Misrepresentations in an insurance policy application may provide a basis for an insurance company to deny an otherwise valid claim following a loss. In such circumstances, the insurance company argues that the insurance policy was null and void from its inception based on the misrepresentation because it would not have issued the policy or would not have issued it under the same terms if the representation had not been made. Continue Reading Can My Insurance Company Deny My Claim After A Loss Based Upon A Misrepresentation in My Insurance Policy Application?

Some homeowners insurance policies contain endorsements or specific language which provide coverage for specific structures located away from the Residence Premises. The recent case of Jacquart v. State Auto Property & Casualty Insurance Company,1 analyzed whether a structure located 119 miles from the Residence Premises was covered under such an endorsement. Continue Reading What is Covered Under Structures Away from the Residence Premises?

There are numerous articles about why our younger and brighter people in the United States do not want to be insurance company claims adjusters. Most start like this:

The insurance industry has a lot of open positions, and it’s scrambling to fill them. It’s targeting millennials, but many simply don’t consider insurance as a potential career — or think it’s boring. A recent survey from The Hartford showed that just 4 percent of millennials interviewed were interested in insurance is a career.1 Continue Reading Why Do Property Insurance Claims Handlers Do This Line of Work? Why You Should Switch To Public Adjusting and Help People – Today on Tuesday At 2 With Chip

David Altmaier is Florida’s Insurance Commissioner. On January 21, he becomes the President of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. He deserves a big shout-out because his career rise is truly amazing. He sets a great example of why students should pay special attention in math class, and I applaud him for starting his career as a teacher. Here is his biography listed on the NAIC website: Continue Reading David Altmaier Starts 2021 With Growing Accomplishment

North Carolina is known as The Tar Heel State, and I am proud to call The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill my alma mater. The official state bird is the cardinal and the blossom of the beautiful dogwood tree is the official state flower. Continue Reading How Are Insurance Contracts Interpreted in North Carolina?

This installment of my blog series goes hand-in-hand with my last blog post, When Words Collide: Insurance Policies as Contracts of Adhesion. Whereas the last post discussed the idea of an insurance policy as a contract of adhesion, meaning that insurers usually have much higher bargaining power in the parties’ contractual relationship, this blogpost dives a bit more into the overall “purpose” of insurance. Continue Reading When Words Collide: The Golden Rule – The Purpose of Insurance is to… Insure

Like the Oklahoma Sooners took care of the Florida Gators in the Cotton Bowl (55-20), the Oklahoma Supreme Court issued a commanding opinion on December 15, 2020, confirming assignments of claims are valid and enforceable in Oklahoma. In fact, the Oklahoma Supreme Court almost seemed surprised it was even a question when it reversed the trial court’s erroneous grant of summary judgment in favor of the insurance company against a construction company. Continue Reading Oklahoma Confirms Assignment of Claims Are Valid

Sometimes, Insurance companies make mistakes when denying or underpaying boat insurance claims.1 Since I practice insurance law and own more boats than a family of four can be on at the same time, I often get calls from frustrated friends and acquaintances complaining about the bad adjustment of their boat claim. Continue Reading Denied Boat Claim? Hire an Attorney Who Knows a Thing or Two About Federal Maritime Insurance Law