This week the Eighth Circuit issued its long-awaited decision in a class action against State Farm involving the “labor depreciation” issue that I have covered extensively on this blog. State Farm prevailed on both the merits...more
10/2/2017
/ Appeals ,
Cash Value ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Denial of Insurance Coverage ,
Depreciation ,
FRCP 23(f) ,
Insurance Industry ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Policy Terms ,
Property Damage ,
Property Insurance ,
Repairs ,
State Farm
There have been a substantial number of putative class actions filed recently against insurers involving the Medicare Secondary Payer Act (MSPA). These cases are typically filed by assignees of Medicare advantage...more
An emerging issue in class action litigation against the insurance industry involves an attempt by plaintiffs’ attorneys to argue that insurers should not be permitted to apply any deductible to payments made on an actual...more
There have been two recent federal district court decisions in the widespread class action litigation involving the application of depreciation to the labor cost component of replacement cost value on property insurance...more
8/15/2017
/ Class Action ,
Denial of Insurance Coverage ,
Depreciation ,
Insurance Industry ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Policy Terms ,
Property Damage ,
Property Insurance ,
Repairs ,
Replacement Costs ,
State Farm
In prior blog posts, I’ve covered developments in the putative class actions against insurance companies in Georgia involving diminution in value on property insurance claims (see my March 11, 2016 post, for example)....more
I’ve regularly followed on my blog key developments in the numerous class actions against the insurance industry involving the application of depreciation to the labor cost component of estimated replacement cost value in...more
2/22/2017
/ Cash Value ,
Class Action ,
Depreciation ,
Fair Market Value ,
Homeowner's Insurance ,
Insurance Industry ,
NE Supreme Court ,
Property Insurance ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Real Estate Market ,
Replacement Costs
I have had a busy summer and am overdue in updating readers on recent decisions in class actions against insurers involving the “labor depreciation” issue. The issue involves whether, when insurers estimate the “actual cash...more
One of the issues I’ve been covering on this blog is a series of putative class actions in Georgia arising out of a Georgia Supreme Court decision in 2012, which held that diminution in value of real property is potentially...more
A while back, I wrote about a Georgia Supreme Court decision, Royal Capital Development LLC v. Maryland Casualty Co., that held that diminution in value of real property is potentially covered under a property insurance...more
It’s been a while since I updated you on the status of class action litigation regarding the application of depreciation to labor costs on property insurance claims. There have been three decisions since my last update, with...more
Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, the third and last of the three class action cases that the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing this Fall was argued yesterday. Articles in the New York Times and USA Today have suggested that the...more
I’ve been following closely a series of class actions around the country alleging that, in calculating the “actual cash value” of property damage under a homeowners or commercial property insurance policy, insurance companies...more
Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, No. 13-1339 (SCOTUSBlog page). The question presented is “Whether Congress may confer Article III standing upon a plaintiff who suffers no concrete...more
11/4/2015
/ Article III ,
Class Action ,
Data Privacy ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FDCPA ,
Insurance Industry ,
Privacy Laws ,
Private Right of Action ,
SCOTUS ,
Spokeo ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing ,
TCPA
Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez was argued yesterday in the U.S. Supreme Court. It is one of several major class action cases that will be decided by the Court this Term. It presents the question of whether a putative class...more
Ascertainability has been a hot topic in class action appeals recently. The Third Circuit recently clarified its ascertainability standard (see my April 20 blog post). The committee considering potential Rule 23 amendments is...more
The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide next Term, in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, whether a class can be certified when many class members lack injury (see my June 16 post for more on that). The Ohio Supreme Court...more
There has been a lot of activity in the federal courts of appeals recently regarding the use of offers of judgment to named plaintiffs in class actions. The Fifth and Seventh Circuits recently held that an unaccepted Rule 68...more
9/3/2015
/ Campbell Ewald v Gomez ,
Certiorari ,
Class Action ,
Genesis HealthCare ,
Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk ,
Insurance Industry ,
Mootness ,
Private Schools ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Right to Privacy ,
Rule 68 ,
SCOTUS ,
TCPA ,
Unsolicited Faxes
As highlighted in my June 16 blog post, the Supreme Court has granted certiorari, in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, No. 14-857 (SCOTUSblog page), to decide whether an offer of complete relief to a named plaintiff renders a...more
The filed rate doctrine can often provide a strong defense to an insurer in a class action claiming that insurance premiums were too high for some reason. A recent Second Circuit decision applied the doctrine broadly. This...more
8/12/2015
/ Borrowers ,
Class Action ,
Filed-Rate Doctrine ,
Forced-Placed Insurance ,
GMAC ,
Homeowner's Insurance ,
Insurance Industry ,
Kickbacks ,
Lender-Placed Insurance ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Mortgages ,
Premiums
As an update to my March 29, 2015 blog post on the status of class actions on the labor depreciation issue, a Kansas federal court recently granted summary judgment in favor of an insurer.
In Graves v. American Family...more
Self-driving or autonomous vehicles is a hot topic in insurance industry media and mainstream media as well. I attended a great program on this at the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (FDCC) annual meeting last...more
Andrew Pincus, lead counsel in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins (to be decided by the Supreme Court next Term, see my May 1, 2015 blog post), spoke on this subject. The question presented is whether a federal statute can confer...more
As I’ve done in past years, this post and the next one will summarize some takeaways I gleaned from this year’s DRI Class Action Seminar.
Impact of Dart Cherokee: Nowell Berreth, who argued this case in the Supreme...more
7/28/2015
/ Attorney's Fees ,
CAFA ,
Class Action ,
Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co. v. Owens ,
Daubert Standards ,
Dukes v Wal-Mart ,
FRCP 23 ,
Insurance Industry ,
Mediation ,
SCOTUS ,
Wal-Mart
A recent Florida appellate court decision caught my eye because it addressed a potentially-important issue that is not expressly addressed by Fed. R. Civ. P. 23, and has rarely been litigated: whether persons who have opted...more
Insurers or their vendors generally use software to perform valuations of vehicles for total losses on auto insurance claims. This software will typically use databases of recent sales or prices offered for comparable...more