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... Federal Appellate Court Declined to Rewrite It.
The Federal Fifth Circuit recently considered an appeal involving Louisiana substantive Insurance law in Download Versai Management Corp. v. Clarendon America Insurance Co. (5th Cir. Case No. 08.30874, Opinion Filed February 19, 2010), also published as Versai Management Corp. v. Clarendon American Insurance Co., 2010 WL 572532 (5th Cir. February 19, 2010). Specifically, one of the issues in that appeal involved the Excess Property Insurers' "Proof of Loss" provision. The Excess Property Carriers argued that the provision required the Policyholder to support its Proof of Loss with additional documentation, although the provision did not say that at all.
The Fifth Circuit rejected this argument. The Court declined to rewrite the Excess Property Conditions Insurance Policies to require additional documentation where the Underwriters of those Companies had not done so: "The plain reading of this section reveals no requirement for additional documentation to support a proof of loss." Versai Management Corp. v. Clarendon American Insurance Co., 2010 WL 572532 *3 (5th Cir. February 19, 2010).
The Insurance Companies argued that "everyone does it," in essence, arguing that the Insurance Industry as a whole requires that additional documentation be produced when a Proof of Loss is submitted on a Property claim. "If this is so, their policy breaks the mold," wrote the Fifth Circuit. "We will not read in such a requirement where none exists." Versai Management Corp. v. Clarendon American Insurance Co., 2010 WL 572532 *3 (5th Cir. February 19, 2010). The Fifth Circuit reversed the District Court's grant of summary judgment to the Insurance Company Defendants and remanded in that case.
Underwriters. You gotta love 'em.
There is a useful post about Proofs of Loss and how Florida Courts treat them as one example of the decisions across the nation, on Insurance Claims Bad Faith Law Blog, on April 1, 2010.
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