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Amy and Jon Cota v. Standard Fire Insurance Company

Held August 6, 2009 – Docket No. INS-09-2075
Decision Issued: August 10, 2009

The insured requested a hearing to contest the nonrenewal of an auto insurance policy for three property damage losses. The company provided no documentation to establish that any of the cited losses met the requirements in statute for an accident that would provide grounds for nonrenewal.

Held: For the insured. The company argued only that Maine law allows nonrenewal when the number of accidents exceeds the number of vehicles insured, that one vehicle is insured under the policy, and that the insured has three at-fault accidents in the past 36 months. The company provided no evidence to establish that any of the accidents meet the requirements of 24-A M.R.S.A. § 2916-A(2). The insured provided documentation showing that two of the accidents did not reach or exceed the $1,000 threshold of the statute, thereby eliminating those accidents from consideration. As the statute requires a named insured or customary operator to have two or more accidents meeting the requirements, or for the total number of accidents meeting the requirements to be greater than the number of vehicles insured, the proposed nonrenewal is not permitted under Maine law.