Insurance Law Lesson 93: Notice (3)

Following the prior Lesson, does MCL 500.3008 mean that old claims-made coverages (Lesson 87) can be triggered if notice was not reasonably possible during the claims-made policy period?

In a word, no.

The Michigan Supreme Court (Stine v. Cont’l Cas. Co., 419 Mich. 89, 105-106 (1984)) has explained that:

“Since in a “claims made” policy the requirement that a claim against the insured be made during the policy period essentially defines the coverage available rather than establishing a notice requirement, as a general proposition, § 3008 will affect a “claims made” policy only with respect to its notice provision.”

In other words, the fact that an insured complied with the notice provisions in her claims-made policy cannot overcome that the policy’s coverage was not triggered (because the insured did not receive the claim during the policy period).

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