A New York Appellate Court recently allowed an insurer to rescind its policy, ab initio, because the written underwriting guidelines supported the carrier’s claims that the same policy would not have been written if the insured had accurately described its loss history.

Insurers that discover the insured made an incomplete or inaccurate disclosure in applying for coverage should certainly consider filing for recision. But in order to prevail at the motion practice stage, extrinsic evidence beyond the underwriters’ testimony is often the difference maker.

http://www.courts.state.ny.us/ad4/court/Decisions/2008/06-06-08/PDF/0574.pdf