Breaking Down Bad Faith: Insurers’ Good Faith Duties and Defending Bad Faith Claims
An Uncompromising Insurer: What is a Policyholder to Do?
Hinshaw Insurance Law TV: Recent Changes in Florida Property Insurance Law and How They Will Affect First Party Insurance
Podcast - The Briefing from the IP Law Blog: Lord of The Rings Author’s Estate Clings to its Precious Trademark, Blocking JRR Token
The Briefing from the IP Law Blog: Lord of The Rings Author’s Estate Clings to its Precious Trademark, Blocking JRR Token
Butler's Thursday Tips #7 | Civil Remedy Notices
Subro Sense Podcast - Considerations In Fixed Funds/Limited Pool Scenarios
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In Georgia’s recent Legislative Session, Senate Bill 83 started off addressing the eligibility for restraining orders related to stalking, but there must have been some magic pixie dust floating around the House Committee...more
On June 5, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued an unpublished opinion that provides a blueprint to insurance companies for handling bad faith claims. The Fourth Circuit held in Sellman v....more
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
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
On January 19, 2022, New Jersey’s Governor, Phil Murphy, passed S.B. 1559 into law, referred to as the New Jersey Insurance Fair Conduct Act (“IFCA”). The IFCA creates a private cause of action for injured motorists to sue...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
On June 1, 2021, theEleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a summary judgment granted in favor of an insurer in a third party bad faith claim. The case, Eres v. Progressive American Insurance Company, Case No. 20-11006,...more
Brett McIsaac v. Foremost Insurance Company Grand Rapids, Michigan, A160389 (Sonoma County Super. Ct. No. SCV-265433) (Filed 4/30/21; certified for publication 5/19/21) - McIsaac had an auto insurance policy with Foremost...more
In Florida, an insurer is required to work diligently on the insured’s behalf to avoid an excess judgment, with the “same haste and precision as if it were in the insured’s shoes”. Harvey v. GEICO General Insurance Company,...more
The Minnesota Supreme Court in the matter of Alison Joel Peterson v. Western National Mutual Insurance Company, 946 N.W.2d 903 (Minn. 2020) opined for the first time on the state’s bad faith statute (Minn. Stat. § 604.18) and...more
Your friend invites you out to dinner. She offers to pick you up since your house is on the way. As you head toward the restaurant, your friend’s car is sideswiped by a driver who blew through a red light. You are seriously...more
In Kemper v. Equity Insurance (No .1:15-cv-02961-MLB, N.D.Ga. July 8, 2019), recently appointed federal judge Michael Brown rejected plaintiff Amy Kemper's attempt to assert a bad faith claim against Equity Insurance Company....more
Skinner v. Horace Mann Ins. Co., No. 4:18-CV-00922-RBH, 2019 WL 935243 (D.S.C. Feb. 26, 2019) - Plaintiff Annie Skinner (Skinner) allegedly suffered severe injuries and extensive property damage as a result of a February...more
On March 11, 2019, the Georgia Supreme Court provided a victory for insurers when it found that an insurer did not act in bad faith by failing to accept a policy limits demand that lacked a deadline to respond and was...more
Rejecting insurance bad faith claims based on an insurer’s handling of settlement discussions, the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that "an insurer’s duty to settle arises only when the injured party presents a valid offer to...more
Insurance companies can no longer breach the duty to defend believing that, as long as they act in good faith, their potential liability is capped at policy limits or any costs incurred by the insured in mounting a defense....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
Becca Franco was involved in a car accident in 2015. Franco submitted a claim to her insurer, State Farm, for underinsured motor vehicle and medical payment benefits. Sixteen months later, Franco filed suit against State...more
After Melissa Parisi sustained injuries in a vehicle collision and learned that the other motorist involved in the crash carried only $15,000 in auto insurance, she submitted an underinsured motorist (UIM) claim to State...more
In a highly anticipated decision, the Pennsylvania Superior Court vacated an eyebrow-raising $21 million award for an auto policyholder and found that the insurer did not act in bad faith....more
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
Following a fatal vehicle accident in 2008, a group of plaintiffs brought suit against Venture One, Inc., the owner of a truck involved in the accident. After several unsuccessful attempts to settle the matter with Venture...more
In Florida, an insured cannot bring a first-party bad faith claim based on a claim for UM coverage unless the insured first files a Civil Remedy Notice (CRN) with the Florida Department of Financial Services. In Mathurin v....more
Plaintiff Mary Coppinger was injured in 2010 when her vehicle was rear-ended by Daniel Klein. Both Ms. Coppinger and Mr. Klein were insured through Defendant Allstate. Mr. Klein had a $50,000 policy limit; Ms. Coppinger had...more