Insurance Law Commons^™

Unlocking Exchanges, Brendan S. Maher

Connecticut Insurance Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Salvaging The Term "Suitor": How The Declaratory Judgment Act Has Commandeered Congressional Intent, Brett P. Hargaden

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rising To The Level Of Climate Science: Rhode Island, The National Flood Insurance Program, And Sea Level Rise Projections, Nicole E. Rohr

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Benefits Of The U.S. Program For Terrorism Insurance From A Comparative Perspective, Jeffrey E. Thomas

Faculty Works

This article summarizes the U.S. program for terrorism insurance and outlines its advantages as compared to similar programs in other developed countries. The program, while similar to reinsurance, does not require participants to pay premiums but instead uses an ex post recoupment mechanism. Consequently, it is generally referred to as a Federal “backstop.” This approach requires less capital investment and makes “pricing” more accurate than a reinsurance approach. The program also requires insurers to maintain significant amounts of exposure through insurer deductibles and copayments, which creates market demand for the development of terrorism reinsurance in the private market. The current …

Introduction: Four Views On Healthism

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

None

The American Health Care Act Would Toss The States A Hot Potato, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This essay explains how the American Health Care Act (AHCA) – the House Republicans’ proposed replacement for Obamacare – would toss a hot potato to state governments. Were the AHCA to be enacted into law, state governments would need to act promptly if they are to save individual insurance markets within their states. This essay explains measures that state governments might take to respond to this threat.

The Role Of Prejudice In Resolving Insurance Condition Clause Disputes: The Good; The Bad; The Ugly, Johnny Parker

Articles, Chapters in Books and Other Contributions to Scholarly Works

This Article examines the legal consequences that flow out of an insurance company’s denial of coverage based on an insured’s failure to comply with policy conditions. Specifically, this Article examines the various methods used by courts to strike a balance between the principle of freedom of contract and policy norms associated with resolving condition clause disputes. The pros and cons of the historical condition precedent vs. condition subsequent analysis and the modern day functional approach to contractual interpretation are dissected and discussed in the insurance contract context. The prejudice rule, which is associated with the functional approach to contract interpretation, …

Enterprise Without Entities, Andrew Verstein

Michigan Law Review

Scholars and practicing lawyers alike consider legal entities to be essential. Who can imagine running a large business without using a business organization, such as a corporation or partnership? This Article challenges conventional wisdom by showing that vast enterprises—with millions of customers paying trillions of dollars—often operate without any meaningful use of entities.

This Article introduces the reciprocal exchange, a type of insurance company that operates without any meaningful use of a legal entity. Instead of obtaining insurance from a common nexus of contract, customers directly insure one another through a dense web of bilateral agreements. While often overlooked or …

Why Arbitration Clauses May Make Sense In Cyber Insurance Policies, Andrew Nadolna, Adrienne Publicover, Daniel Garrie

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

In this Article, we will argue that policyholders should ask for an arbitration clause in their cyber policies and negotiate over the terms. We will also argue that insurers should offer more options in this space. In this regard, modular arbitration clauses can prove useful for both sides and lead to an effective dispute resolution mechanism for dealing with what may turn out to be a flood of cyber coverage disputes.

We will start with a discussion of the principal objections policyholders often have to mandatory arbitration clauses. Then we will discuss why some of these objections may cut differently …

Insurance Policies: The Grandparents Of Contractual Black Holes, Chris French

Faculty Scholarship

In their recent article, The Black Hole Problem in Commercial Boilerplate, Professors Stephen Choi, Mitu Gulati, and Robert Scott identify a phenomenon found in standardized contracts they describe as “contractual black holes.” The concept of black holes comes from theoretical physics. Under the original hypothesis, the gravitational pull of a black hole is so strong that once light or information is pulled past an event horizon into a black hole, it cannot escape. In recent years, the theory has been reformulated and now the hypothesis is that some information can escape, but it is so degraded that it is virtually …

