A class action was filed last summer against an insurer that
denied claims for a loss after voiding the policy because of
misrepresentations by the insured. Green v. Nationwide General
Ins. Co., Case no. 2018 cv 01284 (Cuyahoga Cty. C.P. Ct.). In
Green, the insured was in an auto accident, but failed to
disclose that her son, and not the insured, was the title owner of
the insured vehicle. After submitting a claim, the insured received
notice that the insurer was rescinding the policy because of this
misrepresentation on her application and denied coverage for the
loss.
The insured alleges a difference under Ohio law between
warranties and representations, the former of which renders the
policy void ab initio, while only the latter makes the policy
voidable, and then only if the misstatement was fraudulent and
material. This theory has its genesis in some Ohio appellate
decisions that cite to an Ohio Supreme Court for this distinction,
but that may not necessarily
