Usually confined to the province of legal treatises and journals (such as this one), the subject of Supplementary Uninsured Motorist (SUM) insurance has hit the mainstream press in a big way over the past several weeks. Prompted, or provoked, by a posting on one man’s Tumblr account about the facts of a single SUM dispute in Maryland, SUM coverage quickly became a hot topic in newspaper articles, radio and television shows and blogs throughout the country. In this geographical area, attention has also been called to certain pending legislation relating to the purchase and available limits of this important form of coverage. One of the most interesting aspects of this newfound attention to SUM coverageat least from our perspectiveis the growing recognition and realization that it is one of the least understood, or most misunderstood, forms of insurance coverage around.
In this article we offer a brief summary of the now celebrated case of Fisher v. Progressive, which spawned the new focus on SUM coverage, and of the proposed statutory amendment to §3420(f)(2) of the New York Insurance Law, which has recently been submitted for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signature, and we offer some explanatory background into the nature, scope, purpose, and function of SUM coverage in this state, in the hopes of answering and clearing up some of the questions and misunderstandings raised by recent events and news stories.
The ‘Progressive’ Case
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