Insurance and ERISA Legal Issues Around Puget Sound
California recently announced new wildfire insurance rules that might be a glimpse into the future for Washington State homeowners having trouble getting insurance coverage in wildfire-prone parts of Washington. California's new rules help people who can no longer get homeowner's insurance coverage due to increased wildfire risk. The new rules expand a California state-run program …
Washington is predicted to have a particularly severe wildfire season in 2019. Wildfires are increasing as development pushes further into wilderness areas and wildfire risk pushes into parts of Washington previously assumed to be too wet to be at risk. Here are some tips to make sure your insurance coverage is ready for wildfire season: …
Most folks have homeowner's insurance (or its cousin renter's insurance). Homeowner's insurance protects you from damage to your home (e.g., your house burns down) or from claims arising from someone's injury on your property. (e.g., someone slips and falls in your backyard). Homeowner's insurance policies typically contain about 20 pages of fine print. Depending on …
Continue reading Five Common Homeowner’s Insurance Policy Provisions and Why They Matter
A cardinal principle of insurance law is that the fine print in an insurance policy must be interpreted consistent with the reasonable expectations of an ordinary person purchasing insurance. The Washington Court of Appeals recently emphasized that rule in its April 8, 2019 decision in Feenix Parkside LLC v. Berkley Nort Pacific. In the Feenix the Court …
Continue reading Insurer’s Misreading of Policy Terms Results In Win For Policyholder
The Washington Court of Appeals recently decided Poole v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, a case about fine print in a homeowner's policy. After the Pooles' home burned down, State Farm denied coverage under a technical reading of the words "similar construction." Washington's Court of Appeals disagreed with State Farm and emphasized the traditional …
