Many business owners are scouring their insurance policies in search of relief from the devastating financial anxiety caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.  Those business owners should also be scrutinizing any commercial or real estate lease they have to see whether it contains a force majeure clause, and if so, to determine the specific terms that…

In Illinois, insurance companies must abide by the provisions of the Illinois Insurance Code, and in particular a section of the Code that prohibits unlawful claims practices.[1]  Examples of improper claims practices include: Delaying investigation or payment without a valid reason; Intentionally underpaying a claim; Misrepresenting policy provisions; or Failing to properly communicate with claimants. …

Many industry groups and legislators have asked federal and state insurance regulators to require insurance companies to provide coverage for business losses incurred due to coronavirus-related closures.  These calls came in response to an overwhelming insurance industry trend of denying claims made under standard business interruption coverage for outbreak-related closures.  According to insurance companies, COVID-19…

In 1959, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) authored and introduced the Model Unfair Trade Practices Act (MUTPA). The MUTPA first incorporated uniform standards for how insurance claims should be handled.  In 1990, the claims handling provisions were formed into their own freestanding law, the Model Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act.  This Act provides…

As coronavirus-related insurance claims continue to rise, denials of those claims continue to rise right along with them.  Over the past month, these denials have spawned litigation over whether business interruption coverage, a common part of many commercial insurance policies, can cover losses due to mandatory shutdowns resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak. Recently, we detailed…

On March 18, 2020, the Consumer Federation of America and the Center for Economic Justice issued a joint letter to state insurance commissioners. In the letter, it urged those commissioners to direct the auto insurers in their respective states to provide premium offset payments to policyholders whose driving has been affected by COVID-19.  Fewer people…

Under the law, an insurance company has an obligation to give its insureds’ interests at least equal consideration to its own interests when investigating, evaluating, and negotiating a claim under the policy.  This is due to the unique relationship between an insurance company and its policyholders.  How insurance works (in a nutshell) Policyholders entrust their…