Is there such a thing as an oral insurance contract? Well, according to the 1949, Texas Supreme Court opinion styled, Pacific Fire Insurance Company v. Donald, …, Yes. In the Donald case, Paul Donald sued Pacific Fire to recover for the loss of 5500 bales of hay which were destroyed…
Insurance policies are contracts, and as such are subject to rules applicable to contracts generally. This is stated in the 1994, Texas Supreme Court opinion styled, Hernandez v. Gulf Group Lloyds. An insured seeking to recover on an insurance contract must prove that the contract was in force at the…
The incontestability period of an insurance policy is one of the most important parts of a life insurance contract. Life insurance policies must contain an incontestability clause — a provision that the policy will be incontestable after it has been in force during the lifetime of the insured for two…
Here is a policy interpretation case from the United States Fifth Circuit. The opinion was issued on June 2, 2022, and is styled, Kiolbassa Provision Company, Incorporated v. Travelers Property Casualty Company of America. Kiolbassa ran out of storage space in its warehouse and loaded 49,016 pounds of organic beef…
Life Insurance Lawyers need to be aware of Texas Insurance Code, Section 705.005. This statute says in relevant part that an insurance company may use as a defense a misrepresentation made in the application for or in obtaining an insurance policy only if the insurance company shows at trial that…
What if a life insurance company denies a claim for life insurance benefits based on their contention that the insured committed suicide? A 1982, opinion from the 14th District Court of Appeals styled, Parchman v. United Liberty Life Insurance Company, correctly states that life insurance policies typically exclude suicide as…
Life insurance claims attorneys have information about how life insurance claims should be handled that is valuable to someone who believes they have been wronged by an insurance company. It will occasionally happen that the life insurance company pays the wrong person as the beneficiary of the policy. Texas Supreme…
To be able to recover from a life insurance policy a person has to be named as a beneficiary, the majority of the time. However, even if a person is named as a beneficiary they still have to have an insurable interest in the deceased to be able to recover.…
A frequent insurance problem in Texas is damage alleged to have been caused by a hail or wind storm. This issue is even confusing for the Courts. Here is a case discussing this issue and in the opinion, the United States Fifth Circuit is asking the Texas Supreme Court on…
I know, I know. Nobody reads the policy. But, not reading the policy and understanding it can be a killer. This is illustrated in a May 2022, opinion from the United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The opinion is styled, Bradford Realty Services, Incorporated v. Hartford Fire Insurance Company.…