In Daniel Arceneaux, et al. v. Amstar Corp., et al., 2015-0588 (La. 9/7/16), 2016 WL 4699163 (La. 9/7/16), the Louisiana Supreme Court held that in long latency disease cases the cost of the duty to defend should be prorated between the insurers and the insured when...
Year: 2016
The Wyoming Supreme Court Recently Adopted The Notice-Prejudice Rule In A Historic Jurisprudential Review Of Why The Notice-Prejudice Rule Is A Better Approach Than The Traditional Rule Which Does Not Require Prejudice
The Wyoming Supreme Court in Century Surety Co. v. Jim Hipner, LLC, 2016 WY 81, 377 P.3d 784 (2016), engaged in a jurisprudential review of the enforceability of non-prejudicial notice requirements in insurance policies and why courts have moved away from the...
Colorado Supreme Court Rejects The Use Of Extrinsic Evidence To Create Ambiguity In An Insurance Contract
In American Family Mut. Ins. Co. v. Hansen, 2016 CO 46, 275 P.3d 115 (Colo. 2016), the Colorado Supreme Court found that when a discrepancy exists between the policy declarations page and an extrinsic lienholder statement regarding who was an insured, the discrepancy...
Wisconsin Supreme Court Eliminates Any Doubt That There Is No Exception To The Four-Corners Rule In Duty To Defend Cases In Wisconsin
In a split decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Water Well Solutions Service Group, Inc. v. Consolidated Ins. Co., 2015 WI 54, 369 Wis.2d 607, 881 N.W.2d 285 (2016), reaffirmed the "four-corners" rule governing a liability insurer's duty to defend in Wisconsin....
The Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals Finds That The Absence Of A Litigated Judgment Did Not Preclude An Equitable Subrogation Claim From Being Brought By An Excess Insurer For Bad Faith Failure To Settle
In RSUI Indemnity Co. v. Discovery P&C Ins. Co., 649 Fed.Appx. 534 (9th Cir. 2016), the primary insurer unreasonably had refused to pay a settlement demand within policy limits. In order to achieve a settlement, the excess insurer paid a portion of the settlement...
In A Surprising Decision, A Federal District Court, Applying Florida Law, Granted Summary Judgment To An Insurance Company On A “Failure To Settle” Claim Because The Insured’s Liability Was Not Clear
Florida is a testing ground for creative lawyering designed to set up insurance companies on failure to settle claims. However, in Welford v. Liberty Ins. Corp., 2016 WL 3360431 (N.D. Fla., 6/2/16), at least one Federal District Court refused to countenance yet...
In A Self-Evident Decision, The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Recently Held That An Insurance Company’s Failure To Re-Evaluate A Case Value After The Trial Court Eliminated A Key Affirmative Defense Justified A Bad Faith Failure To Settle Verdict
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Bamford, Inc. v. Regent Ins. Co., 822 F.3d 403 (8th Cir. 2016), held that the District Court had properly denied an insurance company's post-verdict motions challenging the jury's verdict in a bad faith failure to settle case and...
Montana Courts Finds That Falling Boulders Constitute “Earth Movement” For Purposes Of Policy’s “Earth Movement” Exclusion
The Montana Supreme Court in Parker v. Safeco Ins. Co. of America, 384 Mont. 125, 2016 MT 173, 376 P.3d 114 (2016), held that an earth movement exclusion was not limited solely to damages caused by soil movement. The Court found that earth movement included damage...
Is Advertising Injury In The Bag? United States Second Circuit Court Of Appeals Finds That The Sale Of Counterfeit Branded Goods Was Not Covered As Advertising Injury
In United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Fendi Adele S.R.I., 823 F.3d 146 (2nd Cir. 2016), the United States Court of Appeals held in favor of USF&G finding that USF&G's policy did not provide coverage for the legal liability of its insured for selling...
Offensive Sewage Odors were Recently Held to be Pollutants and Fell Within an Insurance Pollution Exclusion
The South Carolina Court of Appeals recently held that offensive odors from sewage could be classified as fumes or gasses for purposes of a pollution exclusion. In South Carolina Ins. Reserve Fund v. East Richmond County Public Service District, 2016 WL 1125810 (S.C....