Breaking Down Bad Faith: Insurers’ Good Faith Duties and Defending Bad Faith Claims
JONES DAY PRESENTS®: Insurance Implications of the California Consumer Privacy Act
With increasing frequency, insurers are challenging the sufficiency and clarity of settlement demands they failed to previously accept. The insurer’s challenges can take many forms but most focus on a demand not being written...more
In Brodowy v. Progressive Direct Ins. Co., the Ninth Circuit affirms the district court’s granting of Progressive Direct Insurance Company’s (“Progressive”) motion for summary judgment as to claims alleging bad faith and...more
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. Finson, Apr. 17, 2024, 2nd DCA - This appeal followed a trial for underinsured motorist (UM) benefits in which the judge entered a final verdict in the amount of...more
Questions arise when an insurer is faced with multiple claimants and insufficient policy limits to settle all claims. Join partners Colleen E. Hayes and Thomas M. Wester for a discussion of the approaches various...more
What happens between a primary and excess liability insurer when their mutual insured is hit with a verdict $2.15 million over the primary limit and the excess insurer was not put on notice until after the verdict? This was...more
In states that haven’t passed safe harbor legislation, multiple claimants and insufficient limit claims pose certain challenges to insurers in the claims handling stage. Numerous claimants competing for severely limited...more
Over the past five plus years, the Missouri legislature has continued to grant insurer’s new rights and protections. This includes requirements for time-limited demands, interpleader protections and the ability to intervene...more
Claims Made and Reported policies are their own animal. Proper reporting of claims is vital to ensure coverage for any loss. Knowing what constitutes a “claim” that must be reported and when and how to report the claim can be...more
Earlier this month, the New Jersey Appellate Division issued an unpublished opinion reminding policyholders of the first rule of insurance: Words matter. In Rivera v. Starstone Specialty Ins. Co.,1 the court was asked to...more
Excess insurers facing claims should heavily scrutinize their policies for conditions that may be unsatisfactory —even if seemingly immaterial— because they can provide a complete defense to coverage. In a recent case, an...more
The vast majority of extra-contractual/bad faith cases involve a carrier’s failure to secure a release of an insured by accepting a reasonable settlement opportunity within the policy limits. The absence of a reasonable...more
Insurers attempting to accept a time-limited demand (often called a “Holt” demand in Georgia) must adhere to every term and condition of performance therein, even those that appear immaterial; otherwise, a court may find that...more
Join Goldberg Segalla partners Christian A. Cavallo and Dustin C. Blumenthal for an interactive webinar discussing practical and legal considerations for insurers presented with a time-limited demand that they pay their...more
In a cautionary tale for insurers everywhere, a California court recently ordered two excess carriers to pay their policy limits twice for a single policy term. Why? Because in the policies at issue, the policy limits paid...more
Tendering policy limits to an insured in response to a Notice of Intent to Litigate, under section 627.70152, Florida Statutes (2021), precludes insureds from recovering pre-suit attorney’s fees from their property insurers...more
This year began like the last one ended, with lots of activity. Total loss class actions kept going around the country, and labor depreciation class actions experienced ups and downs, depending on one’s viewpoint. New class...more
In an issue of first impression, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Allstate and held that the two-year statute of limitations for bad faith claims arising out of an uninsured/underinsured...more
Long-tail claims involve continuous or progressive injuries that occur over the course of multiple years. Often these claims occur in the context of long-latency diseases, such as those arising from asbestos exposure, or...more
On September 29, 2022, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held, as a matter of first impression, the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law (MVFRL) only requires auto insurers to seek elections of...more
A recent change to the New Jersey Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulation creates a pre-suit, time sensitive obligation to provide the disclosure of applicable policy limits....more
Key Takeaways - New legislation in New Jersey requires insurers to disclose policy limits in response to a written request from a New Jersey-licensed attorney. Broader than the existing pre-suit disclosure statute...more
Louisiana insurers who provide uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage are often asked for a “McDill tender” by a claimant, and it’s important for the insurer to know its obligations when responding to such a request....more
Issues to Watch - 1. Causation—What is an insured’s burden when the claimed loss involves a mix of covered and non-covered causes? Overstreet v. Allstate Vehicle & Prop. Ins. Co., No. 21-10462, 2022 WL 1579278 (5th Cir....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
The New York State Senate Rules Committee recently approved Senate Bill S7882, and that amended bill is now waiting for formal presentation to both the Senate and the Assembly. If passed and signed by Governor Hochul, the...more