Dead Or Alive? The Law, Policy, And Market Effects Of Legislation On Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits, James M. Carson, Robert E. Hoyt, Tim R. Samples

Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy

A wave of multi-state audits on the insurance industry’s use of the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File (DMF) stirred national controversy over the status of unclaimed life insurance proceeds. Multi-state investigations uncovered “asymmetric” use of the DMF among many large insurance companies. Accusations of unethical behavior led to numerous settlement agreements between state regulators and insurers. Payouts and fines stemming from these settlements already number in the billions of dollars. Legislative responses are also underway. Some states have adopted—and others are considering—legislation requiring life insurers to search the DMF to identify and pay (or eascheat) unclaimed death benefits. Currently, …

Challenging Nonbank Sifi Designations: Ge, Metlife, And The Need For Reform, Drita Dokic

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act created, among other things, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), an entity within the U.S. Department of the Treasury tasked with assessing and mitigating financial risk. Financial institutions with over $50 billion in assets are automatically deemed “systemically important.” However, under the Dodd-Frank Act, FSOC has the authority to designate non-bank companies engaged in financial activity as systemically important as well. Once designated as a systemically important financial institution (SIFI), these companies are subject to enhanced regulation and supervision by the Federal Reserve. Because the costs associated with such enhanced regulation …

Forced Arbitration’S Lethal Consequence, Joanne Doroshow

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Compulsory Corporate Cyber-Liability Insurance: Outsourcing Data Privacy Regulation To Prevent And Mitigate Data Breaches, Minhquang N. Trang

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Multiple Claims, Limited Funds, And Conflicting Duties: Kentucky's Need For Clarity In Liability Insurance And Claims Of Bad Faith, James Grant Sharp

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Despite Trump, Federal ‘Tort Reform’ Makes A Hasty Retreat, Joanne Doroshow

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Insurance Law, J. Price Collins, Blake H. Crawford, John C. Scott

SMU Annual Texas Survey

No abstract provided.

Hurricanes, Fraud, And Insurance: The Supreme Court Weighs In On, But Does Not Wade Into, The Concurrent Causation Conundrum In State Farm Fire And Casualty Company V. Rigsby, Chris French

Faculty Scholarship

In the December 6, 2016 Supreme Court decision, State Farm v. Rigsby, a homeowner’s house was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The homeowner had homeowners insurance with State Farm and a flood insurance policy that was administered by State Farm on behalf of the federal government. The claims adjusters assigned by State Farm to handle the homeowner’s claim allegedly were instructed by State Farm to misclassify wind damage as flood damage in order to shift State Farm’s own liability for the loss to the federal government. The claims handlers filed a lawsuit against State Farm under the False Claims Act …

Notes From A Quiet Corner: User Concerns About Reinsurance Arbitration – And Attendant Lessons For Selection Of Dispute Resolution Forums And Methods, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Arbitration between insurers and reinsurers – those who insure insurance companies – should logically run as smoothly as any arbitration process. Like the traditional commercial arbitration that drove enactment of the Federal Arbitration Act, reinsurance arbitration involves experienced actors in a confined industry in which the parties should be constructively aware of the rules, norms, customs and practices of the industry. But in spite of this, reinsurance arbitration experiences consistent problems of which the participants complain. This article reviews the complaints and exams possible solutions – including the possibility of arbitrating less and litigating more. Although these possible solutions would …

Teaching Health Law From A Social-Ecological Perspective, Lindsay Wiley

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

I started teaching health law relatively recently-in the fall of 2010, just after the Affordable Care Act ("ACA") was enacted, but before much of it had been implemented. This timing has been a blessing because I started with a fresh slate rather than adding the ACA on top of a previously developed course. It has also been a curse, but ultimately I appreciate that I started teaching the course at a time when the ACA was under constant threat. The ever-evolving nature of health law means that health law teachers must always bear in mind a goal that applies to …