5.1 Overview

• Library: Insurance Law in Virginia (Virginia CLE) (2020 Ed.)

5.1 OVERVIEW

This chapter focuses on the key issues that arise from a claim that an insured made material misrepresentations to an insurer by providing it with incorrect or untruthful information. Claims of material misrepresentation most typically arise during the application process when an insured first applies for insurance coverage, ¹ when he or she applies for reinstatement of the policy, ² or during the claims process after a loss allegedly covered by the policy. An insurer can raise the issue of the insured's material misrepresentations in the application or claims process defensively in the insured's breach-of-contract action against the insurer ³ or affirmatively in either a declaratory judgment action ⁴ or counterclaim ⁵ seeking rescission of coverage in the...