In Menchaca v. USAA Texas Lloyds Company, Cause No. 14-0721 (Tex.2018) the Texas Supreme Court replaced its prior 2017 opinion. The court continues to hold that where there has been no breach of the insurance policy,...more
On May 26, 2017, Texas Governor Greg Abbot signed into law Texas House Bill 1774/Senate Bill 10. The new law makes changes to the Texas Insurance Code that will impact the way in which weather claims are brought and how those...more
The Underlying Dispute -
Robert Primo (Primo) served as the director and treasurer for a condominium association. Shortly before he resigned from that position, he wrote himself two checks totaling more than $100,000...more
Virtually all property insurance policies contain an appraisal clause, which outlines the appraisal procedure in broad terms. Those broad terms sometimes do not provide much guidance about the process, or about the effect...more
7/25/2016
/ Appraisal ,
Appraisal Awards ,
Bad Faith ,
Breach of Contract ,
Insurance Industry ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Prompt Payment ,
Property Damage ,
Property Insurance ,
State Farm ,
Statutory Penalties
Carriers rely on application representations regarding the existence of potential claims. Sometimes, the carrier learns after the fact that an applicant may not have reported all known potential claims. What can/should the...more
In CE and CLE courses, we hear all the time that the most often cited reason for a grievance or complaint is lack of communication. This truism provides a useful rule of thumb to avoid bad faith claims. Remember, for most...more
When discussing bad faith in the third party context, most of the discussion properly centers on the duty to settle a claim. However, other actions taken by a policyholder and carrier can have an impact. The recent case of...more
In J & D Towing, LLC v. American Alternative Insurance Corporation, No. 14-0574, 2016 WL 91201 (Tex. Jan. 8, 2016), the Texas Supreme Court considered J & D Towing, LLC’s (“J & D”) claim for loss of use damages under its...more
Last year in Patterson, et al. v. Home State County Mut. Ins. Co., 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 4460, 2014 WL 1676931 (Tex.App., Apr. 24, 2014), the Texas First Court of Appeals (Houston) held that an insurer was not obligated to...more
In an opinion handed down last week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to adopt a new cause of action under Kentucky law for a reverse bad faith claim by an insurer against its insured where the Kentucky Supreme...more
In Greene v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, the Texas Supreme Court clarified the scope and application of § 862.054 of the Texas Insurance Code, the “anti-technicality” statute, holding that the clause would only operate in...more