In Brown v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co., 150 Conn. 405 (2013), the plaintiff, Ralston Brown, sought to recover policy proceeds under his homeowner’s policy of insurance after his house was damaged by a fire that occurred on April 21, 2006. However, Brown’s policy had been canceled prior to the date of loss for non-payment of premium. On April 22, 2006, the day after the fire, after discovering the cancelation notice in the debris left after fire, Brown forwarded the missing insurance payment to State Farm and his account was credited on that day. The trial court found that this payment resulted in the reinstatement of the plaintiff’s policy effective the day after the fire.

On appeal, Brown argued that because State Farm accepted his post-loss premium payment, his coverage was reinstated retroactive to the April 6, 2006 cancelation date. Brown further argued that State Farm misapplied his premium payments as between his homeowner’s policy and a business policy and for that reason, the cancelation was improper. The Appellate Court rejected these arguments. In finding in favor of State Farm, the Appellate Court ruled, as a matter of first impression, that Brown’s post-loss premium payment reinstated the policy prospectively only. Relying on the policy language as well as public policy, the Court stated that “[a] loss that has already occurred is not fortuitous – and is thus not insurable.” The Court continued, stating that “[w]ithout such a rule, one could allow his coverage to lapse by not paying his premiums timely and then, upon suffering a loss, force his insurer to ‘buy a claim’ by quickly making the missed premium payments to reinstate his lapsed coverage retroactively.” Adhering to the majority rule, the Court found that State Farm did not waive its right to deny coverage for the fire loss due to its acceptance of the post-loss payment. With respect to Brown’s argument that the policy was improperly canceled, the Court concluded that the trial court did not clearly err in finding that the policy was properly canceled for non-payment of premium.