In general terms, after any Catastrophic Loss, Courts are willing to indulge the Policyholders-Insureds in their attempted compliance with many Policy Conditions. For example, after a Fire Loss a Federal Court observed what is perhaps obvious concerning a request by the First-Party Insurance Company for the Policyholder to provide all requested documentation:
[F]ailure to provide all requested documentation does not necessarily constitute substantial noncompliance with the insurance contract.
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Plaintiffs maintain merely that the fire destroyed much of their documentation, and they have supplied as much as they are able.
Plaintiffs created an issue of fact as to whether the documentation they provided to Defendant and their efforts to obtain further documentation constituted substantial compliance with the insurance contract.
Keten v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., Download Keten v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. (N.D. Ind. Opinion and Order Filed March 29, 2010) PUBLIC ACCESSS also published as 2010 WL 1258198 *3-*4 (N.D. Ind. March 29, 2010). The Pacer online docket of this case, which is the Federal Courts' Online Access, reveals that it settled at a Settlement Conference on August 23, 2010 and that the Federal District Court entered an Order Dismissing the Case With Prejudice on September 20, 2010.
There is no reason to suppose that the Courts will be less tolerant of substantial compliance with such Policy Conditions in future Claims in suits which result from current and future Catastrophes, such as the Gulf Oil Well Disaster of 2010.
The Insurance Questions presented in current Catastrophes have largely been experienced before. That includes Business Interruption Insurance Issues, which perhaps affect the most people. These and similar Insurance Questions have in general terms been addressed by many Courts, in many decided Cases. Dennis Wall is Co-Author of the leading book on Insurance Coverage for Catastrophe Claims, "CATClaims: Insurance Coverage for Natural and Man-Made Disasters" (West Publishing Company 2008; 2010 Supplement in process). Mr. Wall will speak on Business Interruption Insurance Coverage Issues including those arising out of the BP Oil Spill Catastrophe, on November 17, 2010, at a Seminar of the Insurance Law Committee sponsored by the Orange County Bar Association in Orlando, Florida. Mr. Wall will also speak on a panel at the American Conference Institute's Bad Faith Litigation Conference in Orlando, Florida on November 30, 2010 on "Dealing With Catastrophic Disasters: How to Properly Investigate and Handle Overwhelming Claims". The American Conference Institute is offering a discount to readers of this Blog: Download ACI Advises Readers of the Insurance Claims and Issues and Insurance Claims and Bad Faith Law Blog are entitled to a discount.
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