The Insurance Advocate Cover Story

Read the full article at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/primer-rescission-barry-zalma-esq-cfe; and at https://www.insurance-advocate.com/2020/10/07/primer-rescission-of-insurance and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 3450 posts. 

Primer: Rescission of Insurance

The article starts out as follows:

An insurance policy is nothing more than a contract. It is a special type of contract because – by law – it contains an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. What that means is that neither party to the contract must do nothing to prevent the other from obtaining the benefits of the contract.

When a prospective insured violates the covenant of good faith and fair dealing by misrepresenting or concealing a material fact that deceives an insurer to take on a risk that would not have been taken had the truth been known the law allows the insurer – upon a presentation of sufficient admissible evidence – to rescind the policy and treat it as if it never came into existence.

Developing the evidence is not easy. It requires the effort of an insurance professional to collect the evidence – whether documentary or by oral testimony – to convince a judge or jury that the insurer acted properly, that the insured deceived the insurer and that the court should order that the policy was void ab initio (from its inception).