On August 7, 2026, Governor Maura Healey signed into law Chapter 187 of the Acts of 2026 (the Act), formerly Senate Bill No. 785, titled “An Act Relative to Insurance Claims.” The new law, introduced by Senator Joan B. Lovely, amends two chapters of the Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 175 and Chapter 176D, to prohibit insurers, including any non-admitted or surplus lines insurers, from including in a property and casualty policy any language that restricts an insured’s ability to hire a public insurance adjuster as a condition of recovery.
The new law relies on the existing statutory definition of “public insurance adjuster” found in Section 162 of Chapter 175 of the Massachusetts General Laws. Under that provision, a public insurance adjuster is defined as any person who, “for compensation, not being an attorney at law acting in the usual course of his profession, directly or indirectly solicits from an insured or the representative of the insured, or performs services pursuant to an agreement, engagement or undertaking to represent the insured in connection with the assessment of damages, negotiation, settlement, appraisal or reference of a loss under a fire insurance policy, homeowners insurance policy, commercial multi-peril insurance policy, business interruption insurance policy, fidelity bond or crime insurance policy, inland or ocean marine insurance policy, or other property damage insurance coverage of any sort.”
Section 1 of the Act inserts a new Section 2C into Chapter 175 of the General Laws. The provision makes it “unlawful for [all corporations, associations, partnerships or individuals engaged as principals in the business of insurance including reciprocal exchanges] and any non-admitted or surplus lines insurer to include in a policy of property and casualty insurance any language, form or endorsement, which prohibits any insured from hiring, retaining, engaging, utilizing, consulting or contracting with a public insurance adjuster … as a condition to recovery under such policy of insurance.”
The scope of the prohibition extends broadly, covering admitted insurers as defined under Chapter 175, as well as non-admitted and surplus lines insurers. The statute addresses not only outright prohibitions but any policy “language, form or endorsement” that would restrict the insured’s right to engage a public adjuster.
The new Section 2C also includes a severability and enforcement mechanism. It provides that “[a]ny such language, form or endorsement shall be unenforceable and shall be excised from the policy of insurance with all remaining policy language, forms and endorsements unaffected.” This provision ensures that the inclusion of a noncompliant restriction does not void the policy in its entirety but instead results only in the removal of the offending language.
Section 2 of the Act amends Clause (9) of the first paragraph of Section 3 of Chapter 176D by adding a new subclause (o). Chapter 176D of the Massachusetts General Laws is titled “Unfair Methods of Competition and Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices in the Business of Insurance.” Section 3 of that chapter enumerates specific categories of conduct that constitute unfair methods of competition or unfair and deceptive acts and practices. Among those categories, Clause (9) addresses “Unfair claim settlement practices” and defines such practices as consisting of specific enumerated acts or omissions, including misrepresenting policy provisions, failing to promptly investigate claims, refusing to pay claims without a reasonable investigation, and failing to affirm or deny coverage within a reasonable time, among others.
The new subclause (o) adds the following to the list of unfair claim settlement practices: “[a] policy provision in any policy of property or casualty insurance that prohibits an insured from hiring a public adjuster for services provided pursuant to this chapter.”
By placing this prohibition within the framework of Chapter 176D’s unfair claim settlement practices, the Act subjects violations to the existing regulatory and enforcement mechanisms available under that chapter, including investigation by the Commissioner of Insurance and the potential for license suspension or revocation.