy Limits, Payouts, And Blood Money: Medical Malpractice Settlements In The Shadow Of Insurance, Charles Silver, David A. Hyman, Bernard S. Black, Myungho Paik

UC Irvine Law Review

No abstract provided.

A New Institutional Theory Of Insurance, Shauhin Talesh

UC Irvine Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Critical Take On Group Regulation Of Insurers In The United States, Daniel Schwarcz

UC Irvine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Enhancing The Socially Instrumental Role Of Insurance: The Opportunity And Challenge Presented By The Ali Restatement Position On Breach Of The Duty To Defend, Jeffrey W. Stempel

UC Irvine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Risk Aversion, Insurance Insurance, And The Limits Of Regulation, Kenneth S. Abraham

UC Irvine Law Review

No abstract provided.

In Rem Jurisdiction; Attachment Of Insurance Debts; State Statutes; O'Connorv. Lee-Hy Paving Corp., Eloise Lubbinge Mackus

Akron Law Review

The United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, in O'Connor v. Lee-Hy Paving Corp., upheld New York's insurance attachment procedure which serves as a vehicle for gaining personal jurisdiction over out-of-state defendants in causes of action that arise outside of New York. The court thereby determined that New York federal courts, in applying the procedures, had not violated defendant's due process because the minimum contacts requirement of the recent United Stated Supreme Court case, Shaffer v. Heitner, had been met.

Tortious Liability For Bad Faith Refusal To Pay, Jeffrey Schobert

Akron Law Review

In Hoskins v. Aetna Life Ins. Co., the Ohio Supreme Court imposed on insurers a good faith duty in any refusal to pay claims made by their insured. Its decision placed Ohio among a growing number of jurisdictions that have recognized this good faith duty. The court adopted its rationale by relying heavily on existing insurance case law in the refusal-to-settle third-party claims type actions. The court defined the standard of good faith in terms of a reasonable justification by the insurer in refusing to pay a claim "because it believed there was no coverage of the claim." The …

Uninsured Motorist Insurance Now Covers Punitive Award - Hutchinson V. J.C. Penny Casualty Insurance Company, Dale Katzenmeyer

Akron Law Review

A split of authority exists among the few states which have decided the issue In jurisdictions permitting recovery of punitive damages, uninsured motorist coverage is intended to place the insurer in the shoes of the uninsured tortfeasor. Since the insurer stands in the shoes of the tortfeasor, and since punitive damages could be covered if the tortfeasor had his own insurance, it is illogical to deny the victim punitive damages simply because the tortfeasor is uninsured. Other jurisdictions believe that punitive damages should not be awarded since that award would not operate to punish the tortfeasor and would therefore violate …

Unraveling The Underinsured Motorist Web: Ohio Underinsured Motorist Coverage, Amy J. Mckee

Akron Law Review

Understanding how to access underinsured motorist benefits involves a myriad of complex issues. This comment shall focus on two threshold areas of underinsured motorist coverage: the statutory definition of an underinsured motorist and contractual condition precedents enumerated in the insurance policy. If the tortfeasor meets the definition of an underinsured motorist, as defined in the statute, the insured must still comply with three provisions in the contract; the exhaustion clause, the subrogation clause and the consent to settle clause. An insured must first procure the consent of his insurer before he settles with the tortfeasor. However, the insurer will withhold …

Death From Autoerotic Asphysxiation And The Double Indemnity Clause In Life Insurance Policies: The Latest Round In Accidental Death Litigation, Francis Achampong

Akron Law Review

This paper examines the cases that have been decided on this issue, seeking to determine whether recovery under the double indemnity provision revolves around the type of clause used in the policy, or on the particular jurisdiction's stand on what is "accidental," regardless of policy language. The author seeks to determine whether any particular trend may be elicited from these cases that may shed light on the likely disposition of future cases

The Impact Of State Farm V. Alexander On Uninsured And Underinsured Motorist Coverage Generally, And In To Relation To The Owned-But-Not -Insured Exclusion, Shawn Gordon Lisle

Akron Law Review

The discussion contained herein will commence with a brief examination of the uninsured and underinsured motorist statute's purpose.

Following the discussion of the uninsured motorist statute's purpose, the discussion will proceed to survey all cases to date which have had occasion to deal with Alexander in a substantive manner. Nine of the twelve Ohio appellate districts have considered the Alexander decision in some respect. Likewise, the Ohio Supreme Court has cited to Alexander as authority for reversing appellate court decisions which upheld exclusions violative of R.C. § 3937.18's purpose. Each decision shall be presented and examined in turn, grouped either …

Girgis V. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.: Rescinding The Physical Contact Requirement In Ohio Uninsured Motorist Claims, Dominick Cirelli Jr.

