Insurance Law Commons^™

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 …

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 …

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 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, 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 New Old Look At Terrorism Insurance: Jack Hirshleifer's War Damage Insurance After Fifty Years, Peter Siegelman

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

The Duty Of The Agent Or Broker To Recommend Underinsured Motorist Coverage With Adequate Limits, Greg Munro

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article addresses the question of whether an insurance agent or broker have any duty in Montana to recommend a particular coverage in a specific adequate amount. More specifically, the article explores what the agent or broker's duty is, if any, to recommend that the insured purchase UIM coverage and do so with an adequate limit of liability. Although the article focuses on the agent's duty to explain and recommend auto UIM coverage, the law and arguments discussed can be extrapolated to other coverage lines such as homeowners or commercial general liability.

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.

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.

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

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

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.

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

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

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 …

Securities Regulation As Lobster Trap: A Credible Commitment Theory Of Mandatory Disclosure, Edward Rock

Cardozo Law Review

What functions does the existing mandatory disclosure system serve? In this Article, I argue that the existing SEC system can be understood as providing issuers with a mechanism for making a credible commitment to high quality, comprehensive disclosure for an indefinite period into the future. This credible commitment device is particularly useful to new domestic issuers and to foreign issuers seeking to tap the U.S. capital markets. This credible commitment justification explains the striking but little discussed practical and formal asymmetry between the ease of entry into the SEC system and the difficulty of exit from it. I then consider …

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 …

Inside The Black Box: Comment On Diamond And Vidmar, Valerie P. Hans

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

It is an honor to be invited to comment on the first publication of the Arizona Jury Project, a study of Arizona juries that includes videotaping and analysis of jury room discussions and deliberations. It is a remarkable and unique project, made possible by an unusual confluence of people, places, and events. In an insightful opinion some years ago, United States Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis observed that "[i]t is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments …

The Marriage Of Intellectual Property And Insurance Law: An Introduction, Leo P. Martinez

Connecticut Insurance Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Physical Losses In Cyberspace, Hazel Glenn Beh

Connecticut Insurance Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Practical Look At E-Commerce And Liability Insurance, Douglas R. Richmond

Connecticut Insurance Law Journal

No abstract provided.

From The Journals: Insurance Law Abstracts, Heidi Lee De La Rossa

Connecticut Insurance Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Cybercoverage For Cyber-Risks: An Overview Of Insurers' Responses To The Perils Of E-Commerce, Robert H. Jerry, Michele L. Mekel

Connecticut Insurance Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Coverage For Unfair Competition Torts Under General Liability Policies: Will The Intellectual Property Tail Wag The Coverage Dog, Francis J. Mootz Iii

Connecticut Insurance Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Smoke And Mirrors: A Comparative Analysis Of Wto And Nafta Provisions Affecting The International Expansion Of Insurance Firms In North America, Bradly Condon

Connecticut Insurance Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Securitization And The Catastrophe Bond: A Transactional Integration Of Industries Through A Capacity-Enhancing Product Of Risk Management, Todd V. Mcmillan

Connecticut Insurance Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Fundamental Mismatch: The Improper Integration Of Individual Liberty Rights Into Commerce Clause Analysis Of The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act, Arthur J.R. Baker

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

In The Litigation Business: Insurance Company Liability For Acts Occurring In The Course Of Litigation Under The Washington Consumer Protection Act, Kasey D. Huebner

Washington Law Review

Insurance companies generally have much greater bargaining power and resources than individual insureds When a claim by an insured against an insurance company fails to settle amicably and is followed by a lawsuit, the insured has few options should the insurance company behave unfairly or deceptively in the course of the litigation. The Washington Consumer Protection Act protects consumers from deceptive and bad faith acts by businesses, including insurance companies Although Washington courts have created a general exception disallowing CPA suits for acts occurring in the course of litigation, Washington case law has not directly or clearly addressed whether this …

Teaching Torts Without Insurance: A Second-Best Solution, David A. Fischer, Robert H. Jerry Ii

Faculty Publications

Teachers, scholars and practitioners have long appreciated the symbiotic relationship of torts and insurance. Indeed, the assertion that tort law and insurance law are intertwined is utterly unremarkable; many commentators have observed that tort law cannot be understood if the business of insurance and the law regulating it is ignored, and that insurance law cannot be understood if tort law is ignored. Several generations of law students have read casebooks, which in varying degrees pay homage to the connections between torts and insurance. Many law review articles and noteworthy books (or portions thereof) have plumbed the tort-insurance relationship. Although one …

Teaching Torts Without Insurance: A Second-Best Solution, David A. Fischer, Robert H. Jerry Ii

UF Law Faculty Publications

Teachers, scholars and practitioners have long appreciated the symbiotic relationship of torts and insurance. The authors examine how the study of torts is enriched when insurance concepts play a role in students' analysis. The discussion is divided into two parts. Part I offers a "macro" perspective on the connections between tort and insurance, summarizing the principal issues in play when the purposes of tort law are analyzed against the backdrop of first-party and third-party insurance compensation mechanisms. Part II provides a "micro" perspective on tort-insurance connections, taking a sample of discrete tort law principles, representative of those discussed in a …