Mississippi Property Study Guide

Mississippi property law is organised by a coastline. The state built one residual mechanism for wind along the Gulf and another for everything else statewide — and the two draw the coast on different maps. Add a valued policy law that covers one peril, and you have most of what this part tests.

Valued policy law — fire, and only fire

Miss. Code Ann. §83-13-5 is triggered by total destruction by fire and nothing else. Where insured buildings “situated within this state, are totally destroyed by fire,” the company “shall not be permitted to deny” that they were worth “the full value upon which the insurance is calculated.”

Now the part that decides exam questions. Windstorm, hail, hurricane and tornado appear nowhere in §83-13-5. A total loss caused by hurricane or windstorm does not invoke Mississippi’s valued policy law — it settles on ordinary policy terms. In a coastal state that is the section’s most consequential limitation. Learn it affirmatively.

Three smaller rules ride along: a maximum term of “nor for a longer term than five (5) years”; a flat ban on attaching “a three-quarter (3/4) value clause to insurance of this kind”; and a carve-out — the section “shall not apply to any builder’s risk insurance policy.”

Two residual markets, two different coasts

MWUA — the Mississippi Windstorm Underwriting Association, Miss. Code Ann. ch. 83-34 — is the wind pool. §83-34-1(f): “‘Coast area’ means Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone and George Counties.” Six counties. A terminology warning: chapter 83-34 has no defined term “windstorm and hail insurance.” It uses “essential property insurance,” meaning coverage against windstorm and hail loss in the coast area. Cite the concept, not a phantom label.

MRPIUA — the Mississippi Residential Property Insurance Underwriting Association, ch. 83-38 — is the FAIR plan, and it operates statewide. Under §83-38-5 the old Mississippi Rural Risk Insurance Association “is modified and expanded” and “shall hereafter be known as” MRPIUA. It comprises all insurers authorised to write property insurance on a direct basis, and membership is a condition of the authority to transact business.

Its product sits at §83-38-3(a): direct loss to residential property “as provided by a standard fire policy and extended coverage endorsement thereon,” on terms the Commissioner approves. Two limits live inside that definition. In coastal areas the coverage expressly excludes “the risks of wind and hail storm” — MWUA writes those there — and it is capped at “ninety-five percent (95%) of the market value” of the insured property, excluding land.

Here is the trap. §83-38-3(i) defines MRPIUA’s “coastal areas” as Hancock, Harrison and Jackson Counties — three — which is not MWUA’s six-county “coast area.” Two chapters, two maps.

Repealed chapters — not live law

Chapter 83-35, the old Underwriting Association (§§83-35-1 through 83-35-33), was “Repealed by Laws, 1987, ch. 459, § 18, eff from and after December 31, 1988” — the same act that created MWUA. The Property Insurance Clarity Act, ch. 83-79 (§§83-79-1 through 83-79-13), enacted by Laws 2015, ch. 322, § 1 effective 1 July 2015, died by a self-executing repealer inside the chapter itself: “Repealed by § 83-79-13, eff from and after July 1, 2022.”

Rates, premium checks, surplus lines

Rates. Do not reach for a label. Miss. Code Ann. §83-2-7(1) requires insurers to file all rates, supplementary rate information, policy forms and endorsements “at least thirty (30) days prior to the proposed effective date,” and a filing “is deemed to be approved unless disapproved by the Commissioner of Insurance within thirty (30) days after the date of filing.” Under §83-2-7(3) the commissioner may give written notice within thirty days that more time is needed, “not to exceed sixty (60) days from the date of such notice.” Neither “file-and-use,” “prior approval” nor “use-and-file” appears in the statute — and it is certainly not use-and-file, since rates may not be used before filing.

Premium checks. 19 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 1, Ch. 11 (effective 1 August 1980) states Rule 11.01 in capitals: “ALL PREMIUM CHECKS SHALL BE MADE PAYABLE TO THE INSURANCE COMPANY WRITING SUCH POLICY OF INSURANCE.” It also requires an authorised company receipt on an approved printed form showing company name and address, date, agent name, total premium collected and policy type. Note what is absent: Mississippi has no premium trust or fiduciary account requirement for producers.

Surplus lines. Miss. Code Ann. §83-21-19 creates no separate examination. The applicant must already hold “an insurance producer license with a property, casualty and/or personal lines line of authority” and be “regularly commissioned to represent a fire and casualty insurance company licensed to do business in the state.” The fee is $100 biennially, and the section imposes no bond. Carry the penalty ceiling: “a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500.00) per violation” — 2.5 times the $1,000 ceiling for ordinary producer violations under §83-17-71.