News & Analysis as of

Policy Limits Settlement

Presley & Presley

Written Settlement Demand Not Necessary

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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

Cozen O'Connor

Next Steps for an Excess Insurer After an Unsuccessful Hammer Letter

Cozen O'Connor on

Insurers are frequently asked to satisfy their duty of good faith and fair dealing by entertaining reasonable settlement offers within the combined limits of the policies. However, primary and excess insurers do not always...more

Robins Kaplan LLP

A Magnifying Glass on the Notice Prejudice Standard in Massachusetts for Excess Insurers

Robins Kaplan LLP on

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

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Insurance in the Know (Part 2): Settlement Offers Within Policy Limits Heighten Scrutiny on Insurers

Parties to a lawsuit may have vastly different perspectives on the validity and value of a claim, but as a matter of course, the issue of settlement will arise. Trial is an exceedingly expensive endeavor with an uncertain...more

Presley & Presley

No Settlement Opportunity, No Problem

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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

Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP

Georgia Court of Appeals Invalidates Another Insurer’s Acceptance of a Holt Demand Based on Language in Settlement Check

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

Farella Braun + Martel LLP

More Stringent California Claim Law Could Benefit Policyholders

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

Rumberger | Kirk

Eleventh Circuit: Disagreement Over Valuation Is Not Per Se Bad Faith

Rumberger | Kirk on

A little more than one year after Progressive scored a bad faith win in Eres v. Progressive American Ins. Co., 998 F.3d 1273 (11th Cir. 2021), Progressive came away with another victory in Deary v. Progressive American Ins....more

Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP

Good Faith: Plaintiffs’ Complaints About Release Held Invalid

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

White and Williams LLP

District of New Jersey Court Clarifies Primary Insurer’s Duty of Good Faith to Excess Insurer

A primary insurer has a duty of good faith to an excess insurer to attempt to negotiate a settlement with a third-party claimant within the primary insurer’s limits. However, determining whether that duty of good faith was...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Under Pressure: Primary Insurer Must Reimburse Excess Insurer after Failing to Settle Case in Texas

As the Fifth Circuit reminded us in a December 21 decision, primary insurers can find themselves in excess insurers’ shoes if they reject settlement demands within their policy limits. In American Guaranty & Liability...more

Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP

The Many Faces Of Multiple Liability Claims: Two Divergent Opinions From The Eleventh Circuit Court Of Appeal

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently released two opinions involving multiple liability claims against an insured with insufficient policy limits.  Both cases involved appeals from summary judgment orders in bad...more

Carlton Fields

Dot The I’s And Cross The T’s: The Importance Of Clarity In Claim Communications And The Availability Of Punitive Damages For An...

Carlton Fields on

The Georgia Court of Appeals recently made waves in Hughes v. First Acceptance Insurance Company of Georgia, Inc., 343 Ga. App. 693 (2017). First, it aggrandized the role of a jury in determining the existence of an offer to...more

Alston & Bird

Class Action Roundup: Summer 2017

Alston & Bird on

Welcome to our second Roundup of 2017, where we feature the cases litigated and settlements finalized during the second calendar quarter of the year. It was a very active quarter in almost all of the categories we monitor,...more

Cozen O'Connor

Texas 5th Circuit Holds Settlement for Less than Policy Limits Did Not Exhaust Primary Policy

Cozen O'Connor on

In a recent decision, the Fifth Circuit held that a primary policy was not exhausted, after the primary insurer made settlement payments that did not exceed the primary policy limits, even though the insured contributed...more

Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP

Eighth Circuit: No Bad Faith Where Insured Failed to Make a Sufficient Demand and Insurer Refused to Entertain Settlement Offer...

Purscell v. Tico Ins. Co., No. 13-2362, 2015 WL 3855253 (8th Cir. June 22, 2015). Court holds it was not bad faith for insurer to pursue investigation into underlying lawsuit before considering settlement demand. ...more

K&L Gates LLP

Excess Policy Attaches Notwithstanding Settlement with Underlying Insurers for Less Than Full Limits

K&L Gates LLP on

Recently, a Texas Court of Appeals handed down a pro-policyholder opinion in the case of Plantation Pipe Line Co. v. Highlands Insurance Co., in Receivership, Case No. 11-12-00029-CV (Tex. App. Aug. 29, 2014). The issue...more

McCarter & English, LLP

Not All Policies Are Created Equal: Evergreen State Appeals Court Blocks Policyholder Reach to Excess Insurance After Settlement...

The decision in Quellos Group LLC v. Federal Insurance Co., No. 68478-7-1 (Wash. Ct. App. Nov. 12, 2013) is a reminder that vague policy language can be costly. You may not have access to your excess insurance funds. The...more

Nossaman LLP

Reid Ruling Ignores Calif. Precedent

Nossaman LLP on

A good deal has already been written about the recent Reid case in California, but there is more to be said. On Oct. 7, 2013, Division 8 of the Second District Court of Appeals held in Reid v. Mercury Insurance Company, No....more

Cozen O'Connor

Washington Appellate Court Holds That Below-Limits Settlement Fails to Trigger Excess Policies

Cozen O'Connor on

On November 12, 2013, in Quellos Group LLC v. Federal Insurance Company, the Washington Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment in favor of two excess professional liability insurers because the excess policies “require[d]...more

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

No Settlement Offer, No Bad Faith Liability for Insurer

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP on

On October 7, 2013, the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District held in Reid v. Mercury Insurance Company that an insurer that acknowledged its insured’s liability for a third party’s injuries and...more

Saul Ewing LLP

Bad Faith Sentinel - October 2013

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In This Issue: - Wisconsin Court of Appeals: Insurer Does Not Commit Bad Faith by Refusing to Pay the Undisputed Portion of an Insured’s Claim Where the Policy Does Not Require Payment - Southern District of...more

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

Policy Observer - July 2013

Getting Over the Bar: Second Circuit Requires Actual Payment of Underlying Limits In Order to Trigger Excess D&O Policies - In June, the Second Circuit held that two Federal Insurance Company ("FIC") excess D&O...more

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