The Ohio Supreme Court recently held that the tortfeasor's liability insurer was not directly responsible to pay the former attorneys' lien when settling the case against its insured.In Kisling, Nestico & Redick, LLC v. Progressive Max Insurance Co. 2020 Westlaw...
Year: 2020
CRACKING THE CONCEPT OF COLLAPSE IN A PROPERTY POLICY
In Valls v. Allstate Ins. Co., 919 F.3d 739 (2nd Cir. 2019) the 2nd Circuit construed the concept of collapse narrowly. The homeowner's insurance policy provided coverage for "the entire collapse" of a building structure, that "must be sudden and accidental" but the...
WASHINGTON COURT BRINGS NEW MEANING TO “DECAY”
In a case involving collapse under a property insurance policy, the Washington Court of Appeals in Feenix Parkside, LLC v. Berkley North Pacific, 438 P.3d 597 (Wash. App. 4/8/19) broadly defined the concept of "decay" in an insurance policy's coverage for collapse due...
YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN . . .
In Zavodnick, Zavodnick & Lasky, LLC v. National Liability and Fire Ins. Co., 2019 WL 1003157 (E.D. Pa. 3/1/19) the Pennsylvania court held that when a workers compensation board criticized the attorney's handling of the case, that a reasonable attorney would have...
COURT FINDS THAT A GOVERNMENT SUBPOENA SEEKING DOCUMENTS CONSTITUTED A CLAIM FOR NON-MONETARY RELIEF UNDER A D&O POLICY
The Texas court in Oceans Healthcare, LLC v. Illinois Union Ins. Co., 2019 WL 1437955 (E.D. Tx. 3/30/19) (appealed file), held that the subpoena alleged a wrongful act under the policy because the subpoena sufficiently alleged violations of the false claims act. The...
IN DETERMINING INSURANCE AGENT LIABILITY FOR FAILURE TO PROCURE, A FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION IS WHETHER THE COVERAGE SOUGHT WAS EVEN AVAILABLE
According to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, to assert an insurance agent's liability for negligent failure to procure requested coverage, the customer must establish that the coverage requested was actually available.In Emer's Camper Corral, LLC v. Alderman, 2019 WL...
WASHINGTON COURT PREVENTS DUPLICATION OF LIABILITY AND UIM COVERAGES UNDER SINGLE AUTO POLICY
In Thompson v. Progressive Direct Insurance Co., 438 P.3d 53 (Wash. App. 2019) the court held that UIM coverage did not extend to a third party guest passenger in a covered auto under Progressive's policy. The Progressive policy contained an exclusion of the named...
DRIVE-BY SHOOTING IN MISSOURI NOT COVERED THROUGH UNINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE
In Patel v. LM General Insurance Co., 922 F.3d 875 (8th Cir. 2019) (interpreting Missouri law) the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals found that there was no UM coverage for a fatal drive-by shooting because the violent act of the shooting arose from the conduct of the...
LABOR COSTS NOT PART OF ACTUAL CASH VALUE
Recently the Tennessee Supreme Court held that in calculating actual cash value, depreciation was part of the calculation. Where the policy does not define what depreciation means, the insurance company may depreciate the cost of the materials used in a repair...
PUTTING THE BRAKES ON SINGLE OCCURRENCE OUTCOMES IN ASBESTOS CASES
The Illinois Court of Appeals in Continental Casualty Co. v. Hennessy Industries, 2019 Ill. App. (1st) 180183 (April 23, 2019) reversed a trial court's ruling finding that there was only one occurrence arising from the insured's brake equipment asbestos exposure. The...