Free Rhode Island Casualty practice questions

Answer: C. $780 per week

Sec. 28-33-12(a)(2) pays a surviving spouse with dependent children the weekly total incapacity rate the deceased employee would have received under Sec. 28-33-17, plus $40 per week for each dependent child. Two dependent children add $80 to the $700 rate, for $780. A payment of $700 leaves out the child amounts, $740 counts only one child, and $820 counts three.

Answer: B. Every insurer authorized to write personal injury liability insurance directly in the state

The rule makes MMJUA membership mandatory for every insurer authorized to write personal injury liability insurance in Rhode Island on a direct basis, including insurers covering those perils in multiple peril package policies, and remaining a member is a condition of keeping authority to write that business in the state. Membership is therefore not voluntary, is not limited to surplus lines insurers, and does not turn on a premium threshold.

Answer: A. Within three days

Sec. 28-33-8(b) gives the healthcare provider three days from the initial visit following an injury to send the notification of compensable injury form, on a form approved by the administrator of the medical advisory board, to the insurer or self-insured employer and to the employee and the employee's attorney. Ten, fifteen and twenty-one days are not the period the section sets for this form.

Answer: D. It covers the rental car without regard to negligence, for up to 60 consecutive days

R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 27-7-6(a) requires coverage under the property damage liability section of a private passenger automobile policy for liability assumed under a written contract, and extends that property damage coverage to a rented motor vehicle under 10,000 pounds without regard to negligence, for a period not to exceed 60 consecutive days. Conditioning coverage on Paula's fault ignores the without-regard-to-negligence rule, 30 days understates the period, and an open-ended period for as long as the policy runs exceeds the 60-day cap.

Answer: A. March 16

A claim for care by a physician, dentist or hospital the employee chose is enforceable only if that provider gives the employer or insurance carrier written notice of the choice within 15 days after services begin. Treatment that starts March 1 makes March 16 the deadline. March 4 reflects the 3-day window for the notification of compensable injury form after an initial visit, which is a different filing. March 22 reflects the 21 days within which medical bills become payable after a payment request. June 1 borrows the 3-month period for submitting the final itemized bill, and that period runs from the end of treatment, not its start.

Answer: A. A driver who has failed to pay a judgment arising out of the use of a registrable vehicle

R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 31-32-1 applies the chapter's requirement to deposit proof of financial responsibility for the future, subject to certain exemptions, to two groups: persons convicted of or who forfeited bail for certain motor vehicle offenses, and persons who failed to pay judgments on causes of action arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of vehicles of a type subject to registration. The unpaid judgment places that driver inside the section. A first-time registrant, a first-time license or permit applicant and a policyholder facing a renewal premium increase fall into neither group the section names.

Answer: D. 15 days to submit proof of owner's or operator's security or proof of exemption

Once the comparison shows a vehicle uninsured for four consecutive reporting periods, the division directs the designated agent to notify the owner, who then has 15 days to supply either proof of owner's or operator's security or proof of exemption from that requirement. Ten, 30 and 45 days are not the period the subsection sets, and the notice may be answered with proof of exemption as well as proof of security.

Answer: B. 90 days before the program ends

An entity with permission to self-insure must notify the Department of its intent to discontinue the program 90 days before the program terminates. June 1 belongs to a different duty, the annual filing of an audited certified financial statement and actuarial projections. Thirty days of advance notice, and notice given after the program has ended, both fall short of the 90 days of advance notice the rule requires.

Answer: C. $40,000: $25,000 to the first pedestrian and $15,000 to the second

R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 31-32-24(b)(2)(i) caps the owner's policy at $25,000 for bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident, and subdivision (ii) sets $50,000 for two or more persons, subject to that one-person limit. The first pedestrian therefore receives $25,000 and the second receives the full $15,000, a total of $40,000. Paying $40,000 or $35,000 to one pedestrian breaks the one-person cap, and treating $25,000 as the total for both people confuses the per-person limit with the per-accident limit.

Answer: D. A policy from an unapproved surplus lines insurer

The rule requires anyone who has not been given permission to self-insure to be covered in one of three ways: by professional liability insurance from a licensed insurer, by insurance from an approved surplus lines insurer, or through a program set up by a hospital affiliated with an accredited medical school that complies with R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 27-16-2.6. A surplus lines insurer counts only if it is approved, so a policy from an unapproved one does not satisfy the rule. The licensed insurer, the approved surplus lines insurer and the medical-school-affiliated hospital program are each one of the permitted routes.