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 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...
In World Harvest Church v. Grange Mutual Casualty Co., 148 Ohio St. 3d 11, 68 N.E.3d 738 (Ohio 2016), reconsideration denied, 146 Ohio St. 3d 1473, 54 N.E.3d 1270., the Ohio Supreme Court upheld an abuse or molestation exclusion in a CGL policy which stated that there...
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...
While it is an obvious conclusion, the Montana Supreme Court recently held in Fire Insurance Exchange v. Weitzel, 371 P.3d 457 (Mont. 2016) that the insured's duty to defend could not be based on speculation over whether unpled claims existed or not. The Court found...
In Hahn v. GEICO Choice Insurance Co., 420 P.3d 1160 (Alaska 2018), the Alaska Supreme Court held that UIM benefits did not extend to a person falling on an insured vehicle after it struck him. In this case, the insured was sitting on his motorcycle while stopped at a...
In Jody James Farms, J.V. v. Altman Group, Inc., 547 S.W.3d 624 (Tex. 2018), the insurance agent failed to timely submit a hail and rain claim on behalf of the insured to the insurance company. The agent was then sued by the policyholder, alleging breach of fiduciary...
Recently the Missouri Supreme Court in Allen v. Bryers, 512 S.W.3d 17 (Mo. 2016), as modified (Apr. 4, 2017), reh'g denied (Apr. 4, 2017), cert. denied sub nom. Atain Specialty Ins. Co. v. Allen, 138 S. Ct. 212, 199 L. Ed. 2d 118 (2017) held that an insurance...
Under Florida Insurance Code §624.155, in order to bring a bad faith action there must be a favorable determination of liability against the insurer as a prerequisite to maintaining a bad faith action. In Barton v. Capitol Preferred Ins. Co., Inc., 208 So. 3d 239...
Generally, insureds are required to read their insurance policies in Texas. However, where the nature of the lawsuit brought against the agent or broker involves affirmative misrepresentations under Texas' Deceptive Business Practices statute, the insured's failure to...