§ 12.9 Underwriting

• Library: Guide to South Carolina Liability and Property Insurance Law (SCBar) (2019 Ed.)

§ 12.9 Underwriting

The federal district court has determined that underwriting information should be produced in a number of situations. For example, the court determined that "[i]f it becomes necessary to look beyond the four corners of the policies at issue, the underwriting guidelines and files would be relevant to determine the intent of the parties when entering into the policies."¹⁰¹

In a case concerning denial of a water claim under a homeowner's policy, the federal district court considered the insured's request for underwriting information and determined:

As to Topics 8 and 21, Palmer seeks information related to Standard's underwriting processes and "[a]ny contract administration performed by Standard with regard to underwriting the policy(ies), as well as administering claims processes either internally, externally, or by a third-party administrator with regard to [Palmer's] claims including, but not limited to, member companies, holding companies and subsidiaries." Standard asserts these topics are unclear in scope, overly broad to the extent they relate to procedures and entities not involved in this claim, and irrelevant because underwriting is not at issue here. Nonetheless, Standard agreed to provide the underwriting file which relates to Palmer's current and prior homeowners' policies. The Court concludes that discovery concerning general underwriting processes is neither relevant nor proportional to the needs of this case. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). Therefore, the scope of Topics 8 and 21 is limited as follows: Standard is directed to produce, and respond to questions in

...