Insurance Law Commons^™

Review Of: Erin Dominique Williams & Leo Van Der Reis, Health Care At The Abyss: Managed Care Vs. The Goals Of Medicine (1997), Michael Boggs

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Review of the book: Erin Dominique Williams & Leo van der Reis, Health Care at the Abyss: Managed Care vs. The Goals of Medicine (William S. Hein 1997). About the authors, acknowledgments, figures, index, preface, references, table of abbreviations. ISBN 1-57588-201-9 [242 pp. Paper.]

Reason And Pollution: Construing The "Absolute" Pollution Exclusion In Context And In Light Of Its Purpose And Party Expectations, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Responding to the flurry of environmental coverage litigation over the application of the “sudden and accidental” pollution exclusion, the insurance industry during the mid-1980s largely adopted new standard pollution exclusion language for commercial general liability (CGL) policies. Since the mid-1980s, the standard form CGL has included the so-called absolute pollution exclusion, which provides that the insurance does not apply to bodily injury or property damage “arising out of the actual, alleged or threatened discharge, dispersal, seepage, migration, release, or escape of pollutants.” A “pollutant” is defined as “any solid, liquid, gaseous or thermal irritant or contaminant, including smoke, vapor, soot, …

Recent Case Developments, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Recent case developments in Insurance Law in years 1998 and 1999.

Recent Case Developments, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Recent case developments in Insurance law in the year 1998.

Unmet Expectations: Undue Restriction Of The Reasonable Expectations Approach And The Misleading Mythology Of Judicial Role, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

A complete and open embrace of the pure version of the doctrine as enunciated in Judge Keeton's famous article--which expressly provides for finding coverage consistent with the objectively reasonable expectations of the policyholder even where those expectations are contradicted by apparently clear policy language --is viewed by much of the legal and political mainstream as too inconsistent with the prevailing American paradigm of judicial restraint, strict construction of disputed texts, and minimal government involvement in market activity. Some of this resistance to reasonable expectations is the product of an unrealistic reification of the prevailing American politico-legal philosophy of judicial restraint. …

Substantially Prevailed Damages: Fee Shifting In West Virginia Insurance Law, Richard L. Costella

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Consent, Contract, And The Responsibilities Of Insurance Defense Counsel, Robert H. Jerry Ii

Faculty Publications

This paper examines some of the assumptions on which many contemporary assessments of defense counsel's relationship with the insurer and the policyholder rest, contends that some of the current turmoil in this area is traceable to shaky assumptions, and argues that the drafting of clearer liability insurance contracts would add stability to the relationships. Part I briefly describes the current uncertainty confronting policyholders and defense counsel. Part II explores what the most widely-used liability insurance contracts say about the responsibilities of insurance defense counsel, examining both the context in which these policies are sold and the texts themselves. It contends …

Legislative Powers, Court Of Appeals Blue Cross & Blue Shield V. Mccall

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Solving The Insurance/Genetic Fair/Unfair Discrimination Dilemma In Light Of The Human Genome Project, Eric Mills Holmes

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Insurance Discrimination Against Battered Women: Proposed Legislative Protections, Ellen J. Morrison

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Comparative Costs Of Allowing Consumer Choice For Auto Insurance In All Fifty States, Jeffrey O'Connell, Stephen Carroll, Michael Horowitz, Allan Abrahamse

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Faculty Spotlight - Kyle D. Logue, Kyle D. Logue

Articles

Most of my teaching and research efforts are currently spent in two general fields of law - taxation and insurance. Which raises an interesting question: Why would a rational person decide to devote a good portion of his academic career to areas of law that many people - lawyers and nonlawyers alike - find painfully boring and unreasonably complicated? The ta and insurance lawyers in the audience, of course, already know the answer - that ta ation and insuran e are e ceptionally interesting topics and that, if one wants to understand how the real world works (in particular, the …

Employer Liability Under The Third Party Provision Of The Washington Industrial Insurance Act: The Dual Capacity And Dual Persona Doctrines In Evans V. Thompson, Melissa M. Jackson

Seattle University Law Review

Most workers' compensation schemes are designed to provide a swift and sure source of benefits to injured workers by placing on employers the risks and burdens of modern industry. In keeping with this policy, Washington's Industrial Insurance Act2 (IIA) requires injured workers to relinquish the right to sue at common law for damages sustained on the job, and it requires employers to accept liability for a measure of damages set out by the statute. However, if a worker's injuries are caused by the negligence of a third person who is not in the worker's same employ, the IIA's third-party provision …

Interpreting Insurance Policies, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Like any other contract, an insurance policy may become the subject of a legal dispute. When disputes arise over insurance coverage, lawyers must combine their skill in contract interpretation with their knowledge of insurance law, bringing both to bear on the special problems related to this type of contract. Each dispute has unique traits, but a few basic ground rules of contract law and insurance law can help you interpret insurance policies and resolve disputes over insurance coverage.

The Costs Of Consumer Choice For Auto Insurance In States Without No-Fault Insurance, Jeffrey O'Connell, Stephen Carroll, Michael Horowitz, Allan Abrahamse

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Review Of: Making Decisions About Liability And Insurance (Colin Camerer & Howard Kunreuther Eds.), Joseph M. Carreiro Jr.

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Review of: Making Decisions about Liability and Insurance (Colin Camerer & Howard Kunreuther eds., Kluwer Academic Publishers 1993). Figures, index, notes, tables. ISBN 0-7923-9393-7 [139 pp. Cloth $89.95. 101 Phillip Drive, Assinippi Park, Norwell MA 02061.1

Revising Section 402a: The Limits Of Tort As Social Insurance, James A. Henderson Jr.

