Claims and Bad Faith Law Blog

Litigation and Prevention of Insurer Bad Faith; Insurance Claims and Issues.

   I am researching and writing the Third Edition of one of my Books, "Litigation and Prevention of Insurer Bad Faith" in addition to running a practice that finds me testifying as an Expert Witness across the country and representing clients as an Attorney.  LPIB has been in print since 1985, when the First Edition was published by Shepard's/McGraw-Hill.  Currently, the Book is in its Second Edition, and there has been an annual Supplement every year since 1985, now published by West Publishing, a member of the Thomson Reuters West Group.

   I began posting on this Blog, Insurance Claims Bad Faith Law, in September, 2006.  For the first time, I am taking a short hiatus on Insurance Bad Faith Law posting while I continue to research and write the Third Edition of Litigation and Prevention of Insurer Bad Faith.

   In the meantime, I plan to continue posting on Insurance Claims and Issues Web Log.  I plan to include posts on Insurance Good Faith Issues from time to time.  You can help me keep the Insurance Claims and Issues Web Log at the Number One ranking by the American Bar Association for "Insurance" by accessing it here, through the ABA website.  Or if you prefer, you can access it here.  I look forward to speaking with you on the Insurance Claims and Issues Blog.

   Thank you, and we should all always remember this:  We are all in this together.  Like Red Green, I am pulling for you.

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Does "Automobile Business" Exclusion Violate Public Policy in Your Jurisdiction?

It does in most jurisdictions, as the Louisiana Supreme Court joins the majority view on this question.

   In  Sensebe v. Canal Indemnity Co., 2011 WL 259929 (La. January 28, 2011)(authorized password required to access Westlaw), the Louisiana Supreme Court firmly placed Louisiana among the majority of Courts which have addressed the issue of whether an Exclusion under a motor vehicle Insurance Policy violates public policy, which "purports to exclude coverage for a driver who is engaged in the 'automobile business.'"  Id. at *1.

   The Court also listed jurisdictions following the majority and minority views on this question.  Id. at *7.

   The Louisiana Supreme Court's reasoning took "Bad Faith" into account, not Bad Faith during the processing of an Insurance Claim but Bad Faith at the inception of an Insurance Policy:

While it is true that an insurer may violate public policy by taking a position contrary to the interests of the insured after a claim has been made,^FN9 the public policy we must observe here lies at the origin of the insurance relationship, i.e., within the insurance policy itself. As we have noted above and in [previous case law], LSA-R.S 32:900(B)(2) requires that insurance policies provide coverage for permissive drivers.

FN9. See, e.g., LSA-R.S. 22:1973(B) (describing bad faith settlement practices).

Id. at *7 & n.9.  [Emphasis by the Supreme Court of Louisiana.]

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