News

Risk Retention Group Wins Ruling over Transfer of Policy

January 29, 2020 – Media Mention
Business Insurance

Alan Lyons, partner and chair of Herrick's Insurance & Reinsurance Group, was quoted in Business Insurance in an article discussing the outcome of an appeals court ruling affirming summary judgment in favor of our client, a commercial property insurer. The case arose from a dispute over the purported assignment of an insurance policy without our client's knowledge or consent.  The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an insurance policy cannot be assigned to a new property owner without first obtaining the consent of the insurer to the assignment. Lyons stated,“[t]his decision has significant implications on insurers’ ability to enforce anti-assignment clauses in insurance policies. Now that these clauses are fully enforceable, insureds must ensure that they obtain prior consent of the insurer to an assignment of an insurance policy. Otherwise, courts will strictly enforce the anti-assignment clause and invalidate the purported assignment. Additionally, courts will not obligate an insurer to consider a retroactive request by an insured for consent to an assignment.”