Insurance is one of the most important tools for the management of risk by both private and public enterprises. Insurance law is a hybrid of contracts and administrative law: parties enter contractual relationships which are regulated by the state. The course introduces students to the core principles and institutions of insurance. We will approach insurance law from a law and economic perspective, aiming to understand how insurance institutions affect economic behavior of insureds, insurers and their lawyers. Broad issues to be covered include fraud, moral hazard, adverse selection and other types of divergence of incentives. We will build on these theoretical issues and attempt to understand the various doctrines developed by common law courts as strategies to deal with these problems. In addition, the course provides knowledge of basic insurance law governing insurance contract formation, the interpretation of insurance contracts, insurance regulation and more, especially in areas such as property, life, health, disability, automobile (including uninsured motorist coverage), professional and liability insurance.
This is an online course which means that all students can take it from anywhere in the world provided they have access to fast internet. Students will be expected to download lectures twice a week, participate in discussion board (20% of final grade), resolving quizzes (34% of final grade) and taking a take-home exam (46% of final grade). There will be no class meetings.
A movie clip which explains the structure in more detail is available online at https://law.utexas.edu/faculty/ravraham/videos/
Avraham, Ronen