The hatchet man Chancellor George Osborne has spoken and the little red box opened to reveal one of the most stinging budgets in recent memory, already named the austerity budget, with huge public sector job losses, spending cuts and tax rises for all!

On the face of it Insurance escapes fairly lightly with Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) raised for the first time in over ten years to 6% from 5%. 

 IPT is chargeable  on every insurance policy sold within the UK,  although Insurance is currently VAT exempt. 

This rise will harden the market with slightly raised premiums,  however it is suggested by many in the City that the percentage increase will mostly go un-noticed by the majority of the insurance buying public.  A spo

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In a statement on its website, Marsh said some excess liability insurers have indicated that they anticipate adding extremely broad exclusions to 2010-2011 policies to prospectively eliminate coverage for the oil spill resulting from the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon.

Several insurers also have said they will strictly enforce claims time-limit provisions and will not consider the date when policyholders first became aware of their potential exposure, Marsh said in the statement.

Some policies’ pollution exclusions have carve-outs that allow some coverage but require policyholders to provide the insurer with notice of a claim within a certain time period.

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded at an unknown time on April 20, creating a fire that sank the rig on April 22 and resulted in a subsea oil leak first discovered on April 24. A

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My client’s home was built in 1979.  He recently began seeing cracks in the walls, around windows, and in the ceiling.  He reported the cracking to his homeowners insurer – Universal Property and Casualty Insurance Company.  Universal had an engineer inspect the home.  The insurance company’s engineer wrote a report stating that the cracks in the home were caused by settling, and not by sinkhole. 

I have had the home inspected by engineers who determined that the damage is being caused by ongoing sinkhole activity. 

Today, I filed suit against Universal for breach of the insurance policy.  I also filed a Civil Remedy Notice concerning what I believe to be the insurer’s bad faith in denying the claim. 

This lawsuit was filed in Nassau County, Florida  I handle insurance cases such as this for policy holders throughout the State of Florida.  As with most of my insurance cases, if I am successful, the insurance company will have to pay all my hourly fees and costs.  If I lose, I’ll work for free. 

Get a Quote »Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of misinformation that has spread about annuity investment contracts.  What is not clear is whether these untruths are intentional or a general lack of knowledge, but it is beyond time to set the record straight.

One of the biggest concerns potential annuity investors have is what happens to their money whey they die.  For reasons unknown, there is a misconception that the insurance company keeps the balance of the account at passing.  This is simply not true.

What Happens to My Annuity at Death?

The majority of annuity contracts are either fixed, indexed, or variable in nature. These investm

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My client is a truck driver.  He was asked to deliver a load to North Carolina.  When he tried to attach the trailer to his own truck, the trailer would not properly attach.  The company which asked him to deliver the load then provided him with a truck to deliver the load.  Unfortunately, my client was injured when he was hit by another vehicle while in North Carolina. 

He carries full insurance coverage on his own truck, but that policy does not apply to accidents that occur out of state if he is in a vehicle he does not own.  However, the truck he was using to deliver the load was insured with a policy that provided coverage for personal injury protection (PIP), and medical payments coverage (Med Pay).  That insurance company denied all claims regarding the accident.  The insurer claimed there was no PIP because my client carried PIP on his own vehicle (PIP which does not apply to out of state accidents which occur in a non-owned vehicle).  The insurer claimed there was no Med Pay because the Med Pay coverage has an exclusion for any “employees” of the company for which he was working.  

I do not believe that either exclusion applies.  Under Florida Statute Section 627.736, a PIP policy can only have a few “authorized exclusions.”  The exclusion being applied by the insurance company in this case is not one of those authorized exclusions.  I do not believe that the Med Pay exclusion applies because my client is not an “employee” of the delivery company.  He was an independent contractor.  

Because the insurance company has denied coverage, I filed a declaratory judgment action to have a court determine whether the exclusions actually apply.  As with all exclusion in insurance policies, the burden of proof will be on the insurance company to prove that the exclusions apply.  

As with most of my insurance cases, there are no fees or costs to my client.  If I win, the insurance company must pay my attorney’s fees and costs, and if I lose, I’ll work for free.