Undoubtedly, many of our members are aware of the tragic accident on
New Year’s Eve in which an Uber driver struck and killed a six-year-old girl in
a San Francisco crosswalk. I learned, in attending the Legislative Action Day
for the Association of California Insurance Companies (ACIC) in Sacramento this
month, that the fallout from this accident has come to the attention of the
California Department of Insurance (CDI).
In the wake of the accident, both the driver’s commercial and personal
carriers declined to cover the resulting claims. The commercial carrier
declined due to the fact that the driver did not have a paying passenger at the
time; the personal carrier declined because he was available to pick up
customers and had his application active at the time of the accident.
CDI held a hearing on the issue and is seeking solutions to ensure that
this kind of claims result does not recur, and this is certainly an area where
surplus lines insurers and brokers may have a good opportunity to step in. We
would advise our members to familiarize themselves with this case and to
consider whether this is a line of business where they can provide solutions.
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