[lg policy] Arizona: Bill proposes English as language that governs insurance contracts

Thu Mar 1 15:58:24 UTC 2018

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Home <https://azcapitoltimes.com> / legislature
<https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/category/legislature/> / Bill proposes
English as language that governs insurance contracts
Bill proposes English as language that governs insurance contracts

By: Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
<https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/author/howiefischer/> February 28, 2018 ,
3:33 pm

A Senate panel voted Wednesday to let insurers disavow foreign-language
versions of the contracts they provide, a move one lawmaker said will allow
companies to “give people the shaft.”

HB 2083 would spell out that the English language version of any policy
governs any dispute between insurance companies and their customers, even
if a version in another language prepared by the company says something
else. It would, however, require that there be a disclosure on the
non-English version that it has no binding effect, no matter the difference.
[image: Rep. David Livingston (R-Peoria)]
<https://azcapitoltimes.com/files/2013/07/Livingston-David.jpg>

Rep. David Livingston (R-Peoria)

The measure, approved on a 4-3 party line vote by the Senate Finance
Committee, is being sponsored at the behest of the industry by Rep. David
Livingston, R-Peoria. He said the presumption of validity for the English
version starts with the 2006 voter-approved constitutional provision
measure declaring English the official language of the state.

But Livingston said the change actually will help those who don’t speak
English.

“There are some words, especially technical words, in contracts that don’t
translate exactly,” he said. Livingston said that can result in disputes
about which version governs.

“The insurance companies are saying, ‘I’m not going to take that risk,’ ”
he said, deciding to furnish only an English version even when customers
don’t speak that language. Livingston said his bill would encourage
insurers to provide versions in other languages knowing that these can’t be
used against them in court.

But it was precisely that point that annoyed foes.

“If you’re saying that only English governs, and the customer is provided
with a Spanish or any other language translation of the contract, and they
sign on as a customer in good faith thinking that’s what they’re doing, and
then there’s a dispute and it’s a translation problem, you’ve just
transferred the risk and liability onto the customer,” said Sen. Steve
Farley, D-Tucson.

Livingston, a former insurance agent, said the alternative is having no
translation at all. He said that has meant situations where a couple that
does not speak English ends up bringing a bilingual child to the office of
the insurance company to help a parent understand the basics of coverage.

And Livingston said that his legislation actually will help those in
non-English speaking communities, providing them more opportunities to get
coverage. Farley sniffed at that contention.

“If the insurance company wants the business enough, to be able to ask for
the business and have that contract, they should be willing to stand behind
the contract in whatever language they have translated it for,” he said.

“It sounds like a good idea,” said Sen. Olivia Cajero Bedford, D-Tucson.
“But then they give the people the shaft.”

Marc Osborn, lobbyist for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., said there are
protections against insurers using a deliberately mistranslated version to
defraud customers.

He said nothing in the legislation would overrule existing regulations that
require insurance companies to use licensed translators who have been
approved by the state Department of Insurance. And Osborn said there are
laws prohibiting false advertising.

The measure, which already h

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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