Insurer petitions Ninth Circuit for rehearing on pollution exclusion case
2/22/24
Wesco Insurance has asked the Ninth Circuit to rehear a January 23, 2024 decision finding that it must defend its insured against a lawsuit arising from the 2018 Camp Fire. The opinion reversed the trial court’s decision …
2/19/24
By: Rachel E. Hobbs, Galina Kletser Jakobson, and Mary Mead
In a rare victory for insurers in Washington state, on February 15, 2024, the Washington Supreme Court ruled in favor of Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (“Liberty”) regarding Liberty’s …
2/19/24
By: Dave Cecil
The Kentucky Court of Appeals recently settled a decades-long controversy and resolved a split between Kentucky federal district courts by holding that insurance adjusters cannot be held individually liable for “bad faith.”
In Breedlove v. State Farm …
12/27/23
By: Amy Frantz, Michael Sanders, Patrick Eckler, and Jonathan Schwartz
On December 19, 2023, the Illinois Appellate Court, First District unanimously held the insurers in National Fire Insurance Co. v. Visual Pak Co. Inc. have no duty …
Supreme Court of Florida rules bad faith settlements are not collateral sources
11/27/23
By: Catherine M. Carson-Freymann
In Alberta S. Ellison v. Randy Willoughby, No. SC2021-1580, Supreme Court of Florida (November 2, 2023), the Supreme Court of Florida delivered a ruling with significant implications for insurance companies. The court determined that bad …
Church’s word, without evidence, does not support a breach of faith in Texas
11/17/23
By: Lorne G. Hiller, Katherine E. Morsman, and Marc J. Shrake
A Texas federal court did not take a church at its word that an insurer acted in bad faith, rejecting the church’s unsupported argument that the carrier …
Georgia farmer cannot dig his way out of failure to obtain UM coverage
11/14/23
By: Lee D. Whatling and Philip W. Savrin
Is uninsured/underinsured motorist (“UM”) coverage imputed to one injured on a tractor that was not specifically scheduled on the policy and that was operating on a public road when it was struck …
Ohio’s Second District holds disclosure of claims valuation to be “grossly prejudicial”
11/14/23
By: Doug Holthus and William A. Hadikusumo
The Ohio Second District Court of Appeals recently overturned a trial court’s prior discovery order which had directed that State Farm disclose certain contents of its claim file.
The underlying matter involved both …
11/7/23
By: Alexia R. Roney
Insurance policies contain “other insurance” clauses to establish the priority of coverage. Generally, these clauses boil down to “you first” where more than one policy provides coverage for the same incident. “Other insurance” clauses have evolved …
11/6/23
North River Insurance Company v. Leifer, No. 22-1009, 2023 WL 2978970 (2d Cir. Apr. 18, 2023) involved an insurance coverage dispute between The North River Insurance Company (“NRIC”) and Max D. Leifer and the Law Offices …
11/2/23
By: P. Betty Su
A recent decision by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California illustrates how a choice-of-law decision by the court can sometimes make or break an insurance coverage case.
In North River Ins. Co. …
10/19/23
By: Rachel E. Hobbs
A recent decision by a federal court in California set out several important insurance concepts. In Brookfield Property Group v. Liberty Mutual, the defendant CGL insurer issued a policy to a non-party construction manager. The construction …