Washington Supreme Court Makes it Dangerous to Involve Lawyers in Claims...
The Supreme Court of Washington, in a 5-4 decision, resolved two issues in ways that will limit insurers’ right to invoke the attorney-client privilege “in the claims adjusting process.” First, the...
View ArticleSCOTUS: Would-Be Class Representative Cannot Avoid CAFA Jurisdiction by...
Some class action plaintiffs who want to keep their cases in state court execute “stipulations” not to seek more than $5 million in aggregated damages on behalf of the class. When the case is removed,...
View ArticleIf Rainwater Lands Where it Doesn’t Belong, It’s Still “Surface Water” in the...
The Eleventh Circuit recently affirmed a decision of the Southern District of Georgia, finding an insured’s claim for water damage fell within an exclusion for loss or damage caused by “surface water.”...
View ArticleWith Sewers Backing Up, Messy Damage Claims are On the Rise
Andy crawled to freedom through five hundred yards of – – – smelling foulness I can’t even imagine. Or maybe I just don’t want to. Five hundred yards. The length of five football fields. Just shy of...
View ArticleAsk the Experts About Bad Faith; Just Be Careful How You Do It
In bad faith cases, juries must often decide if the way an insurer processed a claim lacked a “reasonable” basis. Courts have consistently held that experts can help—by explaining how a claim is...
View ArticleNo Manifestation Destiny: The Seventh Circuit Declines to Set a Standard...
When I … feel my finger on your trigger, I know no one can do me no harm.” – John Lennon Property damage can be sudden and dramatic, but it can also be subtle and insidious, and that can make it hard...
View ArticleThe Eleventh Circuit Holds that for Sinkhole Losses, Structural Damage ≠ Any...
The land in Florida is prone to sinking and insurance companies must often scramble for solid footing on which to anchor the scope of coverage for sinkhole losses. In Hegel v. First Liberty Insurance...
View ArticleStriking Down Regulation On Replacement Cost Estimates, A California Court...
Last week, in Association of California Ins. Cos. v. Jones, B238622 (Cal. Ct. App. Apr. 8, 2015), a California appellate court affirmed a decision that invalidated a regulation governing estimates of...
View ArticleFlorida Appellate Court Rejects Bid to Curb Insureds’ Assignments to Contractors
Many property insurance policies contain terms that prohibit assignment, but Florida law has long deemed those terms inoperative once a loss has occurred. E.g., W. Fla. Grocery Co. v. Teutonia Fire...
View ArticleIn Overhead and Profit Class Actions, The Third Trade’s No Longer The Charm
When repairs to a damaged home reach a certain level of complexity, they call for supervision by a general contractor, who receives a percentage of the actual repair costs as “general contractor’s...
View ArticleNot-So-Sudden Impact: Insurers Face A New Breed Of Claim Under the Fair...
Late in June, in Texas Dept. of Housing v. Inclusive Communities, No. 13–1371 (U.S. June 25, 2015), the U.S. Supreme Court ended years of debate by embracing a “disparate impact” claim against a...
View ArticleNot-So-Sudden Impact: Insurers Face A New Breed Of Claim Under the Fair...
This is the second article of a three-part series about two recent decisions by federal courts in Connecticut and California: Viens v. America Empire Surplus Lines Ins. Co., No. 3:14cv952 (D. Conn....
View ArticleNot-So-Sudden Impact: Insurers Face A New Breed Of Claim Under the Fair...
This is the final article of a three-part series about two recent decisions by federal courts in Connecticut and California: Viens v. America Empire Surplus Lines Ins. Co., No. 3:14cv952 (D. Conn. June...
View ArticleTrue To Form: Eleventh Circuit Rejects Penalties for Non-Conforming Policies
Insurance contracts are subject to numerous statutes and regulations specifying whether and how certain facts must be disclosed, certain coverages must be offered and certain coverage options must be...
View ArticleAfter Pit Bull Case, Questions Dog New York’s “Unfortunate Event” Test
Where an insurance policy contains a “per occurrence” limit on coverage, New York courts apply what they call the “unfortunate event” test to determine how many “occurrences” are involved in a given...
View ArticleWashington Court Finds Coverage For “Collapse” Is Not Set In Stone
As this blog has documented, the language of insurance policies evolves; it changes to address new risks, and it also responds to new interpretations of old policy provisions. Even if a policyholder...
View ArticleHUD Strikes Back: The Government Advocates “Disparate Impact” Liability For...
In February 2013, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development adopted a “Discriminatory Effects Rule,” which established liability under the Fair Housing Act for conduct that is otherwise...
View ArticleFlorida Supreme Court Decides that Concurrent Causes Equal Coverage
It’s said that “defeat is an orphan,” but insurable losses often have multiple, concurrent causes. In some cases, one or more of those causes might be outside the scope of coverage, either by omission...
View ArticleUnlike Friendships, Policy Exclusions Are Not Severable In West Virginia
A homeowners insurance policy often covers every member of a family, and many policies state that the insurance applies separately to each insured. The same policies usually exclude coverage for...
View ArticleToo Soon! First Circuit Finds No Duty To Defend Before Suit Is Filed
Can something short of the filing of a complaint trigger an insurer’s duty to defend? It’s not an idle question. Uncertainty on this issue could produce an unintended breach, and, in some...
View Article
