Legal Question in Insurance Law in California
Insurance law or breach of contract?
In 7/95 I had some personal items shipped from Mexico to the California via Mexicana Airlines. One of the items was a very expensive guitar ($2200) which I insured at the cost of $281. Most of the items arrived OK but the guitar did not. I filed a claim with the airline but never received any insurance payment from them. The Cargo/Claims dept. at the LAX airport which was handling this matter changed managers so frequently that every time I checked back for a status report, I got the same excuse about the manager being new and that he/she would look into it or that they were waiting for a response from their Mexico office. The insurance form states any legal options will be void if not filed within 2 years from the date the contract was signed. I know that the breach of contract statued for a written contract is 4 years from the date the contract was breached. I say the contract was breached on 1/1/97 and the only reason I did not file suit earlier was because I was assured this problem would be resolved.
Should I pursue this as a breach of contract or something along the lines of insurance fraud?
Thank you very much.
CM
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Insurance law or breach of contract?
The two year limit may be valid in California. If you
were induced not to sue because you were promised
a settlement after a full investigation, you may
have a fraud claim or an estoppel to assert the
limitation.
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