Geico Agrees With Gay Group Coverage Demand

By Michael Ha

NU Online News Service, June 21, 11:48 a.m. EDT?A gay legal advocacy group said they expect other auto insurers to follow GEICO Direct's action last week to make sure legally married gay couples living in New York State are offered joint spousal coverage.[@@]

Geico issued a clarification after receiving a complaint from Lambda Legal.

The insurer reiterated its policy that it will offer legally married couples joint coverage, and the company said that the policy would apply equally in New York whether applicants are straight or gay couples, in compliance with applicable state law.

The New York state currently does not allow gay marriages but recognizes gay marriages legally performed in other jurisdictions, such as Massachusetts or Canada.

The issue was raised when New York-based Lambda Legal asked GEICO earlier last week about the inconsistencies in the insurer's joint coverage policy.

There are same-sex couples that live in New York and in other parts of the country that have gone to Canada or Massachusetts to get legally married, and these couples have returned to their respective states, observed Alphonso David, staff attorney at Lambda Legal.

A New York resident contacted GEICO soon after his wedding in Canada and requested that GEICO respect his gay marriage for purposes of his auto insurance and premium. "GEICO initially said no to this couple, but after a long, protracted bureaucratic process, GEICO ultimately said yes," Mr. David said.

During that same period, Mr. David said, another gay New York couple went through the exact same process to request joint coverage but was declined by GEICO.

"The reason for that decline," said Mr. David, "was that GEICO had an unclear policy for their agents and underwriters. So depending on which person you got on the telephone, you got a different response."

"We got involved," Mr. David said, "because we felt that it was important that GEICO clarify its policy, because New York law states that any marriage that is validly executed in other jurisdictions must be respected in New York."

Lambda Legal issued a demand letter to GEICO requesting that they offer joint spousal coverage to all same-sex couples in New York who are legally married in jurisdictions such as Canada or Massachusetts.

"The law in New York is a recognition law, and it is pretty clear that if you are married in a jurisdiction where gay marriage is legal, it must be respected in New York," Mr. David said.

GEICO said in its clarification that its policy includes gay couples, according to a company statement last week.

Mr. David said a number of other major auto carriers are also expected to issue statements, following inquiries by Lambda Legal.

The spousal coverage issue, he said, is legally murky when considering different laws in various states. While the New York law is a recognition law, which recognizes marriages legally performed in other jurisdictions, there are other states, such as Pennsylvania, that have statutes that specifically define marriage as only between a man and a woman. In those states, Mr. David surmised, insurers may have legal room to refuse joint coverage to gay couples legally married in jurisdictions that allow gay marriage.

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Geico Agrees With Gay Group Coverage Demand

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