The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals recently upheld a district court's ruling that an insurance company's claim administrator's handling of a medical malpractice lawsuit was in conformity with Massachusetts statute regarding reasonable settlement.In Calandro v....
Insurance Law
MAKE SURE YOU’RE ACCURATE WHEN YOU EXPLAIN WHY THE POLICY WAS CANCELLED
The Colorado Court of Appeals in Brown v. American Standard Ins. Co. of Wisconsin, 436 P.3d 597 (Colo. App. 2019) recently found that the insurance company's reason for cancelling the policy must be accurate for the cancellation to be effective. The Colorado Court of...
Untimely Ror Letter Leads To Estoppel
Recently the Kansas Supreme Court held that the insurance company's untimely reservation of rights letter estopped the insurer from denying coverage. In Becker v. The Bar Plan Mutual Insurance Co., 419 P.3d 212 (Kan. 2018), the trial court ruled that the insurance...
Timing Is Everything When It Comes To Malicious Prosecution Coverage
The Illinois Supreme Court in First Mercury Ins. Co. v. Ciolino, 107 N.E.3d 240, appeal denied, 108 N.E.3d 840 (Ill. 2018), considered when a malicious prosecution claim became an "offense" for purposes of insurance coverage and whether the claim fell within the...
Choose Your Own Poison
The Washington Court of Appeals recently adopted a choose your own poison approach to cases where an insurer exhausts its policy limits in settlement of one claim while other related claims remain unresolved. In Singh v. Zurich American Ins. Co., 428 P.3d 1237 (Wash....
Illinois Court Treats SIR As A Primary Policy Requiring Exhaustion
In Lamorak Ins. Co. v. Kone, Inc., 2000 Ill. App. (1st) 163398 (Ill. App. May 15, 2018), the Illinois Appellate Court found that in policies containing self-insured retentions, that the SIR was to be treated as a primary policy that had to be exhausted before the...
In For One, In For All Rule Does Not Apply To Title Insurers In Pennsylvania
Under the so-called "in for one, in for all" rule, if there is one covered claim on a multi-count complaint while other claims are not covered, the insurer is required to defend the entire action. Recently, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Lupu v. Lone...
Once is Enough!
The Kentucky Supreme Court in Allstate Insurance Co. v. Smith, 487 S.W.3d 857 (Ky. 2016) held that the insurer had a duty to advise its insured of the availability of underinsured motorist coverage when the policy was initially purchased. However, the insurer had no...
In Louisiana, Insurers Are Not Vicariously Liable For The Negligence Of A Roofer Who Was Provided To The Insured Under The Insurance Company’s “Direct Repair Contractor Program”
In Rubin v. American Insurance Co., 193 So. 3d 408 (La. App. 2016), American Insurance Company had a direct repair contractor program which was a list of approved contractors. If the insured used one of the approved contractors, the program provided that AIC would "be...
Criminal Acts Exclusion Conclusively Applies In Cases Where The Insured Is Convicted Of A Crime
In Country Mutual Insurance Co. v. Dahms, 116 Ill. App. (1st) 141392, 2016 WL 2941713 (Ill. App., May 19, 2016) the Court found that a criminal conviction extinguished the insurance company's obligation to defend the insured. The Court held that prior to a criminal...