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
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 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 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
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
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
Defendants wanted to examine GEICO’s Rule 30(b)(6) witness about GEICO’s special investigation unit practices, protocols and guidelines, as well as its resources and procedures devoted to claim verification and fraud...more
The Ninth Circuit recently issued an unpublished memorandum opinion reducing a $2.5 million punitive award against GEICO to $1,064,282.44—four times the compensatory damages—in a Montana insurance bad-faith case. When it...more
To understand the implications of Macedo II, it is important to understand what brought us here. It’s a long and bumpy road, but understanding what brought us here will be critical in order to understanding how to go forward....more
For years, when a bad faith action was brought pursuant to a jury verdict in excess of policy limits in the underlying UM claim, everyone assumed the jury verdict was binding in the bad faith action. Then, Bottini v. GEICO...more
McDaniel v. Govt. Empls. Ins. Co., No. 14-17203, 2017 WL 892516 (9th Cir. Mar. 7, 2017) - On cross-motions for summary judgment, the District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled in favor of Amy McDaniel,...more
The Supreme Court of Alaska in Burnett v. Government Employees Insurance Company, 2017 WL 382648 (Alaska 2017) recently decided in a 3-2 decision that an insurer who voluntarily assumed the responsibility for cleaning up an...more
In Medina v. GEICO Indemnity (No. F072548, filed 2/8/17), a California appeals court ruled that a work van admittedly furnished to an employee for both business and personal purposes, being used for personal purposes at the...more
It feels like a black swan event: last month, in GEICO Gen. Ins. Co. v. Harvey, No. 4D15-2724 (Fla. Ct. App. Jan. 4, 2017), a Florida appellate panel unanimously overturned a jury verdict, on the ground that the plaintiff’s...more
Directs Judgment to be Entered in Favor of Insurer - In GEICO v. Harvey, (Fla. 4th DCA Jan. 4, 2017), Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal held that the trial court erred in denying the insurer’s motion for directed...more
In Cadle v. GEICO Ins. Co., Case No. 15-11283 (11th Cir. Sept. 30, 2016), the Eleventh Circuit held that GEICO had not acted in bad faith when it failed to settle a claim after the insured did not provide any evidence of...more
This decision addresses issues that may arise when there are successive arbitrations involving the same basic set of facts, if different parties. It concludes that when engaging in the limited judicial review which asks...more
On Friday, September 30, 2016, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law that had been granted by the Middle District Court of Florida in a uninsured/underinsured motorist...more
In New York, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage “does not function … to fully compensate … insureds for their injuries.” Weiss v. Tri-State Consumer Ins. Co., 98 A.D.3d 1107, 951 N.Y.S.2d 191 (2d Dep’t 2012). UIM...more
A Geico insured, with a $10,000/$20,000 liability policy, was involved in a three-car collision resulting in the death and serious injury of two occupants in one of the vehicles. The insured reported the accident to Geico the...more
Geico Gen. Ins. Co. v. Gould, No. 14-10913, 2014 WL 7013971 (11th Cir. Dec. 15, 2014) (per curium). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed a grant of summary judgment for an insurance company. It...more