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Insurance companies are very careful about what they cover and what they exclude. With homeowners policies, for example, outbuildings may not be covered. If you have a shed or a playhouse, you would need to purchase additional coverage for that. Medical malpractice insurance does not cover illegal acts; if the physician is accused of assault, for example, the insurance company will not pay for the doctor’s defense attorney and will not pay any damages awarded to the victim.

At the time of his death, Trayvon Martin was staying with his father’s girlfriend in a townhouse near Orlando, Florida. He was on his way back from the store, inside the gated townhouse development, when he was shot and killed by a community resident who was also the neighborhood watch coordinator. The case has been controversial from the beginning.

When you buy auto insurance or homeowners insurance, you generally purchase two types of coverage: coverage for loss of or damage to property and coverage for injuries to third parties. If a tree falls on your roof, your insurance reimburses you for the repairs. If a party guest breaks his arm in a fall near your backyard pool, your insurance reimburses him for his medical costs.

First, a quick correction to our last post: We stated that one college retains 80 percent of tuition if the student leaves after the first week of classes. That college actually refunds 80 percent of tuition.

College students and their families have substantial amounts of money invested in their college education. Unfortunately, sometimes a student has to drop classes and withdraw from school during a semester because of unforeseen injury or illness. In most circumstances, colleges and universities will not refund the tuition — or will only refund a portion of it — for the classes not completed.

Four families have something awful in common: Each lost a loved one to suicide. Those loved ones were all veterans who had recently separated from the service, and their families believe they all suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder when they died. The families were surprised when the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Prudential denied the life insurance claims — they knew that the government carried life insurance for service members, so why would these claims fail?

We are continuing our discussion of a federal lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Prudential. The insureds in the suit were veterans of the Armed Forces who committed suicice. Their families believe their suicides were the result of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They also believe that the VA and Prudential should have paid on the veterans’ life insurance policies. The VA and Prudential disagree.

We have been talking about life insurance and the Armed Forces. A group of four families has taken the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Prudential Financial Inc. to court over payment of life insurance benefits. The defendants say the deceased family members, all former active duty military, were not covered because they did not complete the appropriate paperwork.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court, four families of military veterans claim that the Department of Veterans Affairs and Prudential Insurance owes them restitution. While we often — perhaps too often — come across complaints that an insurer has failed to pay a life insurance claim, there is more red tape to this case than to most. And there is red tape that Florida’s military families should know about.

In our last post, we were discussing a report about computer-based claims systems. The author alleges that the software allows insurers to underpay claims, especially auto and property insurance claims for bodily injury. Companies market the software as a tool to help insurance companies be more consistent in evaluating injury claims, according to the report. The more consistent the payouts are, the more consistent the rates will be. In the end, the theory goes, everyone will save money.