Breaking Down Bad Faith: Insurers’ Good Faith Duties and Defending Bad Faith Claims
JONES DAY PRESENTS®: Insurance Implications of the California Consumer Privacy Act
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
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
In Jowite Limited Partnership v. Federal Insurance Company, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland issued a rare opinion addressing whether “collapse” is a covered “ensuing loss” under an all-risks...more
When the National Weather Service names a storm heading in your direction, you know to expect wind and water. This can create a quandary for property insurers. Is water damage from a named windstorm caused by the flood or the...more
In Knickerbocker Village Inc. v. Lexington Insurance Co., New York’s Appellate Division, First Judicial Department, dictated a clear rule for single-insured cases regarding the discovery of an insurer’s treatment of insurance...more
In S.O. Beach Corp. v. Great American Insurance Company of New York, No. 18-1967 (11th Cir. Oct. 31, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in full to the insurer, finding there...more
As part of legislation to fund various federal government agencies after December 20, 2019, the House of Representatives and Senate agreed to extend the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) until September 30, 2020....more
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York recently granted an insurer’s motion for summary judgment in a case arising from Superstorm Sandy based on unambiguous policy language providing a...more
Federal financial institution regulators recently issued a joint final rule to implement provisions of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (the “Act”) that require regulated financial institutions to accept...more
The Situation: On August 23, 2018, Hurricane Lane made landfall on Hawaii, dropping more than 52 inches of rainfall—the second-highest storm rainfall total in U.S. history. The Result: Hawaiian businesses are recovering...more
In a rare foray into insurance law, London’s Privy Council considered the interpretation of a Contractors’ All Risk (CAR) policy in Sun Alliance (Bahamas) Ltd v Scandi Enterprises Ltd (Bahamas), and overturned the decision of...more
As proof that almost anything can be insured, hole-in-one insurance is available on the market. Coverage is granted for payments or awards (cars, cruises, golf trips, cash, etc…) given and can be obtained for the right...more
Hurricane Nate made landfall on the Mississippi Gulf Coast near the city of Biloxi on Sunday, October 8, 2017, as a Category 1 Hurricane. The eastern quadrant of the storm’s center also passed over significant portions of...more
Cozen O’Connor attorneys Thomas McKay III, Richard Mackowsky, Charles Jesuit, and Melissa Brill recently secured summary judgment from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in favor of Great...more
While the full extent of damages caused by Hurricane Harvey is unknown at present, the storm has already caused unprecedented damage in Texas. That damage arises in the midst of pending legislative change that may affect...more
Last month, heavy rainstorms in California brought to the forefront the issue of what is a “flood” under California law, particularly in regard to rain and surface water. We noted a California court held “flood” in its plain...more
Florida homeowner insurers are seeing a significant increase in claims and litigation and are seeking ways to avoid costly litigation and expedite the claims process for their insureds. One option for the insurer is to...more
Until very recently, the scarcity of water and the decline in oil prices in California prompted the joke that oil was being used as fracking fluid to get water out of the ground. In the last week, however, so much rain has...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
It’s said that “defeat is an orphan,” but insurable losses often have multiple, concurrent causes. In some cases, one or more of those causes might be outside the scope of coverage, either by omission or exclusion. In Sebo v....more
The 2016 Atlantic hurricane season, which is coming to a close, has been quite active (translation: destructive and costly). So far, there have been fourteen named storms this season. Six of them were hurricanes, three of...more
Harris v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Company, __ F.3d __, 2016 WL 4174381 (6th Cir. Aug. 8, 2016) - Case at a Glance - Plaintiffs purchased a home located in a federal flood zone, but they did not purchase...more
It is well-established that claim processing and wrongful denial of coverage disputes involving federal flood insurance policies belong in federal court because they present substantial questions of federal law. The U.S....more
As this blog has reported, exclusions and limits for flood coverage have generally held up against the tide of claims arising from Superstorm Sandy. Now that the water is gone, however, new losses have been discovered, and...more