Georgia Injury Lawyers Blog
The Reasonable Expectations Doctrine In Insurance Bad Faith
The plain meaning of an insurance policy is informed by the reasonable expectations of the insured. “A contract of insurance should be strictly construed against the insurer and read in favor of coverage in accordance with the reasonable expectations of the insured.” Insurance policies are contracts of adhesion, drawn by insurers, and should be construed as reasonably understood by an insured. The test is not what the insurer intended its words to mean, but rather what a reasonable person in the insured’s position would understand them to mean. “The policy should be read as a layman would read it and not as it might be analyzed by an insurance expert or an attorney.”
Richards v. Hanover Ins. Co.