It’s long been a truism that an Acord certificate is not worth the paper it’s printed on. Texas may be about to change all of that — http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2010/11/17/114977.htm. In the case of Brown v. Omni, the Houston Court of Appeals — http://www.1stcoa.courts.state.tx.us/opinions/HTMLopinion.asp?OpinionID=87640 — has held that “we reject…[the argument] that as a matter of law, issuance of an insurance certificate does not create a duty; presence of disclaimers precludes the creation of false impression; no duty to disclose should arise because there is not duty to explain policy exclusions to an insured; and the use of ‘All Risk’ cannot convey a false impression.” The case is now on appeal to the Texas Supreme Court and if the decision stands, under certain circumstances, an Acord certificate might actually be worth the paper it’s printed on.

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