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bank Powers To Sell Annuities, Tamar Frankel

Faculty Scholarship

The conflict over turf between the banking industry and the insurance agents has heated up again. In the 1993 case Variable Annuity Life Ins. Co. v. Clarke, ¹ the Fifth Circuit held banks have no power to sell fixed annuities issued by insurance companies in cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants. On June 6, 1994, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the decision. ³ Both the Clinton Administration and members of Congress are considering steps toward resolving this issue. Concerned that the flight of high-quality borrowers from the banking system has rendered bank lending increasingly risky, the Comptroller of …

Reassessing The Sophisticated Policyholder Defense In Insurance Coverage Litigation, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Insurance law often is ironically regarded as both consistent and confusing. However, the 1980s saw significant flowering in the development of an insurance coverage interpretation doctrine that, although seriously flawed in its present form, offers the as yet untapped potential of substantial improvement in judicial construction of commercial insurance policies through seemingly inconsistent treatment of insurance coverage disputes.

During the past two decades, in response to the prodding of lawyers representing insurers, courts have increasingly noted that not all insurance policyholders are equal. Some have more money and bargaining clout than others. Some have more sophistication and understanding about the …

Reinsurance: Bad Faith Considerations And Insolvency Dilemma, Hui-Ju Hsieh

LLM Theses and Essays

Reinsurance is insurance that an insurance company purchases from another insurance company. The original insurance company is called the reinsured, and the insurance company that is contracted is called the reinsurer. The main purpose of reinsurance is to disperse or spread the risk of loss. The reinsurance relationship is frequently characterized as an exercise of fiduciary responsibility based upon an undertaking of utmost good faith between contracting parties. However, disputes arise; most litigation involving reinsurance has been between reinsurers and persons not party to the reinsurance agreement. This paper’s first major area of discussion is the relationship between the reinsurer …

The Need For Revisiting The Imposition Of Bad Faith Liability: Industrial Indemnity Co. V. Kallevig, J. Benson Porter, Jr.

Seattle University Law Review

This Note posits two recommendations. First, in order to harmonize the bad faith standards applied in Kallevig and Gingrich, the Kallevig reasonable justification standard should be applied in situations involving questions similar to those confronted by the Gingrich court. Second, this Note contends that the Kallevig court's analysis imposing liability under the CPA was defective because it failed to take proper account of the frequency requirement within the unfair trade practices regulations. By ignoring the frequency provision, the Kallevig decision allows inconsistent treatment of similar factual situations depending on whether the decision is being made by an agency or …

A Note On Retrospectively Rated Insurance And Federal Income Taxation, Donald Arthur Winslow

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Review Of "No Fault Automobile Accident Law" By Josephine Y. King, Jay C. Carlisle

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Consumer Protection - The Unfair Trade Practices Act And The Insurance Code: Does Per Se Necessarily Preempt? - Pearce V. American Defender Life Insurance Co., Cindy C. Heenan

Campbell Law Review

This Note will address two main issues. The first issue is whether a violation of the Insurance Code regulatory section entitled "Unfair Trade Practices" should be a per se unfair trade practice under the UTPA. The second is whether the Insurance Code preempts the UTPA in defining unfair insurance practices.

A Crisis In Insurance, Benjamin Lipson

New England Journal of Public Policy

As the life and health insurance industry evaluates its long-term financial goals, the cloud of Black Monday — October 19, 1987, the day the stock market collapsed — blurs its cherished investment income projections. With investment portfolios under siege, mutual life insurance companies and stock companies alike are wary of making policy-pricing miscalculations that could prove to be disastrous. As if that weren't enough, one single disease — acquired immunodeficiency syndrome — looms as the most serious threat to life and health insurers for the remainder of this century. The spread of the new disease has caused insurers to adjust …

Accountable Accountants: Is Third-Party Liability Necessary?, Victor P. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

Should accountants be liable to third parties if they conduct an audit in negligent manner? A half century ago, in Ultramares Corporation v. Touche, Niven & Co., Cardozo argued that they should not, unless their performance could be characterized as fraud. In recent years, courts in a minority of jurisdictions have concluded that Cardozo's argument is no longer compelling and they have found that "foreseeable" third parties could bring a tort action for ordinary negligence against the accountants. In addition to being subject to tort actions, accountants may also be liable under federal and state securities laws.

Suits against …

Insurance, Patricia A. Morrison

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tank V. State Farm: Conducting A Reservation Of Rights Defense In Washington, Matthew L. Sweeney

Seattle University Law Review

The key to properly conducting a reservation of rights defense is understanding the interrelationship between insurer, policyholder, and defense counsel. In <em>Tank v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co.</em>, the Washington Supreme Court addressed the rights and duties of the insurer and defense counsel conducting a reservation of rights defense.

Medical Payment Coverage Within Liability Insurance Policies

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Insurance Anti-Rebate Statutes And Dade County Consumer Advocates V. Department Of Insurance: Can A 19th Century Idea Protect Modern Consumers?, John S. Conniff

Seattle University Law Review

In 1984, a Florida court of appeals held that the Florida statutes prohibiting insurance agents from rebating part of their commissions to customers violated the due process clause of the Florida Constitution. The court concluded that no rational relationship exists between the anti-rebate statutes and the legitimate state purpose of protecting the public. The Florida decision is noteworthy because every state prohibits insurance agents and brokers from rebating to their customers a part of the commission earned from the sale of an insurance policy. In addition, every state prohibits unfair discrimination in pricing insurance policies and prohibits agreements between agents …