Professional Documents
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nmiIIcc PinI !oIIows Ihc pubIic poIicy o! a majo iIy o! thc sIaIcs IhaI aIIow p c IiIigaIion
discIosu c CounciImcmbc Bowsc sIaIcd IhaI shc bcIicvcd Ihis biII couId Icad to highc
scItIcmcnt and Ihc c!o c highc aIcs !o Dist icI csidcnts AddiIionaIIy shc indicaIcd IhaI an
aIIc naIivc vicw c :isIcd wiIh cg ad Io thc Ih cshoId issuc and cauIioncd moving !o wa d
IcgisIaIion IhaI wouId causc insu ancc atcs to isc. Chai man McndcIson cpIicd IhaI aIcs
wouId not inc casc, as Ihc in!o maIion sought is cu rcnIIy avaiIabIc th ough discovc y oncc an
individuaI \Ics a IawsuiI BiII .|0 aIIows Ihc in!o maIion Io bc avaiIabIc wiIhouI \Iing a
IawsuiI and wiII possibIy Icad Io mo c scttIcmcnts which a c mo c c .pcnsivc Ihan scIIIcmcnIs
ARc discussion, Ihc votc on thc p int was unanimous (Chai man McndcIson and
CounciImcmbc s Bowsc Chch and vans voting ycs . Chai man McndcIson Ihcn movcd Ihc
cpo t with Icavc !o sta T to makc tcchnicaI cdiIo iaI and con!o ming changcs ARc an
opportunity !o discussion Ihc voIc on thc cpo t was unanimous (Chai man McndcIson and
CounciImcmbc s Bowsc , Chch and Evans voting ycs Thc mccIing adjo mcd at I . !. p m
X. ATTACHMENT S
I . BiII I |0 as inI oduccd
! Writtcn IcsIimony and commcnts
3. liscaI !mpact SIaIcmcnI
4 . CommitIcc PinI !o BiII I |0
COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20004
Memorandum
From:
Date:
Subject:
Nyasha Smith, Secretary to the Co cil
July 13,2012
Referral of Proposed Legislation
Notice is given that the attached proposed legislation was intoduced in the
Legislative Meeting on Tuesday, July 10, 2012. Copies are available in Room
10, the Legislative Services Division.
TITLE: "Pre-litigation Discovery of Insurance Coverage Act of2012", B19-
0890
INTRODUCED BY: Chairman Mendelson
The Chairman is referring this legislation to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Attachment
cc: General Counsel
Budget Director
Legislative Services
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A BILL
'L
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hairman Phil Mendelson
15 I THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
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20 Chairman Mendelson introduced the following bill, which wa referred to the Committee
21 on
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23 To require pre-litigation disclosure of any insurance agreement under which certain
24 persons may be liable to satisf all or part of the claim or to indemnif or
25 reimburse for payments made to satisf the claim by insurace companies in order
26 to facilitate settlements and to reduce the amount of litigation in the Superior
27 Court of the District of Columbia.
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29 BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRIC
T
OF COLUMBIA,
30 That this act may be cited as the "Pre-litigation Discovery of Insurance Coverage Act of
31 2012".
32 Sec. 2. Prelitigation Discovery of Insurance
33 (a) Afer a claimant makes a written claim for compensation or damages
34 concering a vehicle accident, and provides the documents described in subsection (b) or
35 (d) of this section to an insurer, the claimant may obtain from the insurer documentation
36 of the applicable limits of coverage in any insurance agreement under which the insurer
37 may be liable to:
(1) Satisf all or part of the claim; or
2 (2) Indemnify or reimburse for payments made to satisf the claim.
3 (b) In order for a claimant to obtain the prescribed documentation in subsection
4 (a) from the insurer, the claimant must provide the following, in writng, to the insurer:
5 (1) The date of the vehicle accident;
6 (2) The name and last known address of the alleged tortfeasor;
' (3) A copy of the vehicle accident report, if any;
8 (4) The insurer's claim number, if available;
9 (5) The claimant's health care bills and documentation of the claimant's
10 loss of income, if any, resulting from the vehicle accident; and
11 (6) The records of health care treatment for the claimant's injuries caused
12 by the vehicle accident.
