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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE
June 3, 2010 Session KRISTEN COX MORRISON v. PAUL ALLEN ET AL.
Appeal by Permission from the Court of Appeals, Middle Section Chancery Court for Davidson County No. 05-1489-1 Claudia Bonnyman, Chancellor

No. M2007-01244-SC-R11-CV - Filed February 16, 2011

W ILLIAM C. K OCH, J R., J., concurring in part and dissenting in part.

Insurance provides an important hedge against the uncertainties of life. It is a vital part of any individual's or family's financial planning because it provides a mechanism for spreading the risk of potential future losses. In most circumstances, persons seeking insurance coverage rely on the expertise of professional insurance agents to assist them in obtaining the desired and appropriate coverage. This appeal provides an opportunity for this Court to address and refine the principles applicable to claims against insurance agents for failure to obtain insurance coverage for their customers. I. J. Howard Morrison and Kristen Cox Morrison were married in 1997. In March 2000, Mr. Morrison purchased a $300,000 term life insurance policy from First Colony Life Insurance Company. This policy, like most life insurance policies, contained a standard incontestability clause stating that the policy would not be contestable "[w]ith respect to statements made in the application" after the policy had "been in force during the Insured's lifetime for a period of two years beginning with the Date of Issue shown in the Schedule." The Morrisons' son was born on March 18, 2002. The contestability period for Mr. Morrison's First Colony policy expired four days later on March 22, 2002. Later in 2002, Mr. Morrison was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. He pled guilty to driving while impaired in December 22, 2002 and was required to drive with a restricted license for one year.

Following the birth of their son, the Morrisons decided that they should prepare a financial plan to enable them to begin putting money aside for their son's college education and for their retirement. They eventually decided to obtain professional assistance from Jody Roberts, one of Mr. Morrison's golfing buddies, and Paul Allen. Messrs. Roberts and Allen worked for Wiley Bros.

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Tennessee Law