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Travis Lopes v. MMG Insurance Company

Held May 13, 2008 - Docket No. INS-08-2045
Decision Issued: June 5, 2008

The insured requested a hearing to contest nonrenewal of his homeowners insurance due to two fire losses.

Held: For the insured. The Maine Property Insurance Cancellation Control Act requires the reason accompanying the notice of the intended nonrenewal to be explicit. While the stated reason was the number and nature of fire losses that had occurred since inception and listed the dates of the losses, MMG argued at hearing that it was the insureds’ lack of proper care and attention to “friendly fires” that was the reason for the nonrenewal. As this reason was not conveyed by the notice of nonrenewal, the company is unable to rely upon it to support nonrenewal. As the reason only notified the insured that the policy was not being renewed due to two losses, which is not a permitted reason under section 3051, the nonrenewal action was denied.