The question of the month deals with identity theft. Identity theft is increasingly in the news and can cause insureds many problems. It is true that, by law, credit card holders have limited liability for the unauthorized use of the credit card, but the cost in time and effort to restore one's good credit after an abuse by a third party is very high.

An insured no doubt would like to know in advance of any identity theft damage what, if anything, can be done to protect himself. Questions, such as, what is identity theft, what are the common causes of identity theft, and how can it be avoided or the damage mitigated, are bound to arise. For answers to these questions and a thorough examination of the identity theft issue, link onto the designated article in the Bulletins.

Court cases from Arkansas, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Kansas are discussed in the Dec Page. The Arkansas Supreme Court answered the following question: after the Federal court granted an insurer a declaratory judgment that the insurer owed no duty to defend or pay any judgment, may the insurer rely on its reservation of rights letter to recoup defense fees and costs it had already expended in defense of the lawsuit against the insured? The Fifth Circuit handled an appeal pertaining to a vendor listed as an additional insured that was denied coverage for a products liability claim. The trial court had ruled against coverage for the vendor based on the vendor's alleged independent negligence, state law, and policy exclusions. The appeals court addressed these issues in its review. And finally, the Kansas Supreme Court received some certified questions from the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas pertaining to the meaning and scope of the term “occurrence”. This case offers a solid review of what an occurrence is, as well as how a single occurrence versus a multiple occurrence event can affect policy limits.

Questions and Answers

“Traditional” standard property and CGL insurance covering “tangible property” does not adequately address identity theft. See Identity Theft Liability Coverage Question. License to sell liquor is not a prerequisite for obtaining liquor liability coverage. See Liquor Liability Coverage Requires a License to Sell. Emotional distress is typically not covered by CGL policy. See Emotional Distress Coverage under the CGL Form. And, the tangible property aspect of the property damage definition is a vital part of that definition. See Property Damage Issue under CGL Form.

Personal Injury Protection-Florida

Florida PIP was repealed October 1, 2007 and then reinstated January 1, 2008. As a result the Florida PIP forms have been revised and updated; these changes are discussed in this article. See Personal Injury Protection-Florida. 

Financial Responsibility Table of Limits

The table of limits of financial responsibility and compulsory insurance laws has been updated in FC&S this month. See Table of Limits.

Kidnap, Ransom, and Extortion Policy

The ISO forms covering kidnap, ransom and extortion have been updated and revised. The article is based on the CR 00 41, the stand alone policy written outside of the commercial package program. See Kidnap, Ransom, and Extortion Policy.