Recently, the Houston Merlin team has encountered several cases that turn on notice to policyholders, or rather, the lack thereof, when an insurer makes “material changes” to a policy renewal. A hypothetical example of this situation might be if a policyholder has a homeowners’ policy that did not exclude cosmetic damage to the policyholder’s roof and the next year, the renewal policy, unbeknownst to the policyholder, contains a cosmetic damage exclusion. Thinking the “renewal” policy was the same as the prior policy, except for coverage dates, the policyholder accepts it and pays his premium. Along comes the typical Texas hail/windstorm, and the policyholder’s metal roof suffers hundreds of unsightly dings. Policyholder files a claim with his insurance company only to find out that his current renewal policy has a new endorsement excluding what the insurance industry labels as “cosmetic” damage to his roof. His insurer denies the claim based on the “new” cosmetic damage exclusion in his renewal policy. Policyholder contacts Merlin Law Group for help. Given these facts, the information below regarding Texas law and renewal policies may be helpful to this hypothetical policyholder, and now Merlin client, and his case.
Continue Reading Upon Renewal of a Policy, Insurers Must Give Policyholders Advance Notice of “Material Changes”
