The Nevada Supreme Court held in Nautilus Insurance Co. v. Access Medical, LLC, 482 P.3d 683 (Nev. 2021), on first impression, that the liability insurer could obtain recoupment of defense costs from its insured after establishing that no duty to defend existed. The...
Insurance Law
“SEWERAGE” NOT REQUIRED TO INVOKE BACK-UP AND OVERFLOW FROM SEWER EXCLUSION
In AKC, Inc. v. United Specialty Insurance Co., 2021-Ohio-3540, ___N.E.3d ___, 2021 WL 4557194 (Ohio 10/6/21), the insured argued that a standard policy exclusion for sewer back-ups and overflows was ambiguous because the exclusion did not contain the specific word...
TENTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FINDS THAT INSURANCE POLICY’S APPRAISAL CLAUSE ALLOWS CAUSATION DETERMINATIONS
In BonBeck Parker, LLC v. Travelers Indemnity Co. of America, 14 F.4th 1169 (10th Circ. 2021) the Court held that the Travelers policy permitted either party to request an appraisal on “the amount of loss,” which was a phrase with an ordinary meaning in the insurance...
LABOR COSTS ARE NOT DEPRECIABLE WHEN CALCULATING ACTUAL CASH VALUE
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in Sproull v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Co., ___ N.E.3d ___, 2021 Ill. 126446, 2021 WL 126446 (Ill. 9/23/21) affirming 172 N.E.3d 1186 (Ill. App. 5th Dist. 7/24/20), as an issue of first impression that homeowner insurance companies...
NOTICE DOESN’T MATTER; YOU’RE STILL IN BAD FAITH
The Georgia Supreme Court recently permitted a bad faith failure to settle lawsuit to proceed against the insured even when the insurer had not received notice of the underlying personal injury lawsuit. In Geico Indemnity Co. v. Whiteside, 857 S.E.2d 654 (Ga. 2021),...
BEING DISSATISFIED WITH INSURER-APPOINTED DEFENSE COUNSEL DOES NOT CREATE A CONFLICT OF INTEREST PERMITTING INDEPENDENT COUNSEL
In Nede Management, Inc. v. Aspen American Insurance Co., 68 Cal. App. 5th 1121 (2021), the Court ruled that just because an insured disagreed with the insurer-appointed defense counsel’s handling of its defense, or where the Complaint sought compensatory and punitive...
OREGON SUPREME COURT ALLOWS COMBINING UM/UIM COVERAGE LIMITS
In Batten v. State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Co., 368 Ore. 538, 495 P.3d 1222, 2021 WL 4236688 (Ore. 2021) the Oregon Supreme Court struck down an insurance provision that effectively limited the insurer’s liability for UM/UIM coverage to the highest amount of...
ILLUSORY INSURANCE STATUTE?
In a surprising ruling, the New Mexico Supreme Court deemed that insurance companies were not permitted to charge a premium for minimal underinsured motorist coverage unless the insurer’s policy disclosed that the coverage was illusory. In this case the insured...
Taxes and Associated Fees In Acquiring A Replacement Vehicle Are Not Required To Be Calculated As The Automobile’s ACV When Dealing With A Physical Damage Claim
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals recently held in Wilkerson v. American Family Insurance Co., 997 F.3d 666 (6th Cir. 2021) that ACV meant market value in a standard automobile policy and that market value did not include the taxes and fees that the insured needed to...
MISSISSIPPI SUPREME COURT FINDS THAT HOMEOWNER POLICY’S MOTOR VEHICLE EXCLUSION APPLIED TO A CLAIM OF DELAY AND RENDERING AID TO AN ACCIDENT VICTIM AFTER A MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT OCCURRED
In Champ v. Mississippi Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company, 2021 WL 790679 (Miss. March 2, 2021), a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle. The driver of the vehicle stated that she did not know that her vehicle hit something until she reported the incident to her...
