(Note: This guest blog is by Kathryn Ray, a Summer Law Clerk in our Tampa office)

When sustaining property or casualty damage and after filing a claim with an insurance company, the insurance company may then request a proof of loss. A proof of loss is defined as “a policyholder’s statement of the amount of money being requested, signed to and sworn to by the policyholder with documentation to support the amount being requested.”1 In New York, if an insurance company gives the insured a written notice, after a loss, requesting a proof of loss the insured shall then have 60 days after receiving this notice to comply with the insurance company’s request.2 This compliance period to provide the insurance company with a proof of loss may also be longer than 60 days if the insurer specifies so in their written notice.3
Continue Reading Misrepresentations and Proofs of Loss in New York

Colorado passed very pro-consumer legislation stopping insurance companies from overusing the cooperation clause in property insurance policies.1 Denver based Merlin Law Group attorney Jon Bukowski explained that some insurance defense counsel have aggressively used the cooperation clause in property insurance policies as a sword in an attempt to obtain a forfeiture of insurance policy benefits.
Continue Reading Forfeiture of Benefits For Failure To Cooperate Stopped Under New Colorado Law

Forfeiture is not often discussed when interpreting insurance policy terms. But it should be. Often, when a policyholder fails to do something timely or does something wrong, the insurance company counsel is heard in court arguing for a knockout punch to the policyholders pocket—“give the policyholder no money.”
Continue Reading Forfeiture of Insurance Contract Benefits Is Not Favored in The Law