In an historic win for American consumers and workers, on September 20, 2019, the U. S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1423, the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal or FAIR Act,1 by a vote of 225 to 186. This groundbreaking bill could be the beginning of the demise of the remedy-stripping, rights-stomping, forced arbitration clauses in … Continue Reading
Hurricane Michael policyholders, public adjusters, contractors and agents must check their policies to make certain that there is not a one-year deadline to start arbitration. The above photo is Lloyds at London. Lloyds is a place where surplus lines insurers do business and it is not an insurance company. Many of the Lloyds Underwriters have … Continue Reading
“Oh, Boy!” was my first thought after reading a case which holds that those arbitration agreements requiring policyholders to arbitrate in far-away places could not be stopped by state law. Congress should stop this, and state legislators should write laws to ban those insurance carriers who sell such policies.… Continue Reading
A Florida based insurance agent educator asked me for my thoughts about how arbitration clauses harm policyholders and provide less coverage. He was referencing my earlier post this week, Arbitration Clause Requiring New York Law and New York Arbitration Cited as Avoidance of Florida Lawsuit—Another Instance of Surplus Lines Insurer Abuse in Florida.… Continue Reading
Insurance Law360 is part of my daily reading and it tipped me off to a case which raises the same problem about arbitration, I noted in Should Insurance Agents Get Sued for Selling Insurance Which Requires Arbitration in a Far Away Location and Deprives Their Customers of Consumer Protection Laws? and Arbitration Is an Increasing … Continue Reading
Arbitration clauses are becoming much more common in property insurance policies. On January 25, the Kentucky Department of Insurance noted that arbitration clauses in property insurance policies will generally be void:1… Continue Reading
The photograph above depicts the Merlin Law Group “War Room” during a week-long arbitration last week. Michael Duffy, Ian Dankelman, Eric Dickey, and Kelly Kubiak were the winning Merlin Law Group team obtaining a $3.1 million award on Saturday. What a way to start off the year!… Continue Reading
Why would any insurance agent sell a customer an insurance policy that allows the insurance company to low-ball, delay payment, and otherwise not pay, and then force the insurance customer to obtain justice through an arbitration in a far-away jurisdiction applying foreign law? That is exactly what many commercial policyholders are being sold in Texas … Continue Reading
Texas Watch received more documents from their Freedom of Information Act request, which included internal documents and notes from a March 30, 2016, secret meeting between the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI), Texas Farm Bureau, and lobbyists for the insurance industry.… Continue Reading
I just received an email from Alex Winslow at Texas Watch saying that TDI will have a public hearing on the binding pre-dispute arbitration clause. The hearing will be on July 6th. Here is the official posting and here is the proposed language from the Texas Farm Bureau Insurance proposed policy.… Continue Reading
We know an insurance company has submitted to the Texas Department of Insurance (“TDI”) a policy that requires mandatory arbitration in the event of a dispute on a claim. TDI won’t disclose which carrier submitted the new policy form or provide a copy of the proposed form on the basis of “trade secrets”… a response … Continue Reading
Alex Winslow of Texas Watch passed along to me that the Office of Public Insurance Counsel (OPIC) has weighed in against the mandatory arbitration endorsement proposed by Texas Farm Bureau and now (semi-secretly) before the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) for approval. OPIC is the state office tasked with representing policyholders in rate and form … Continue Reading
Amy Bach, Executive Director of United Policyholders (“UP”), has shared with me the letter she sent to David Mattox (Texas Commissioner of Insurance) on the issue of mandatory arbitration provisions in homeowner policies. Here is a link to that letter for you to read.… Continue Reading
Law professor Johnny C. Parker recently published a law review article, Understanding The Insurance Policy Appraisal Clause: A Four-Step Program, where he claims that resolving property insurance disputes concerning amounts of loss is an “almost perfect method.” Here’s the quote: More than one hundred years of judicial and legislative scrutiny has shaped appraisement into an almost … Continue Reading
Colorado case law on property insurance appraisal is sparse. Colorado case law on enforcing appraisal awards is non-existent. So, if a policyholder receives a final appraisal award and the insurance company won’t pay it, a policyholder must likely file a lawsuit against the insurer to receive payment. Policyholders in Colorado are forced to look to … Continue Reading
In Hartford Lloyd’s Insurance Co. v. Teachworth, 898 F.2d 1058 (5th Cir. 1990), the insured made claims for hurricane and freeze damage under his Texas insurance policy issued by Hartford Lloyd’s. When the insured and Hartford were unable to agree on the damage, the insured invoked the appraisal provision of the policy. The appraiser for … Continue Reading
The appraisal clause should not be removed from Florida insurance policies. The concerns of insurers and policyholders can be addressed if we simply do two things...… Continue Reading
