Act 78 Signed Into Law
Expand Insurance Protection for Victims of Domestic Violence
Act 78 of 2006 amending the Unfair Insurance Practices Act was signed into law by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell on July 7, 2006. The law will go into effect on September 5.
Act 78 expands the definition of "abuse" in the Unfair Insurance Practices Statute to include property damage, and it establishes a statutory prohibition against an insurance company's refusal to pay automobile and homeowners' claims arising out of abuse to an innocent claimant when an abusive partner intentionally causes the property damage.
Prior to the new law, property and casualty insurance policies typically denied claims resulting from an "intentional act" by a named insured. Victims of domestic violence, though, faced hardship due to this exclusion when batterers damaged property.
State Representative George Kenney, prime sponsor of the bill, became interested in this issue in 2001 when one of his constituents found herself and her children homeless after her estranged husband set fire to their house.
The insurance company filed a federal lawsuit, claiming no obligation to pay damages because the batterer deliberately torched the house, even though the wife was completely innocent.
The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Women's Law Project of Philadelphia worked together to get passage of the new bill.
Information in this article was taken from a press release by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. You can see the full text version on their website at www.pcadv.org
Act 78 of 2006 amending the Unfair Insurance Practices Act was signed into law by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell on July 7, 2006. The law will go into effect on September 5.
Act 78 expands the definition of "abuse" in the Unfair Insurance Practices Statute to include property damage, and it establishes a statutory prohibition against an insurance company's refusal to pay automobile and homeowners' claims arising out of abuse to an innocent claimant when an abusive partner intentionally causes the property damage.
Prior to the new law, property and casualty insurance policies typically denied claims resulting from an "intentional act" by a named insured. Victims of domestic violence, though, faced hardship due to this exclusion when batterers damaged property.
State Representative George Kenney, prime sponsor of the bill, became interested in this issue in 2001 when one of his constituents found herself and her children homeless after her estranged husband set fire to their house.
The insurance company filed a federal lawsuit, claiming no obligation to pay damages because the batterer deliberately torched the house, even though the wife was completely innocent.
The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Women's Law Project of Philadelphia worked together to get passage of the new bill.
Information in this article was taken from a press release by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. You can see the full text version on their website at www.pcadv.org
posted by Access to Justice at 10:09 AM
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