13 (c) The insurer shall respond in writing within thirty (30) days of receipt of the
14 request ad shall disclose the limits of liability, at the time of the accident, of policies,
15 regardless of whether the insurer contests the applicability of the policy to the injured
16 person's claim.
17 (d) If the claim is brought by the estate of an individual or a beneficiary of the
18 individual, whose death resulted from a vehicle accident, the insurer must provide the
19 documentation described in subsection (a) of this section if the claimant provides the
20 following, in writing, to the insurer:
21 (1) The date of the vehicle accident;
22 (2) The name and last known address of the alleged tortfeasor;
23 (3) A copy of the vehicle accident report, if any;
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1 (4) The insurer's claim number, if available;
2 (5) A copy of the decedent's death certificate issued in the District of
3 Columbia or another jurisdiction;
4 (6) A copy of the letters of administration issued to appoint the personal
5 representative of the decedent's estate in the District of Columbia or a substantially
6 similar document issued by another jurisdiction;
7 (7) The name of each benefciary of the decedent, if known;
8 (8) The relationship to the decedent of each known benefciary of the
9 decedent;
10 (9) The health care bills for health care treatment, if any, of the decedent
11 resulting from the vehicle accident; and
12 (10) The records of health care treatment for injuries to the decedent
13 caused by the vehicle accident.
14 (e) Afer receipt of the documents described in subsection (d) of this section, the
15 insurer shall respond in writing within thirty (30) days of receipt of the request and shall
16 disclose the limits of liability, at the time of the accident, of all policies, regadless of
17 whether the insurer contests the applicability of the policy to the claim.
18 (f) Disclosure of the policy limits under this section shall not constitute an
19 admission that the alleged injury or damage is subject to the policy.
20 (g) Information concering the insurance policy is not, by reason of disclosure
2 I pursuant to this section, admissible as evidence at trial.
22 Sec. 3. Fiscal impact statement.
23 The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement in the committee report as the
3
D),trc' ,l CQliml>la
insuran F e.raton
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA INSURNCE FEDER nON
P.O. Box 34757 Washington DC 20
e-mail: '\.lll'O"cna dcif.org Tel: 202.797.0757
Testimony of
District of Columbia Insurance Federation
Befor the
DC Council Commitee on the Judiciary
12 October 2012
Bill 19-890
"Pre-litigation Discovery of Insurance Coverage Act of 2012"
P.O. Bx 3757
Wasbington, DC 204
pb 202.797.f757
Good moring Chairperon Mendelson and members of the Commitee on the
Judiciar. My name is Wayne E. McOen. I represent the District of Columbia
Insurance Federation (DCIF), a state insurance trade association whose members
provide propery, casualty, lif and health insurance product and serices in the
District of Columbia. On behalf of the DCIF, I ofr the following remarks with
regard to Bill 19-890, the "Pre-litigation Discovery of Insurance Coverage Act of
2012."
First, I would like to point to the advantages of uniform, or near unifor,
legislation among jurisdictions and, in paricular, among contguous jurisdictions.
Marland, Virginia and West Virginia have recently enacted legislation for the
purpose of requiring cerain insurers to disclose to cerin claimant under
cerain circumstances cerain limits of coverage. We encourage the committee to
consider modifcations to the current draf which will enable insurers to handle
similar situations among jurisdictions seamlessly, more eficiently, and still
achieve the outcomes sought by proponent of this initiative.
The DCIF will provide copies of the aformentioned legislation, but here are
specifc changes we suggest be enterined by the Commite to enable
consistency and, hence, greater efciency of the system without compromising
the stated objective:
An insurer, and the employees and agent of an insurer, may not be civilly
or criminally liable for the disclosure of documentation requird
The total of all medical bills and wage losses must equal or exceed $12,500