Insurance, Business Torts, Civil Procedure

California Civil Depositions Limited To Seven Hours Under New Law

by Peter Bauman - Senior Associate at Tharpe &... on 5/15/2013

Some attorneys are known for being long-winded time wasters who act with little regard for efficiency, especially when billing at an hourly rate. Although we believe the length of a deposition is often dictated by the...more

Estée Lauder v. OneBeacon Insurance Group – Expanding the Scope of Discovery in Bad Faith Cases

by Jennifer Clark, Stacey Farrell, Angelo Savino | Cozen O'Connor on 5/15/2013

On April 15, 2013, the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, granted the insured’s request for the production of certain claims file material and previously sealed discovery in Estée Lauder Inc. v....more

Trial Tactics for Insurance and Corporate Defense Cases

by Peter Bauman - Senior Associate at Tharpe &... on 5/14/2013

Insurance companies and corporate defendants often begin a lawsuit at a disadvantage due to the mere fact that they are being sued by a plaintiff who alleges to have been injured and/or damaged. It is therefore crucial to...more

California Supreme Court Hears Argument on Whether Insurance Code Limits UCL Lawsuits Against Insurers

by Larry Golub, Samuel Sorich | Barger & Wolen on 5/13/2013

On May 8, 2013, the California Supreme Court convened to hear oral argument in Zhang v. Superior Court. The case presents the issue of whether conduct of an insurer, which is related to conduct that would violate California’s...more

Litigation Management: A Win-Win

by Peter Bauman - Senior Associate at Tharpe &... on 5/13/2013

Using tools and strategies to effectively and intelligently proceed a case through the litigation process, based on the goals and expectations of a specific client, is an important part of effective legal representation. This...more

Daubert Standard For Expert Testimony Almost Applied In California

by Peter Bauman - Senior Associate at Tharpe &... on 5/10/2013

The standard for admitting expert scientific testimony in a federal trial under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure was established in the case of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical (US Supreme Court, 6/28/93), then...more

Court Issues Summary Judgment Ruling in MBIA’s RMBS Action Against Countrywide

by Orrick - Structured Finance Group on 5/9/2013

On April 29, Justice Eileen Bransten of the New York State Supreme Court issued an opinion granting in part and denying in part competing motions for summary judgment filed by MBIA and Countrywide in connection with tort and...more

Bad Faith Liability Exposure: an Anvil, a Feather or an Occasional Lever?

by Lynda A. Bennett | Lowenstein Sandler LLP on 5/8/2013

Any company faced with a coverage denial inevitably asks the question: Will the insurance company change its position if we sue them for bad faith? The short answer to the question is usually no. In general, insurance...more

The Use And Misuse Of Expert Testimony In Bad Faith Actions

by E. Kelly Bittick Jr., Jeffrey Michael Cohen | Carlton Fields on 5/8/2013

Modern trials are frequently battles of experts hired by the parties to advocate their respective positions. Bad faith actions are no different. The plaintiff and the insurer will both beat the bushes for claims handlers or...more

Bad Faith Sentinel - April 2013

by Gregory M. Boucher, Carolyn Due, Matthew M. Haar, Joseph C. Monahan, Amy L. Piccola, Thomas S. Schaufelberger | Saul Ewing LLP on 5/1/2013

In This Issue: - Western District Of Washington: Denial of a Defense Where Additional-Insured Status Was Arguable, and Doing So in Reliance on Extrinsic Evidence, Were Both Acts of Bad Faith - New York Court...more

Insurers: Does Your Policy Contain a Broadly Worded EIFS Exclusion? If You’re in Washington, You Might Be in Luck!

by Aaron Mandel, Stevi Raab | Sedgwick LLP on 4/30/2013

Recently, Washington courts have issued a number of opinions resolving a variety of issues against insurers. For instance, the Washington Supreme Court presumed that there is no attorney-client privilege in a bad-faith suit...more

NY Appellate Court Holds CIFG and Syncora Lack Standing in $1.8 Billion MBS Suit

by Orrick - Structured Finance Group on 4/30/2013

On April 25, the First Department of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court affirmed an order barring monoline insurers CIFG and Syncora from suing GreenPoint Mortgage Funding for alleged violations of...more

Federal Court Dismisses $31 Million FDIC Suit as Time-Barred

by Orrick - Structured Finance Group on 4/30/2013

On April 22, Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer of the United States District Court for the Central District of California dismissed as time-barred the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) $31 million suit against JPMorgan...more

