CERTIFICATES-A RECURRING THEME

Certificates were originally created as a convenience-replacing the practice of obtaining signed, "authorized" copies of original policies from insurance carriers, to forward to third parties requesting proof of insurance. Since the mid-1990s, when lawsuits were first filed and won against...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inRough Notes Vol. 165; no. 6; pp. 24 - 25
Main Author Belka, Mary M
Format Trade Publication Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Indianapolis Rough Notes Co., Inc 01.06.2022
Subjects
Brokers
Endorsements
Federal court decisions
Insurance coverage
Insurance industry
Liability insurance
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Summary:Certificates were originally created as a convenience-replacing the practice of obtaining signed, "authorized" copies of original policies from insurance carriers, to forward to third parties requesting proof of insurance. Since the mid-1990s, when lawsuits were first filed and won against agencies by third parties who requested certificates-and relied on information contained in them that exceeded or did not match the actual policy wording-certificates have become the bane of many agencies' existence. The case of T-Mobile USA Inc. v. Selective Insurance Company of America (Washington State Supreme Court, October 2019) is fairly straightforward and enlightening. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals certified the issue back to the Washington State Supreme Court. Even though the certificate issued by the agency contained disclaimers, the error on the document, indicating T-Mobile USA, Inc., as an additional insured when this was in fact not the case, forced the insurance carrier to provide coverage.
ISSN:0035-8525