Opinion ID: 151762
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Public Policy Implications

Text: Complicating matters further, it is not clear to us that the facts of this case comport with the policy considerations underlying the majority rule. Unlike Geddes & Moss, this case does not involve a simple transfer of a right to claim an undisputed amount of money due. Here, more akin to pre-loss assignments, contractual duties are indeed transferred to the State because the policies impose reciprocal duties on insureds to provide timely notice, substantiate their claims, and mitigate losses. Nor does this case contemplate a simple change in the insured's identity, resulting in no increased risk to the insurer. Instead, the State seeks to re-litigate claims that may have already been pursued by the insured, subjecting the Defendants to multiple lawsuits by a third party whose only evidence of underpayment is that Road Home applications increased to the point of a projected budget shortfall. When certifying an insurance interpretation to the Supreme Court of Alabama, this court explained that [w]hen the state law is in doubt especially on the underlying public policy aims, it is in the best administration of justice to afford the litigants a consistent final judicial resolution by utilizing the certification procedure. Barnes v. Atl. & Pac. Life Ins. Co. of Am., 514 F.2d 704, 706 (5th Cir.1975). We follow that admonition here and certify the question.