To combat a perceived litigation tactic by plaintiffs counsel of using settlement demands within policy limits to set up insurers for bad faith, insurance company associations lobbied for statutory clarification to avoid...more
A California judge has ordered Farmers Insurance to pay almost $2.3 million in attorney’s fees to the lawyers of a successful whistleblower/former in-house attorney who claimed his role as a potential witness in a sex bias...more
On April 7, 2020, a Birmingham area restaurant doing business as “Ollie Irene” filed a Declaratory Judgment Action in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama against Farmers Insurance Exchange, Inc. (“Farmers”)....more
Melissa Komorsky v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, et al. — Cal.Rptr.3d –, 2019 WL 1451275 (Cal. Ct. App., March 1, 2019), Second Appellate District Court of Appeal, Case No. B286443. An uninsured motorist struck and killed...more
The Court of Appeals of Michigan (“Court”) in an August 21st opinion addressed an issue regarding the duty and liability of Farmers Insurance Exchange (“Farmers”) and U.S. Disaster Services LLC (“U.S. Disaster”) owed to an...more
The general rule regarding a party’s responsibility for legal fees in U.S. courts, known as the “American Rule,” provides that, barring a contrary contractual obligation or statute, each party is responsible for its own legal...more
The Oregon Supreme Court, in Long v. Farmers Insurance Company of Oregon, ruled that “when an insured files an action against an insurer to recover sums owing on an insurance policy and the insurer subsequently pays the...more
Does the efficient proximate cause rule serve to afford coverage for the additional costs to rebuild the foundation of a home in compliance with changed building code requirements beyond the sublimit of liability of an...more
Like most jurisdictions, New Jersey allows parties to an insurance contract to shorten the six-year statute of limitations for contract actions. See N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1 (“Every action at law . . . for recovery upon a...more
The background of this case is that Boomerang Recoveries LLC, a reinsurance program review company, investigated Farmers Insurance Company’s reinsurance contracts to identify any premiums Farmers had been overcharged in...more
Employee Who Needed To Assist Disabled Son Could Proceed With "Associational Disability Discrimination" Claim - Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable Highway Express, Inc., 246 Cal. App. 4th 180 (2016) - Luis...more
In recent weeks, two courts ruled on motions to dismiss the first wave of class action lawsuits based on alleged price optimization of auto insurance rates. In both Stevenson v. Allstate Ins. Co., No. 15-cv-04788 (N.D. Cal....more
Imagine a devastating fire renders your rental property uninhabitable. You dig out your insurance policy and are relieved to find that you are insured up to the “actual cash value” of the building. But what exactly does this...more
Many insurers have a longstanding practice of paying claims adjusters a set weekly salary, regardless of the number of hours they actually work. The practice has support in federal labor regulations; the regulations...more
People ex rel. Farmers Insurance Exchange, et al v. Maurice Hale, M.D., et al, case No. BC515676 (California Superior Court, County of Los Angeles; filed July 18, 2013)...more
With the arrival of the new year, many are applying the mantra “out with the old, in with the new.” Although this may be motivational for personal resolutions, it does not generally apply in the context of law as last year’s...more
Insurance Giant Also Discharged Caucasian in Retaliation for Providing Testimony During the Discrimination Investigation, Federal Agency Charges - FRESNO, Calif. - Farmers Insurance Exchange violated federal law...more