In Higgins v. Louisiana Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co., 2021 WL 1115395 (La. March 24, 2021), the plaintiff had been injured in an automobile accident operating an employer owned truck. The employer did not carry UIM coverage on the truck. The tortfeasor was...
Year: 2021
FAILING TO RENDER AID AT AN ACCIDENT NOT COVERED
The Mississippi Supreme Court recently affirmed a trial court ruling that a policy motor vehicle exclusion barred coverage for a claim of delay in rendering aid after an accident, In Champ v. Mississippi Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co., 2021 WL 790679 (Miss. March...
POLICY BUYBACK LIMITATIONS
Insurance companies may negotiate with their policyholder a settlement of a coverage dispute through a coverage buyback agreement. In this situation, after a potentially noncovered loss has taken place, a settlement of the coverage dispute is negotiated whereby the...
Covering the Disgorgement of Legal Fees Reprinted from Claims Journal, January 27, 2016
Typical legal malpractice policies do not provide coverage for the disgorgement of attorney’s fees that were received by the insured attorney during the representation that gives rise to the malpractice claim. However, recently the United States District Court in...
A ROADMAP FOR THE NAIC’S UNFAIR CLAIMS SETTLEMENT PRACTICES ACT
As a part of its effort to insure enactment of uniform insurance laws, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) drafted the Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act which required specific insurance adjuster conduct and claims handling. The Model Act,...
WHEN IS A SEXUALLY MOLESTED HOTEL GUEST WITHIN THE CARE, CUSTODY AND CONTROL OF THE HOTEL? By Steven Plitt (Reprinted from Claims Journal, December 23, 2013)
Standard insurance policies exclude coverage for sexual misconduct. As an example, with respect to sexual molestations, the sexual misconduct may not constitute an accident triggering coverage under the insuring clause of the policy. See Steven Plitt and Jordan R....
DETERMINING THE NUMBER OF OCCURRENCES FROM CARBON MONIXIDE POISONING By Steven Plitt (Reprinted from Claims Journal, March 13, 2014)
Does a carbon monoxide leak in a duplex apartment building constitute a single occurrence or multiple occurrences for purposes of liability insurance? This question was recently answered by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeal in Kosnoski v. Rogers, 2014 WL...
SMOOTH SAILING FOR A POLLUTION EXCLUSION? (Reprinted from Claims Journal, October 16, 2017)
The question of whether carbon monoxide constitutes a pollutant for purposes of a standard policy pollution exclusion has been mixed among the courts. Whether carbon monoxide constitutes pollution is jurisdiction-specific and depends on whether the jurisdiction...
Failing to Initiate Settlement Negotiations is Risky Business (Reprinted from Claims Journal, November 7, 2017)
Two recent cases have addressed insurance company extracontractual exposure for failing to initiate settlement negotiations. In Stalley v. Allstate Insurance Co., 2016 WL 1752764 (M.D. Fla. April 29, 2016) the court considered the so-called “Powell rule” where the...
MASSACHUSETTS SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT FOLLOWS THE MINORITY RULE IN ESTABLISHING PRIORITY OF COVERAGE BETWEEN TRUE EXCESS POLICIES AND DE FACTO EXCESS POLICIES IN THE AUTOMOBILE LIABILITY CONTEXT
As an issue of first impression, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court adopted the minority rule on priority of coverage, holding that after a primary automobile liability policy is exhausted, true excess policies and policies that are excess by virtue of other...