Many employer based insurance plans fall under ERISA. Understanding how the courts look at ERISA cases is important for life insurance lawyers to be able to discuss a case with a client. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently ruled on a case that involved a…
How to label the 18% penalty in the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act is a topic of much discussion in Insurance Law circles. How is Section 542.060 to be labeled? Maybe the damages awarded under the prompt payment statute are awarded simply for a failure to comply with a…
Opinions related to the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act and in particular the 18% penalty found in Section 542.060, have differed as to whether or not the 18% damages must be exemplary damages and not actual damage. In that regard; First, it is not clear at all that the…
Respected writers, Robert E. Keeton and Alan I. Widiss, argue that damages under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act, Section 542.060(a), have a purpose of providing compensation to the insured. They write: The statutory provisions establishing remedies for the late payment or nonpayment of insurance claims are often regarded,…
Insurance lawyers who publish books, such as Robert E. Keeton and Alan I. Widiss, who publish Keeton and Widiss’ Basic Text on Insurance Law, have detailed the purposes of the 18% penalty found in the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act. Imposing legislatively prescribed remedies whenever an insurer unsuccessfully contests…
The law in Texas regulating the timely payment of claims is the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act. It starts in the Texas Insurance Code, Section 542.051. The 18% penalty is found in Section 542.060. One commentator in, Couch on Insurance, has recognized that statutes which impose penalties for denying…
Under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act, what is subject to the 18% penalty? This will be a multi blog topic. Courts are split on the issue of whether the 18% award is subject to prejudgment interest. See the difference in 1995, Fort Worth Court of Appeals opinion, Marineau…
The Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act is found in the Texas Insurance Code, Section 542.051. Under Section 542.060, a violation of the Prompt Payment of Claims Act allows recovery of an 18 percent interest on damages. The question then becomes does the 18 percent apply when there is trebling…
When an insurance company makes an unjustified delay in paying a claim the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act allows interest on the amount of the claim at the rate of 18 percent a year as damages. This statute is found in the Texas Insurance Code, Section 542.060(a). But the…
Here is a 1974, opinion from the 14th Court of Appeals that is still good law today. The opinion is styled, Janice Sue Milton v. Preferred Risk Insurance Company et al. This is a lawsuit to recover benefits under the uninsured motorist provisions of an automobile policy. The question for…