20 Million Reasons Why Class Action Defendants Need to Read Their Insurance Policies Closely

by Judy Selby | BakerHostetler on 4/29/2013

As previously noted in a recent blog post, defendants should immediately evaluate their insurance coverage upon receipt of a class action complaint. But as one defendant recently discovered the hard way, that evaluation must...more

Missouri Court of Appeals Joins Majority of Federal Courts in Holding the Prohibition Against Evidence of Subsequent Remedial...

by Williams Venker & Sanders on 4/25/2013

In a matter of first impression, the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District has held the exclusionary rule barring evidence of subsequent remedial measures does not apply when the remedial measure was implemented...more

Washington Federal Judge Presumes that Liability Insurer May Not Assert Attorney-Client Privilege or Work Product Protection in...

by Sedgwick LLP on 4/22/2013

On April 12, 2013, Judge Richard Jones of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled that in a bad-faith lawsuit against a liability insurer, the judge would presume that the insurer has no...more

Supreme Court of Washington Holds that Insurers Are Not Entitled to Reimbursement of Non-Covered Defense Costs

by Eryk Gettell | Sedgwick LLP on 4/5/2013

In a 5-4 decision, the Washington Supreme Court held that an insurer may not recover defense costs incurred under a reservation of rights while the insurer’s duty to defend is undetermined. National Sur. Corp. v. Immunex...more

Bad Faith Sentinel - March 2013

by Gregory M. Boucher, Carolyn Due, Matthew M. Haar, Joseph C. Monahan, Amy L. Piccola, Thomas S. Schaufelberger | Saul Ewing LLP on 4/3/2013

In This Issue: - Southern District Of Ohio: Insurer Does Not Commit Bad Faith By Voiding Policy Due To Insured’s Failure To Promptly And Fully Cooperate With Insurer’s Fire Investigation - Pennsylvania Court...more

New York Court Holds Professional Services Exclusion Applicable

by Traub Lieberman Straus & Shrewsberry LLP on 4/2/2013

In its recent decision in David Lerner Assocs. v. Philadelphia Indem. Ins. Co., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46333 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 29, 2013), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York had occasion to...more

No Bad Faith Recovery Unless Insured Demonstrates Acts Were A Producing Cause Of Damages

by April Zubizarreta | Cozen O'Connor on 3/21/2013

A jury found that Mid-Continent committed five separate violations of the Texas Insurance Code and awarded $2 million to the insured as compensation for the amount it paid to settle third-party claims. The trial court,...more

Prompt Payment of An Appraisal Award Bars Bad Faith Per Austin U.S. District Court, Although Some Acts By An Insurer May Leave The...

by Nejat Ahmed | Cozen O'Connor on 3/21/2013

The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin recently held that an insurer’s timely payment of an appraisal award bars the insured’s extra-contractual tort claims. Michels v. Safeco Ins. Co. of...more

Bad Faith Claims Cannot Be Based Solely On Breach Of Contract And Must Allege More Than Conclusory Allegations

by Greg Delfiner | Cozen O'Connor on 3/20/2013

In Merrill v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co., 2013 WL 588515 (W.D.Pa., Feb 13, 2013), the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania dismissed the insured’s common law bad faith claim because it was based...more

The Washington Supreme Court Holds That in First-Party Bad Faith Litigation There Is a Presumption of No Attorney-Client Privilege

by Craig Bennion, Meredith Dishaw | Cozen O'Connor on 3/15/2013

When an insured sues an insurer for bad faith, how much of the claims file maintained by the insurer is discoverable? In a 5-4 decision, the Washington Supreme Court recently weakened insurers’ ability to protect confidential...more

The Material Impact of the Amgen Decision on D&O Insurance

by Matthew Klebanoff, Angelo Savino | Cozen O'Connor on 3/8/2013

In Amgen, Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, No. 11-1085 (Slip Op. Feb. 27, 2013), the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 majority opinion (Ginsburg, J.), affirmed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit’s...more

Changes to New Jersey Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act Would Rewrite Bad Faith Law to Deter Insurer Misconduct

by Lynda A. Bennett, Andrew S. Zimmerman | Lowenstein Sandler LLP on 3/8/2013

Ostensibly responding to Superstorm Sandy, the New Jersey legislature is considering a broad change to the law addressing bad faith and unfair conduct by insurers. If the bill becomes law, it will represent a significant and...more

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Insurance › Business Torts › Civil Procedure