General

Credit Scoring Insurance

November 10, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

Few people in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Mansfield, Fort Worth, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, or other places across Tarrant County like the use of credit scoring to get insurance. It is allowed in Texas.

The Insurance Journal ran a story on October 6, 2011, titled “Mass. Agents Gathering Signatures for Insurance Credit Score Ban.”

The article tells us that a Massachusetts independent agents group is confident that banning auto insurers’ use of credit scores and other socioeconomic factors will become law in coming months.

Farmers and ranchers in Weatherford, Mineral Wells, Aledo, Springtown, and other places in Parker or Palo Pinto counties may have to deal with crop insurance issues on occasions. Here is a legal case that deals with crop insurance.

The case was decided by the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Paris Division, in 1997. The style of the case is John Earl Bullard v. Southwest Crop Insurance Agency, Inc., Blakely Crop Hail, Inc., Farmers Alliance Mutual Insurance, Co.

There is a federal law called the Federal Crop Insurance Act. Due to the inherent risks of insuring crops, insurance companies in the early 1900’s refused to write multi-peril crop insurance policies. In an effort to remedy the problem, Congress passed the Federal Crop Insurance Act (FCIA) in 1938. Is purpose was to “promote the national welfare by improving the economic stability of agriculture through a sound system of crop insurance ….” To carry out this purpose, Congress created an agency within the Department of Agriculture known as the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC). The FCIC assists in carrying out the goals of the FCIA by providing crop insurance to farmers in the following ways: (1) selling insurance through private insurance agents, (2) reinsuring private insurance companies that provide crop insurance, and (3) providing crop insurance directly to the farmer.

Loss Of Consortium Claim And Auto Policy

November 3, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

Most people in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Irving, Fort Worth, Colleyville, Dallas, Mesquite, Garland, and other places in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex do not really understand what a “loss of consortium” claim is.

A 1981, Texas Supreme Court case described a loss of consortium claim as “companionship, emotional support, love, felicity, and sexual relations,” and recognized that loss of consortium involves harm to “the intangible and sentimental elements” of a marriage.

How a loss of consortium claim works as it relates to an insurance policy claim was discussed in a 1987, Texas Supreme Court case styled, Ella Jo McGovern v. Linda Kay Williams et al. This case concerned the liability of an insurance company under an auto liability policy. Here is some background.

Auto Insurance And Injuries

October 8, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

Anybody in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Fort Worth, Mansfield, Crowley, Burleson, Benbrook, Lake Worth, Azle, Saginaw, or anywhere else in Tarrant Count should be concerned about rising cost of insurance.

The Houston Chronicle published an article on September 20, 2011, dealing with auto insurance and rising rates. The author is Purva Patel who investigates and writes lots of articles concerning insurance in the state of Texas. The title of the article is, “Insurers Raising Auto Rates.”

The article tells us that many of the state’s larger auto insurers are raising rates across the state. These insurers include but are not limited to, Allstate Fire & Casualty, USAA, State Farm, and Farmers Insurance.

Homeowners Coverage Getting Less And Less

October 1, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

For sure, anybody in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Fort Worth, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, or anywhere else in North Texas wants to get rates as cheaply as they can on their homeowners insurance policy, but they would like to thing their coverage is staying the same. Well that may not be the case.

The Houston Chronicle published a story On September 12, 2011, which most homeowners would be interested to know. The author is Purva Patel, who has written on the topic of insurance before. The title of the article is, “State Farm Move Could Mean Less Homeowner Coverage.”

The article tells us that State Farm has proposed changing home insurance deductibles. Most anybody who has tried to get their rates lowered knows that buy raising the deductible, the yearly cost for the insurance goes down. What is different here is that State Farm is trying to make the new coverage mandatory. Consumer advocates warn this would hurt some.

Deductibles

September 25, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

For someone in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Fort Worth, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, Grapevine, Colleyville, Keller, Roanoke, Saginaw, or anywhere else in Tarrant County or Texas, knowing and understanding the deductibles in an insurance policy is important.

The Washington Post ran an article on September 8, 2011, titled “Irene Storm Damage Led Insurers To Apply Prohibited Deductible Charges.”

The article, written by Joe Stephens, tells about some insurers incorrectly applying deductibles to claims resulting from Irene damages in Maryland. The person in the story, Judi Nowottnick, a school teacher, lost electrical power for eight days She had two refrigerators containing four dozen crabs and $1,000 of other food which spoiled. On top of that, she spent an additional $400 on fast food while the electricity was out.

Who Is The Named Insured

September 17, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

People who buy insurance in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Fort Worth, Mansfield, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, Grapevine, Mesquite, Richardson, and other places in the DFW metroplex area need to make sure the named insured on an insurance policy is the person or business who needs to be covered by the policy.

A 1991, case decided by the Houston 14th, Court of Appeals, serves as an example of making sure the correct person or entity is named on the insurance policy. The style of the case is, St. Paul Lloyd’s Insurance Company v. Fong Chun Huang, Individually and as Trustee for Teppan Yaki Management. Here is some background information to know on the case.

St Paul’s denied coverage under its insurance policy claiming Fong Chun Huang was responsible for the burning of the Happy Buddha Restaurant. Fong sued St. Paul’s for failure to pay on the policy and for breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing. The trial court awarded damages to Fong for the cash value under the insurance policy. The trial court further reformed the insurance policy to change the named insured from Fong Chun Huang, individually, to Teppan Yaki Management, Inc., which was the apparent true owner of the restaurant.

Insurance Proceeds And Fraud

August 23, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

For someone in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Fort Worth, Dallas, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, North Richland Hills, Roanoke, Keller, and other places in North Texas, it is likely to happen. A spouse intentionally burns the house down. Well, what happens to the insurance money? Here is a case that provides some guidance.

The case was decided in 1999, by the Texas Supreme Court. It is styled, Texas Farmers Insurance Company v. Daisy Murphy. The question posed to the court was whether an innocent spouse can recover insurance proceeds when the other co-insured spouse has intentionally destroyed the covered community property.

Here is some background.

Forced Placed Insurance

August 6, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

This will happen to insureds in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Irving, Fort Worth, Dallas, and other places through out Texas. You have a piece of property, such as a home, commercial building, a car, or something else of value. The entity that holds a lien on that piece of property will insist that there be insurance covering that piece of property. If you do not provide coverage, the lien holder will buy “force place insurance.” In other words, they will buy coverage for the property in order to protect their own financial interest in the property then they will usually charge back the costs of this insurance to the person who is financing the property.

So the question becomes – What kind of protection does this “forced placed insurance” provide?

The United States District Court, Southern District, McAllen Division, issued an opinion on a case recently that dealt with this issue. The style of the case is, Antonio Trevino v. Evanston Insurance Company, et al. Here is some background and facts.

Insurance – Car Theft

July 7, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

Here is one that would be interesting to people in Weatherford, Mineral Wells, Aledo, Azle, Millsap, Brock, Cool, Peaster, Hudson Oaks, Willow Park, Springtown, and other places in Parker and Palo Pinto counties. It involves events after a car theft.

The style of this case is, Jose Manuel Campa Gonzalez v National Insurance Crime Bureau; Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. The opinion was issued on June 7, 2011, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Here is some background on the case.

Gonzalez was arrested and incarcerated for eleven days in Mexico for hawking a car that the Mexican authorities erroneously believed was stolen. Gonzalez later sued National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) and Progressive claiming they were legally liable for the actions of the Mexican police. While Gonzalez’s arrest and imprisonment were traumatic and, on hindsight, unnecessary, the court nevertheless agreed with the district court ruling, that it was no fault of NICB or Progressive.