Missouri Insurance Lawyer Blog

When you are faced with insurance terminology, do you sometimes feel overwhelmed and confused? Perhaps you'd like to know the difference between "comprehensive" and "liability," and find out once and for all just exactly what all of those insurance terms actually mean.

Missouri Department of Insurance has an easy to understand reference, listed by category with all of the assorted terms which may be associated within each category.

Categories included are:

• Auto
• Homeowners
• Accident and Health
• Fire and Allied Lines
• Life and Annuity
• Liability
• Medical Malpractice
• Miscellaneous

Take the mystery out of insurance terminology by checking out this handy glossary here.

Suppose you have an automobile accident and unfortunately, someone is hurt or killed as a result. Or, your accident could cause damage to another person's property and/or damage your own vehicle. If you are found to be legally responsible, Missouri's Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law requires you to bear the cost of the other person's injuries and damages. You may not be able to pay those costs. In that case, you can lose your driving privileges or risk a criminal conviction and time spent in jail.

Most Missourians rely on automobile liability insurance to show they are financially responsible. Automobile liability insurance can protect you from paying a large amount of money at the time of an accident if the accident is your fault. Liability insurance also protects the victims against their losses. Besides liability and uninsured motorist insurance, you also may want to consider insuring against theft or physical damage to your car caused by collision, fire, theft, windstorm or hail.

Read more on who needs auto insurance, as well as other questions you may have about this topic at Missouri Department of Insurance's "Consumer Guide to Auto Insurance."

This week, the Missouri Senate voted for workers' compensation legislation that would ignore the serious financial crisis of the Missouri Second Injury Fund. The bill, perfected by the Senate Feb. 15th, can be found here. A new bill on the Second Injury Fund has been filed by Senator Dempsey and should be available online soon.

As reported by StlToday.com, the Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster emphatically warned that millions of dollars in bills are piling up because the Missouri Legislature hasn't replenished the state fund that compensates certain injured workers.

To date, the fund owes more than $14 million to 184 injured workers, bills that are not being paid and accruing interest of $1.3 million per year. That amount doesn't even count the potential liabilities for 29,000 pending cases, which are estimated could cost the state more than $145 million.

The Missouri Second Injury Fund was originally started approximately 70 years ago to encourage companies to hire World War II veterans with disabilities. It is set up to pay for work-related aggravations of previous injuries. However, since 2005, when the Missouri Legislature capped a business surcharge that finances the awards to workers, the fund hasn't generated enough money to pay the amounts due to Missouri's injured workers.

Continue reading "Fate Of The Missouri Second Injury Fund Is Still Uncertain" »

According to a new report from the Missouri Department of Insurance, nearly 4,000 Missourians received insurance coverage for autism treatment in 2011. A new law requiring health insurance companies to cover specific autism treatments took effect January 1, 2011. The department's report shows 3,805 Missourians filed claims for autism-related treatment during the law's first year.

The report states that total insurance claims for autism-related treatments were $4.3 million in 2011. This dollar amount accounts for 0.1 percent of total claims paid by health insurers during 2011.

Per John M. Huff, director of the Department of Insurance: "This report shows good news on two fronts. First, it shows that the new law has already helped thousands of Missourians. Second, it shows the autism mandate should have minimal impact on health care costs and insurance premiums."

The law calls for health insurance companies to cover $40,000 for autism treatment, to be adjusted annually by the director of the Department of Insurance using the Consumer Price Index. On January 31, Director Huff signed an order increasing the maximum benefit to $41,263 for 2012.

Read more here .

One of the duties insurance companies owe to their insureds is the duty to defend if a claim is made against a person or entity insured by the policy.
In a case handed down this week by the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, the Appellate Court determined that the allegations of property damage stated potentially covered claims, and the insurance company did have a duty to defend those allegations. Cook's Fabrication & Welding, Inc. v. Mid-Continent Casualty Co. and Greystone, Inc., E.D. 96465.

The duty of an insurance company to defend a claim arises whenever there is a potential or possible liability to pay based on the facts at the outset of the case. This duty is measured by the policy language and the allegations in the plaintiff's petition. The insurer must consider not only those allegations, but also the facts the insurance company knew or could have reasonably ascertained. The duty arises when the facts indicate that a claim is potentially covered, not just when a claim is obviously covered by the policy. To be relieved of this duty, the insurer must demonstrate that there is no possibility of coverage.

In this case, Mid-Continent asserted that the insurance company had no duty to defend based solely on the insurance company's assertion that it did not have to pay the claim because of a particular policy exclusion. Ultimately, the court determined that the exclusion relied on by the insurance company did not apply and the insurance company should have defended the claim.

Continue reading "Insurance Company Must Hire Attorney To Defend A Lawsuit If There Is Potential Liability To Pay Based On The Facts At the Outset Of The Case" »