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Richard Mullen v. Norfolk and Dedham Mutual Fire Insurance Company

Held October 14, 2010 - Docket No. INS-10-2092
Decision Issued: October 15, 2010

The named insured requested a hearing to contest the cancellation of his businessowners policy for failure to comply with loss control recommendations. The company failed to establish that the loss control recommendations were conveyed to the policyholder.

Held: For the insured. 24-A M.R.S.A. § 3007.2.D. permits cancellation of a commercial property policy for the insured’s failure to comply with reasonable loss control recommendations. The insurer must first establish that reasonable recommendations were conveyed to the insured, and then that the insured failed to comply with those recommendations. The evidence is only that recommendations were conveyed to the company-appointed agent, with no evidence that the agent in turn conveyed them to the policyholder. As the company did not establish that recommendations were made to the policyholder, the policy cannot be cancelled for his failure to comply with them.