LAW 5324: Insurance - 2164

The course will focus on insurance law and theory and the role of the state and federal courts in shaping insurance law based on perceptions of public policy (e.g., should public policy preclude coverage for punitive damages? For intentional torts? For “criminal” acts that result in unintended consequences?). The course will survey significant categories of insurance, particularly liability and property insurance, as well as the Bermuda form of casualty insurance, aviation, cyber, life, automobile, and reinsurance. The course will cover the duties of liability insurers to defend their insureds in lawsuits and to make reasonable settlements of claims against their insureds. Insurance concepts will be examined in the context of recent events, such as the Sony Pictures cyber attack, the Macondo well blow-out, aviation disasters, the Great East Japan tsunami and earthquake, and the World Trade Center attack.