Article
The Efficient Proximate Cause Doctrine - What Is It, and Why Do I Care?
Baylor Law Review
(2021)
Abstract
Climate change and other environmental factors lead to increasing numbers of insurance claims. In addition to its toll on health, the Coronavirus (COVID – 19) has further led to an astounding number of losses to businesses, both large and small, that will invariably lead to disputes involving insurance coverage. The efficient proximate cause doctrine provides a method of determining the legally significant causative factor leading to a loss when multiple causative factors are involved and at least one is subject to a policy exclusion. The efficient proximate cause doctrine is of crucial importance to the host of attorneys who practice in the area of insurance law from either the plaintiff or defense perspective. Although the doctrine has been adopted in a majority of jurisdictions, its application by jurisdiction is surprisingly varied in approach. Additionally, significant issues involving the doctrine remain unresolved in a number of jurisdictions. An example is the emerging practice of applying the efficient proximate cause doctrine to third-party policies of liability protection as well as to first-party policies protecting the interests of the insured. That development has created uncertainty in the insurance market and is recognized as having the potential to have a dramatic effect on how policies are written.
This article examines pertinent issues in relation to the doctrine and provides suggestions as to the most desirable resolution in unclear situations. The better view is that the doctrine should be applied to most, if not all, insurance disputes involving multiple causative factors with the most significant event in the chain of causation determining the efficient proximate cause of a loss.
The article concludes with the examination of an important issue involving the effect of anti-concurrent causation clauses attempting to eliminate the effect of the efficient proximate cause doctrine. A majority of jurisdictions that have considered the issue have enforced such clauses although some jurisdictions have refused to do so based either on either public policy or statutory enactment. Interestingly, many jurisdictions have not confronted the issue of anti-concurrent cause clauses and whether they should be enforced. This article argues that such clauses should be denied enforcement based on public policy and the reasonable expectation of insureds.
Keywords
- Contracts,
- Insurance
Disciplines
- Law and
- Insurance Law
Publication Date
Spring 2021
Citation Information
Vonda Laughlin. "The Efficient Proximate Cause Doctrine - What Is It, and Why Do I Care?" Baylor Law Review (2021) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/vonda-laughlin/9/