An Ohio policyholder accuses Nationwide of wrongfully denying insurance claims by arguing that consumers committed insurance material misrepresentation on the initial application for their policy.

Plaintiff Angela Green recently filed a class action lawsuit against Nationwide General Insurance Company, alleging that the insurer denied her auto insurance claim by claiming that her original application for insurance contained insurance material misrepresentation.

According to her complaint, Green applied for insurance with Nationwide in April 2017. In her application, she included her information as well as the information of her husband and child who also drove the vehicles.

During the application, Nationwide allegedly warned that any insurance material misrepresentation may void her policy. She says that Nationwide issued her insurance and she renewed this insurance in October 2017.

In November 2017, Green says she was in a traffic accident while driving her 2010 Honda Fit, a vehicle covered by the insurance policy. The same day as the accident, she says she filed a claim with Nationwide and followed the appropriate procedures for having her repair estimates determined. However, in December 2017, Nationwide allegedly sent Green a letter informing her that they would be rescinding her insurance policy based on alleged insurance material misrepresentation.

Nationwide allegedly claimed that Green committed insurance material misrepresentation because she failed to disclose that her son was the title holder for the Honda Fit. Green says her son Ashton had purchased the vehicle used in 2013 with her husband Tim as the cosigner.

In 2014, Ashton decided he did not need the vehicle, and Green says she took over the vehicle and became responsible for payments. Green says she did not have a copy of the title and did not see that her husband was not on the title as an owner, despite cosigning the loan for the vehicle.

Green claims that Nationwide did not sufficiently warn her that insurance material misrepresentation would void her policy from its inception, only that such insurance material misrepresentation may void her policy. Green’s lawsuit claims that the statements made by Nationwide including “could” and “may” do not satisfy legal requirements for plain language.

Green references a similar Ohio insurance denial lawsuit filed in 2010, in which the court determined that language in policies must be explicit and plain in order to lawfully void a policy due to insurance material misrepresentation.

“Policy language ‘we may void this policy’ is not a clear warning to the insured that a misstatement shall render the policy void,” the 2010 lawsuit said.

Green seeks to represent a Class of Ohio consumers who were insured by Nationwide and submitted a claim under an automotive policy only to have their policy rescinded for alleged insurance material misrepresentation. The Nationwide insurance material misrepresentation class action lawsuit seeks actual damages, punitive damages, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

Green’s legal team includes Todd B. Naylor and Robert B. Sherwood of Goldenberg Schneider LPA.

The Ohio Insurance Denial Class Action Lawsuit is Green v. Nationwide General Insurance Company, Case No. 2018-cv-01284, in the Court of Common Pleas for Stark County, Ohio.