Section 9.26 Notice Requirements

• Library: Insurance Practice 2015

For an opposite holding than in Brown-Spaulding & Associates, Inc. v. International Surplus Lines Co., 254 Cal. Rptr. 192, 195–96 (Cal. App. 1988) (cited in the original section), see Civics Associates, Inc. v. Security Insurance Co. of Hartford, 749 F. Supp. 1076, 1080–82 (D. Kan. 1990), which determined that Missouri follows the majority rule and would not find a claims-made policy to be against public policy.

a. (§9.26) Notice Requirements

Notice requirements are typically imposed in two different situations. First, when a claim is made during the policy period, notice of that claim is to be given to the insurer as soon as practicable and, under some policies, before the policy period expires. Second, if facts or circumstances become known to an insured that indicate the potential for a claim, coverage for that claim may be preserved by providing the insurer with timely notice of the potential claim as soon as practicable within the policy period.

Many policies now have a much simpler and stricter notice requirement that requires that notice of a claim be given within the policy period in all circumstances. Typically, these policies also require that the claim be first made during the policy period and provide for no retroactive coverage. Sometimes this is accomplished by defining the “claim” as occurring only when notice is given. See Slater v. Lawyers’ Mut. Ins. Co., 278 Cal. Rptr. 479...