Bill > A1963

Introduced Session

This bill prohibits an insurer from including in a liability insurance policy a provision that provides that the insurer will not be liable for any loss for any claim based upon the fact that the loss or claim is similar to any fact, circumstance, situation, transaction, event, or wrongful act underlying or alleged in a separate proceeding or claim. Certain insurance policies include provisions that state that the insurer will not be liable for any loss for any claim based upon or arising out of any same or substantially same or similar fact, circumstance, situation, transaction, event, wrongful act or related wrongful act underlying or alleged in such demand, suit, or other proceeding. In effect, such a provision allows the insurer to deny coverage based on the mere fact that a similar, but unrelated, event to the one being alleged in a claim may have occurred. For example, a medical malpractice insurer could attempt to deny coverage for an alleged claim of medical malpractice based upon a similar occurrence in an unrelated case. This bill is intended to prohibit such a provision, sometimes referred to as an "interrelated wrongful act clause" or "prior and pending proceeding clause," in liability insurance policies as it relates to a similar fact, circumstance, situation, transaction, event, or wrongful act underlying or alleged in a separate, unrelated proceeding or claim.

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Jon Bramnick (R)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee (on 01/09/2018)