The destruction of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, was a disaster from a variety of points of view. President Bush is right: it was the embodiment of evil, as are most terrorist attacks on civilians. It is also …
Texas has a statute, section 21.02 of the Insurance Code, which makes insurance intermediaries the legal agents of carriers for many purposes. Lots of people believe producers are always the agents of insurers with respect to insureds for all purposes. …
Insurance intermediaries—agents, brokers, and the like—do all sorts of things for their customers and clients. They help them select coverages. They help select insurers. They shop for price. They prepare applications. They help explain the meaning of insurance policies. They …
This is the tale of what the Court of Appeals of Maryland—the state’s highest court—called a modified insurance “Ponzi scheme.” The case, decided earlier this year, is Insurance Company of North America v. Miller. It is important to note that …
For a generation, or so, courts around the country have thought that contract law was insufficient to regulate the claims conduct of insurance companies. Consequently, the common law of insurer bad faith has been created. As will happen from time-to-time, …
Insurance intermediaries, whether they are brokers or agents, have fiduciary duties. Often these duties run to policyholders or prospective policyholders. Often they run to insurers. Sometimes, they can run to both at the same time. I. Duties to Policyholder On …
Insurance agents are in a tough spot. They compete for business against nearly everybody: each other, banks, financial analysts, annuity companies, and—yes!—even insurers. Often, it seems that insurance agents have to compete against the very companies they represent. If they …
On March 29, 2001, the Supreme Court of Texas decided a consolidated case of enormous importance to insurance intermediaries. In Lawrence v. CDB Services Inc., the high court said by a vote of 6-2, that employees could waive participating in …
In 1989 the Legislature jettisoned the generations-old Texas hybrid system and substituted a new workers’ comp system. In the mid-19th century it dawned on European social designers that the cost of goods sold should be the total amount it takes …
The Western world is haunted by the specter of the German government killing millions upon millions of Jews (and others) in concentration camps. I couldn’t sleep when I first saw the pictures in the 1950s. My children couldn’t sleep when …
