Senate Bill No. 281
(By Senator Rowe)
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[Introduced January 22, 2002; referred to the Committee
on Banking and Insurance; and then to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section thirty-one-e, article six,
chapter thirty-three of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
settlements under underinsured motorist coverage; reducing
the time an underinsured motor vehicle insurance carrier
has to approve or disapprove a liability settlement; and
allowing an assigned claim number to be used in notice of
settlement in lieu of a policy number.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirty-one-e, article six, chapter thirty-three
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-
one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. THE INSURANCE POLICY.
§33-6-31e. Notice of proposed settlement for policy limits to
underinsured motorist coverage carrier; waiver of
subrogation; time limits.
(a) When an automobile liability insurer indemnifying a
tortfeasor offers to pay its full policy limits of coverage for
bodily injury or death to a claimant in a claim involving a
motor vehicle accident, conditioned upon an underinsured
motorist coverage carrier waiving its rights of subrogation
against the tortfeasor, then the claimant or the liability
insurer indemnifying the tortfeasor may give to the underinsured
motorist coverage carrier notice in writing that an offer to
settle for policy limits has been made by the liability insurer
indemnifying the tortfeasor.
(b) The notice shall be in writing and sent by certified
mail, return receipt requested, to the underinsured motorist
coverage carrier, and it shall state plainly the following
information:
(1) The name and address of the underinsured motorist
coverage claimant;
(2) The name and address of the person in whose name the
underinsured motorist coverage is written;
(3) The policy number of the policy under which the
underinsured motorist coverage is written or a claim number assigned to the claim at issue for the underinsured motorist
coverage;
(4) The name of the tortfeasor;
(5) The name of the insurance company and the policy number
for the insurance policy indemnifying the tortfeasor or a claim
number assigned to the claim at issue for the liability coverage
under which an offer to settle for policy limits has been made;
(6) A statement that the company indemnifying the tortfeasor
has offered to settle with the claimant for policy limits,
conditioned upon the waiver by the underinsured motorist
coverage carrier of its subrogation rights against the
tortfeasor; and
(7) A statement that under the law the underinsured motorist
coverage carrier has sixty thirty days to preserve its
subrogation rights against the tortfeasor by providing written
notice of its intention to do so and by paying to the claimant
an amount equal to the policy limits that have been offered to
the claimant by the liability insurance company indemnifying the
tortfeasor.
(c) The underinsured motorist coverage carrier is considered
to have fully waived its rights of subrogation against the
tortfeasor, unless within sixty thirty days from receipt of the
notice described in subsection (b) above, the underinsured motorist coverage carrier sends in writing by certified mail,
return receipt requested, to the claimant and to the liability
insurer indemnifying the tortfeasor written notice that it does
not waive its rights of subrogation against the tortfeasor.
This notice is not effective unless the notice to the claimant
is accompanied by payment to the claimant of an amount equal to
the policy limits which had been offered by the liability
insurance company indemnifying the tortfeasor. If the
underinsured motorist carrier fails to send the notice provided
for in this subsection or fails to pay the sum required by this
subsection within the time specified, then the underinsured
motorist coverage carrier is considered to have waived its
subrogation rights against the tortfeasor, and the claimant may
proceed to consummate the settlement about which notice had been
provided, as set forth in subsections (a) and (b) of this
section.
(d) If the underinsured motorist carrier gives notice and
tenders the payment, as required in subsection (c) of this
section, then the underinsured motorist carrier is and remains
subrogated to the rights of the claimant as to the tortfeasor to
the extent of any and all sums paid by the underinsured motorist
carrier to the claimant, as provided under current law. The
payment by the under insured motorist coverage carrier of the amount equal to the policy limits offered by the liability
insurer indemnifying the tortfeasor, as provided for in this
section, shall does not serve in any way to waive, change or
increase the amount of the applicable underinsured motorist
coverage beyond the underlying underinsured motorist coverage
policy limits.
(e) The provisions of this section shall apply only to
written notices sent to underinsured motorist coverage carriers
on or after the effective date of this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to reduce the time an
underinsured motor vehicle insurance carrier has to approve or
disapprove a liability settlement, from 60 to 30 days and
allowing an assigned claim number to be used in the notice of
settlement in lieu of a policy number.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.