Finding Lost Insurance Policies: Valuable Tips For Policyholders

This paper provides a variety of techniques that can be used to locate historical insurance coverage which could be very valuable assets to pay for attorneys' fees and possible liabilities in various kinds of lawsuits.

As a general rule, the policyholder bears the burden of proving coverage against its insurance companies. Ideally, such proof is provided by copies of the actual executed insurance policies at issue. However, where the claims involve occurrences over a long period of time, the actual policies may have been lost or destroyed, and other secondary proof may be necessary.

If a policy has been lost or destroyed, the policyholder must satisfy two requirements to prove coverage. The policyholder should prove that the policy in fact has been lost, or otherwise is unavailable. In addition, the policyholder must show that it made a diligent search for the policy in all places where the policy was likely to be found.