US Insurance Law

Overview

In the United States, insurance is a contract between two parties, one being the insurer, and the other the insured. Typically it involves the the insured paying a regular fee for protection in the case of specified event. When the event occurs, the insurer is obligated to pay the insured.

Insurance Definition

The first task in insurance law, is to determine whether a particular company or product qualifies as being insurance for the purpose of the law. As an example, many companies offer product warranties that will replace a product in the case it fails within a pre-defined period of time. The law generally does not regard this as an insurance product, and such companies are generally not subject to insurance law.

Types

Historically, insuarnce law was developed separately for each type of insurance contract, meaning that the applicable law will depend on the type. This pattern persists to this day.

• Life Insurance
• Health Insurance
• Property Insurance

Legal Principles

• Legal Contracts - insurance is a form of contract, and as such is subject to contract law.
• Insurable Interest -requires that the insured has an interest in the thing being insured, and that the the insurance does not violate any statue or public policy.
• Principle of Indemnity - this principle states that the insured should not receive more compensation for a loss than the actual value of the loss.