Panel proposes disclosure forms for insureds.

A proposed disclosure form on attorneys' duties and client rights to give to insurance policyholders when they are sued has been tentatively approved by a Bar committee.

The Insurance Practices Special Study Committee, meeting January 13 at the Bar's Midyear Meeting, spent three hours reviewing and making changes to a four-page document that would be provided to policyholders when an insurance company selects an attorney to represent them. The meeting was observed by Bar President Edith Osman, President-elect Herman Russomanno and President-elect Designate Terry Russell.

Committee members noted the form will be reviewed again and must still go to the Bar Board of Governors. They also said they will recommend implementing language be added to the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar which will include that the form does not create any new cause for civil action against an attorney.

The preliminary form was hammered out in a subcommittee that included both committee members and representatives from the insurance industry.

The disclosure represents "a general consensus on how to assure that ordinary citizens with insurance coverage understand that they have rights," said Board of Governors member Mike McMahon, who chaired the subcommittee. "The insurance company may have broad powers over the defense of a case, but the insured will know that power is not so broad that their rights can be ignored, particularly by a lawyer who is a member of The Florida Bar."

He also said the disclosure would be the first time a state bar has imposed such a requirement to protect policyholders who are sued.

"Right now, most people do not understand there are insurance guidelines [that guide how the case is handled], they may not understand that the insurance contract doesn't control everything 100 percent and they may not understand the lawyer selected is their lawyer," McMahon said.

The form doesn't outline all rights of the policyholders, but covers crucial ones and gives a framework to guide the client if questions arise over the representation, he said. It is also intended to help policyholders understand their rights.

The form was the result of intense negotiations with insurance representatives on the subcommittee, he reported.

"There have been a significant number of seriously debated issues," McMahon said. "What we have come up with is a draft that is not necessarily what anyone would choose to do entirely on their own, but it probably comes as close to...