The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and the Attorney General’s office have recently imposed significant fines totalling $11.3 million on Geico and Travelers for data breaches that compromised the...more
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held in a recent precedential case that the court must compel arbitration between Government Employees Insurance Company (Geico) and several medical practices, which Geico had sued for fraud...more
Anyone injured in an accident allegedly caused by the negligence of another can sue for pain caused by the injury. The increasing number of surgeries injuries from accidents is now a major focus of defendants and the...more
A recent decision denying class certification in the Northern District of Illinois highlights the importance for class action defendants of challenging a named plaintiff’s damages expert as part of a strategy for opposing...more
A Wisconsin federal district court allowed an insurance company’s field representative’s allegations that his representation agreement was an unregistered franchise to proceed beyond the pleading stage....more
A recent Ninth Circuit decision highlights the importance of the defendant clearly pleading the basis for alleging the amount in controversy in a notice of removal under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). In this case,...more
This week, the Court holds that it may sua sponte question the existence of subject-matter jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”) in a removed case where a defendant’s notice of removal alleged the...more
Seifer v. Government Employees Insurance Company, decided by the First Circuit on May 13, 2022, raises an issue that could cause insurers to rethink how they handle claim investigations and pre-suit settlements. Seifer raises...more
On May 25, 2022, in Grossman v. GEICO Cas. Co. (No. 21-278), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court’s dismissal of an attempted class action by two automobile policyholders alleging that GEICO...more
On February 15, 2022, the United States Court of Appeal for the Eleventh Circuit upheld the Southern District of Florida’s summary judgment victory for GEICO, finding that no reasonable jury could conclude that GEICO had...more
Causation, an issue courts often wrestle with when deciding insurance coverage issues, lands the starring role in our February Insurance Update. •A county experienced higher costs due to the opioid crisis. Does its...more
In this month’s edition of our Privacy & Cybersecurity Update, we examine the FTC’s changes to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act’s Safeguards Rule and the CFPB’s order requiring six tech companies to disclose information regarding...more
Despite overlap of alleged putative nationwide class definitions, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) denied Geico’s attempt to consolidate five class-action lawsuits arising from a data breach notification...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently addressed the issue of whether tendering a policy limits check on a liability policy with an overbroad release could constitute bad faith. In Pelaez v....more
In Florida, an insurer is required to “settle, if possible, where a reasonably prudent person, faced with the prospect of paying the total recovery, would do so[.]” Harvey v. GEICO General Insurance Company, 259 So.3d 1 (Fla....more
On June 1, 2021, theEleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a summary judgment granted in favor of an insurer in a third party bad faith claim. The case, Eres v. Progressive American Insurance Company, Case No. 20-11006,...more
An insurer can no longer claim its lack of notice of a lawsuit against its insured excuses it for failing to settle the suit after the Georgia Supreme Court’s recent decision in GEICO Indemnity Co. v. Whiteside, Case No....more
Last month, in Government Employees Insurance Co. v. Cereceda, 2021 WL 148738 at *6-7 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 15, 2021) (“Cereceda”), the Southern District of Florida issued a discovery ruling that insurers should consider carefully...more
Eleventh Circuit Pries Apart Sticky Trade Dress Decision - Is Gorilla Glue throwing a monkey fit after J-B Weld’s loss is torn apart? Opposites Attract - If you’re an average, buy-it-when-you-need-it glue consumer, you’re...more
On April 19, 2019, the Eleventh Circuit threw out a putative class action seeking declaratory relief against GEICO, citing the lead plaintiff’s lack of standing. The Eleventh Circuit’s decision was based on the long-settled...more
In Mazik v. GEICO General Ins. Co. (No. B281372, filed 5/17/19), a California appeals court upheld a judgment and award of punitive damages for bad faith delay of an underinsured motorist claim, on the ground that a claim...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently closed the book on litigation in which GEICO had been involved since 2010, holding that the granting of a retrial—which resulted in a GEICO victory after an initial...more
The Florida Supreme Court recently decided Harvey v. GEICO Gen. Ins. Co., No. SC17-85, 2018 WL 4496566, at *1 (Fla. Sept. 20, 2018), an important case setting forth what many will try to argue has lessened the standard for...more
In a highly anticipated decision, a sharply divided Florida Supreme Court reversed the decision of the state’s Fourth District Court of Appeal and reinstated a jury’s $9.2 million verdict against GEICO for the insurer’s...more
In a significant but not entirely novel ruling, the South Carolina Supreme Court recently held that South Carolina law does not require the pro rata apportionment of punitive damages between damages sustained for bodily...more