Law of Insurance Contract Disputes - Personal Statement Example

1. Law or Rule: In the instant case, we can determine that the applicable law is the three-year statute for insurance claims to be instituted (for property damage) but a two-year statute of limitation would apply in case of personal injuries. It is when the statute begins running that is arguable in this case but the accident happened in October 1981 so its two-year prescriptive period will end on October 1983. Either way, the law starts counting either from occurrence of the event or date of discovery.

Christy and Travelers Insurance Company should have responded to the offer on or earlier than October 1983. For consideration also is the choice-of-law analysis as Travelers Insurance is located in New Jersey while Aetna Casualty and Surety is in Virginia. 2. Decision:The court is correct in siding with Aetna in this case. A failure to exercise the right to respond to an offer for settlement (either by acceptance or rejection) is construed as a waiver on the part of the claimant. Two years is a long enough period of time to make a reasonable response and failure to do so constitutes unreasonable delay (Stempel, 1998).

The statute is presumed to have started or accrued from the time of the accident (October 1981) and not on the date of the initial offer by Aetna Casualty (November 08, 1982). 3. Rationale or Reason:The claimant in this case did not file any case within the two-year limitation of the statute. Civil claims should be filed within two years from the date of the accident in order to avoid possibility for a dismissal (Schneider April 26, 2004). The offer to settle was initiated instead by the adverse party of the claimant.

Further, the record shows claimant's counsel did not contradict the evidence showing customary industry practice is to respond to a settlement offer within a few weeks, not in months or years. Additionally, the claimant did not indicate immediate acceptance but only signified it a year and three months after the initial offer was made – on February 4, 1984 from the offer date of November 08, 1982 (Matthews, 2009). Reference ListMatthews, J. (2009). How to Win your Personal Injury Claim. Berkeley, CA: Nolo.

Schneider, D. M. (April 26, 2004). “Order for Public Reprimand Entered by the Board of Bar Overseers” (No. 2004-007). Retrieved October 18, 2009 from http://www.mass.gov/obcbbo/pr04-07.htmStempel, J. W. (1998). Law of Insurance Contract Disputes. 2nd edition. New York, NY: Aspen Publishers Online.