Non-Paid premiums

[MsHk]

What is the name of your state? Kentucky

There was a car wreck between a young male and a old man. The boy admitted to have smoked marijuana before the time of the accident, to which he ran a stop sign and collided with plaintiff. Defendant was hit on left driver front door and plaintiff's front end was totaled when hitting the defendant. Plaintiff complains of a past and future pain and suffering in his hand which was claimed to have been broken.

After some time into his deposition he says that he quit paying his premiums on auto-insurance a year before the accident. The insurance was not in his name, nor was the car he was driving. He said he never received notice of the termination of his policy, thus belieiving that it was still issued. However the insuree has documentation that they sent the termination notice 30 days after last premium was due. No confirmation was sent back.

I was wondering if KRS 304.20-320(3)(c) applies:

304.20-320 Declinations -- Cancellations -- Nonrenewals -- Terminations -- Notice
of premium required.

(3) Nonrenewals.
(c) If the insurer has manifested its willingness to renew by mailing or delivering
of a renewal notice, bill, certificate, or policy to the first named insured at his
last known address at least thirty (30) days before the end of the current policy
period with the amount of the renewal premium charge and its due date clearly
set forth therein, then the policy shall expire and terminate without further
notice to the insured on the due date unless the renewal premium is received
by the insurer or its authorized agent on or before that date. When any policy
terminates pursuant to this subsection because the renewal premium was not
received on or before the due date, the insurer shall, within fifteen (15) days,
deliver or mail to the first named insured at his last known address a notice
that the policy was not renewed and the date on which the coverage under it
ceased to exist.

It looks to provide enough law to allow for motion of summary judgement for the insurance company's behalf, but I was wondering if perhaps I should include statutes that state reasons for cancellation and purposes of liability insurance due to application of KRS 304.20-320 to 304.20-350. Would this be beating the downed man with a bat or simply backing factual statements? I feel I might want to just keep it as short as I can to get the direct point across, but I don't want to take this chance.

I really would like to also know if this is ethical treatment as the boy was not the client, but the insurance company was. The boy will be left without an attorney and is currently on SSI for multiple disabilities. If the insurance company is out, we are out.

Thanks for your help. (sorry for typos, on a laptop, and I don't use them much.)

[teflon_jones]

What is this, a homework assignment?

[MsHk]

No, I am in high school but working for a para legal over the summer. He wants me to write a motion for summary judgement and a memorandum, but I wasn't sure where to start, this being the first one I have tried. Was curious as to if I am heading in the right direction, or if I am taking a totally off hand approach.

I plan on going to law school in the future and he assigned this to me as kind of a learning experience. All past information I have given you was done on my own time, but I am feeling a bit uneasy about the approach I have taken and he is planning on giving it to the attorney he works for (after he revises it) and I don't want to turn in anything that could make me look like a clueless high-school student. :P

Thank you for your time.

Max

[teflon_jones]

Well, I don't mind helping out a little then. Most of these posts come from people in law school working on a homework assignment and they should be doing their own work!

Just to clarify, which party are you representing?

So far you have an excellent start. There are 3 approaches to writing this and a lot depends on the judge hearing the case. Some prefer the simple and to the point approach, some prefer the middle ground, and some like to have every detail possible. I recommend the middle ground, which would include referencing the statutes.

[MsHk]

Sorry for wating so long to respond.

We are representing the Insurance company of the boy that was in the wreck (defendant).


Just to keep you up, I started it a day ago and have been going through affadavits recording every date involving the insurance company with the boy. I am thinking, since his sinsurance was cancelled 3 days prior to the accident, of making a list of dates.

>Date Policy was issued
>Date-Date of on time paid premiums by boy
>Dates of letters sent from insuree for late payments
>Date of end of policy
>Date of renewal
>Date of last paid premium(only 1 after renewal)
>Date of last bill sent, saying that policy would be cancelled at said date if not paid by certain time
>Date of when policy is cancelled
>Date of wreck (3days later)

Intro to that I would set up the scene (leaving out almost all details of wreck since they have nothing to do with if the boy had ins. or not.) Then I would list dates, said above. Then I would argue the facts, stating a couple of State cases and statutes. Is this a smart idea? I was told the judge on the case prefers small, easy reading summaries rather than large ones, so i felt the listing of dates would make it clear and precise as to what happened when.

I was also wondering if I should place statutes that back up the insurance company's right to cancel a policy of a insured due to bad faith, which specifically states not paying of premiums.

Thanks in advance.