ABSTRACT:
The Ethics Committee previously issued two opinions addressing the relationship between an insurance company and the lawyer hired by the company to represent its insured. These opinions, which turned on a preliminary question of insurance law that remains unsettled in New Hampshire, are inconsistent with one another. Because it is not within the Committee’s purview to decide this question of insurance law, after review, the Committee withdraws one of the opinions and modifies the reasoning of the other. Lawyers are further advised that until this question is resolved by the New Hampshire Supreme Court, they should be clear whom they represent in their engagement letters and in communications with the insurance company.
This opinion was submitted for publication to the NHBA Board of Governors at its May 6, 2019 meeting.