Akron Law Review

Nearly every state has a requirement concerning uninsured motorist coverage, although state statutes differ in their scope and language. There has been a great volume of literature discussing the applicability of uninsured motorist coverage in cases involving hit and run drivers. This casenote will set out the various state statutory approaches to hit and run vehicles under uninsured motorist coverage, as well as evaluate the Ohio Supreme Court's historical approach to the physical contact doctrine. The casenote will thoroughly address the Girgis opinion and its underlying rationale, as well as the repercussions of abrogating the physical contract doctrine. Finally, this …

Not Just Old Wine In New Bottles: Kentucky Ass'n Of Health Plans, Inc. V. Miller Bottles A New Test For State Regulation Of Insurance, Matthew G. Vansuch

Akron Law Review

For nearly two decades, the “regulating insurance” aspect of the savings clause was as confusing and convoluted as trying to distinguish between the casks of unlabeled barrels of old wine that all smelled horribly similar. Miller clarified the savings clause analysis by establishing a broad, two-step test for determining if a state law regulates insurance. However, the district courts have been sluggish in recognizing the differences between the tests. The Supreme Court did not even cite to or rely on Miller when it struck down Texas’ patient rights statute on the basis of ERISA preemption in Aetna Health Inc. v. …

Medicare At Fifty Needs To Grow, William H. Lane

English Faculty Publications

In America everybody has a healthcare story. A bill impossible to read, an inscrutable "additional" charge, trouble getting insurance, trouble keeping it, a friend or family member who's fallen between the coverage "cracks." [excerpt]

Medicare Secondary Payer And Settlement Delay, Eric Helland, Jonathan Klick

All Faculty Scholarship

The Medicare Secondary Payer Act of 1980 and its subsequent amendments require that insurers and self-insured companies report settlements, awards, and judgments that involve a Medicare beneficiary to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The parties then may be required to compensate CMS for its conditional payments. In a simple settlement model, this makes settlement less likely. Also, the reporting delays and uncertainty regarding the size of these conditional payments are likely to further frustrate the settlement process. We provide results, using data from a large insurer, showing that, on average, implementation of the MSP reporting amendments led to …

The Special Nature Of International Insurance And Reinsurance Arbitration: A Response To Professor Jerry, S. I. Strong

Journal of Dispute Resolution

No abstract provided.

Dispute Resolution, Insurance, And Points Of Convergence, Robert H. Jerry Ii

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This essay explores the intersection of dispute resolution and insurance. I come to the intersection from the perspective of insurance law, where statutes, administrative rules, and common law regulate the industry and the policyholder-insurer relationship. At its core, the business of insurance offers individuals, businesses, and other kinds of organizations a risk management alternative which enables them to acquire some measure of control over an uncertain future. But when a loss occurs, the business of insurance becomes the business of claims processing and, when disagreements arise, dispute resolution. Surprisingly, the academic study of insurance law has not borrowed heavily from …

Thicker Than Water: America’S Addiction To Cheap Flood Insurance, Jeffrey Valacer

Pace Law Review

This paper is broken down into three parts. Part I traces the history and evolution of flood insurance in the United States, including the establishment of federal flood insurance and key reforms over the 20th and 21st centuries. Part II discusses the 2012 flood insurance reform package, subsequent legal challenges to the reforms, and the government’s response to political pressure over the reform. Part III concludes discussing the continued need for flood insurance reform, especially in a world of rising sea levels and more frequent, stronger weather events.

The Macroprudential Turn: From Institutional 'Safety And Soundness' To Systematic 'Financial Stability' In Financial Supervision, Robert C. Hockett

Robert C. Hockett

Since the global financial dramas of 2008-09, authorities on financial regulation have come increasingly to counsel the inclusion of macroprudential policy instruments in the standard ‘toolkit’ of finance-regulatory measures employed by financial supervisors. The hallmark of this perspective is its focus not simply on the safety and soundness of individual financial institutions, as is characteristic of the traditional ‘microprudential’ perspective, but also on certain structural features of financial systems that can imperil such systems as wholes. Systemic ‘financial stability’ thus comes to supplement, though not to supplant, institutional ‘safety and soundness’ as a regulatory desideratum. The move from primarily micro- …