Insurance
What a policy actually promises, when the promise is triggered, and what happens when it is refused.
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Insurance
Duty to Defend Compared With Duty to Indemnify
An insurer must defend if any allegation could potentially fall within coverage, but it pays only what the policy actually covers. The two duties are measured differently.
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Insurance
Reservation of Rights Letters and What They Preserve
A reservation of rights letter allows an insurer to fund a defense without giving up its coverage defenses, and in many states it hands the insured a right to independent counsel.
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Insurance
Insurance Bad Faith: Claims Handling and Extracontractual Exposure
Bad faith is what happens when an insurer handles a claim unreasonably rather than merely wrongly. The standards, remedies, and statutory overlay differ sharply by state.
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Insurance
Additional Insured Endorsements and Who Is Actually Covered
Additional insured status comes from the endorsement's wording, not from the contract that required it. Common forms limit coverage to liability caused by the named insured's own acts.
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Insurance
Occurrence and Claims-Made Policies: Why the Trigger Matters
The trigger decides which policy year pays. Occurrence coverage follows the injury; claims-made coverage follows the claim, which makes retroactive dates and tail periods critical.
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Insurance
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage
UM and UIM coverage pays when the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough. Add-on and offset states calculate the same claim to very different results.
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Insurance
Business Interruption Coverage and the Physical Loss Requirement
Business interruption coverage follows property damage. Without direct physical loss of or damage to covered property, the lost income clause generally never engages at all.
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Insurance
Appraisal Clauses in Property Insurance Disputes
An appraisal clause lets either side force a valuation process run by two appraisers and an umpire. The award binds on the amount of loss but not on coverage.
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Insurance
Late Notice: When a Delay Forfeits Coverage
Delay in reporting a claim used to forfeit coverage automatically. Most states now require the insurer to show prejudice, but claims-made policies are usually the exception.
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Insurance
Other-Insurance Clauses and Coordination Between Policies
Other-insurance clauses decide which of several overlapping policies pays first. When two clauses cancel each other out, courts commonly ignore both and share the loss.
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Insurance
Professional Liability Coverage: Errors, Omissions, and Exclusions
Professional liability coverage answers for negligent acts, errors, and omissions in rendering professional services, subject to exclusions that decide most disputed claims.
