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Denial of Insurance Coverage Property Damage Homeowner's Insurance

Allen Matkins

What You Need to Know about the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan (FAIR Plan)

Allen Matkins on

This alert begins our series discussing legal issues related to the Southern California wildfires. We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available. Due to the high risk of wildfires in California,...more

Rivkin Radler LLP

January 2025 New York Insurance Coverage Law Update

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The insured owned premises located in Huntington Station, NY. The Claimant was allegedly injured when she slipped and fell at the premises. The Claimant sued the insured and the insured sought coverage under her homeowners...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

An Insurer is not Vicariously Liable for Actions by an Agent That Are Outside the Scope of the Agency Relationship and Were...

In December 2020, Plaintiff Erin Hughes applied for homeowners coverage for her Malibu home with her Farmers’ insurance agent. Hughes obtained a fire policy through the California FAIR Plan and a homeowners policy through...more

Zelle  LLP

Homeowners Did Not Substantially Meet Policy’s Condition Precedent to Recover Replacement Cost Value

Zelle LLP on

Property Insurance/Replacement Cost - Homeowners Did Not Substantially Meet Policy’s Condition Precedent to Recover Replacement Cost Value - Insurer Did Not Waive Conditions - Henderson v. State Farm Fire and...more

Carlton Fields

Alabama Federal Court Finds No Duty to Defend Lawsuit Alleging Concealment of Defects in Sale of Home

Carlton Fields on

In Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co. v. Carmichael, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, applying Alabama law, entered summary judgment ruling that Nationwide Fire Insurance Co. had no duty to...more

Cozen O'Connor

Florida Court Holds Rust and Corrosion is “Act of Nature”

Cozen O'Connor on

A Florida court recently held that rust and corrosion of water pipes is an “act of nature,” and, thus, was excluded from coverage under a homeowner’s insurance policy. In Dodge v. People’s Trust Insurance Company, 2021 WL...more

Bressler, Amery & Ross, P.C.

Insurance Litigation Group Scores Appellate Victory with the Fourth District Court of Appeal’s Recent Decision in Jennifer...

On March 26, 2021, the Fourth District issued a ruling in the matter of  Jennifer Mezadieu v. Safepoint Insurance Company, which critically cemented the principle that ‘intentionality’ on the part of an insured is not a...more

Carlton Fields

The Three “Musts” for a Competent Affidavit or Declaration

Carlton Fields on

Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal recently issued a decision that serves as a reminder not to take for granted a proposition that most practicing attorneys regularly encounter: a motion for summary judgment must be...more

Butler Snow LLP

Got mold? If so, you probably don’t have insurance coverage for it.

Butler Snow LLP on

It happens all the time – a water leak in a house or other building goes unnoticed for some period of time, and then mold appears. Insurance policies generally provide coverage to repair water damage, provided other policy...more

Rumberger | Kirk

Florida's 5th DCA Allows Carrier to Compel Appraisal When Covered Loss Is Under Deductible

Rumberger | Kirk on

No payment? No problem ruled Florida’s 5th District Court of Appeal a few weeks ago in a homeowner’s insurance case where the carrier found partial coverage for the alleged loss, but did not issue payment because the amount...more

Cozen O'Connor

Collapse Coverage: Second Circuit Holds That Cracking Walls Do Not Constitute “Collapse”

Cozen O'Connor on

Most homeowners’ policies – and property insurance policies in general – contain a limited coverage extension for “collapse.” The interpretation of that collapse coverage has been litigated around the country for decades,...more

Saul Ewing LLP

Not in Time: Complaint Remanded Where Insurer "Should Have Known" That the Amount in Controversy Exceeded the Jurisdictional...

Saul Ewing LLP on

After their living room ceiling collapsed, Heather and David Hutchinson submitted a claim for approximately $25,000 in damages to State Farm Fire & Casualty Company under their homeowners' policy. State Farm denied the claim...more

Carlton Fields

Court Enforces Policy’s Crumbling Foundation Plain Language in Dismissing Claims Against Insurers

Carlton Fields on

A federal judge in Connecticut recently dismissed claims against insurers related to their denial of a claim by two homeowners whose home’s foundation was crumbling. The case, Hyde v. Allstate Ins. Co., No. 3:18-cv-00031 (D....more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

Vacancy Exclusion: Eleventh Circuit (Florida) Weighs In On “Dwelling Being Constructed” Exception

Vacancy exclusions are commonplace in many homeowner policies, and typically exclude coverage for certain types of losses if the home is vacant and/or unoccupied. Litigation involving vacancy exclusions can arise when terms...more

Rumberger | Kirk

Fifth DCA Strikes Blow To Popular Policy Exclusion

Rumberger | Kirk on

The Fifth District Court of Appeal recently issued a decision that will likely force homeowners insurance carriers to rewrite one of their stalwart policy exclusions that pertains to “constant or repeated seepage or leakage”...more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

Freezing Exclusion: Third Circuit Affirms District Court’s Grant Of Summary Judgment To Insurer

Many typical homeowner’s insurance policies contain an exclusion for damages as a result of freezing unless the homeowner uses “reasonable care” to maintain heat in the home....more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

Eastern District of New York Magistrate Recommends Denial of a Motion to Remand and Recognizes the Application of the Fraudulent...

Recently, in Mallek v. Allstate Indem. Co. No. 17-CV-5949-KAM-SJB, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42171 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 12, 2018) [insert link], a federal magistrate in New York recommended that the Court deny a plaintiff’s motion to...more

Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP

Contingency Fee Multipliers: Florida Supreme Court Rejects Rare and Exceptional Circumstances Requirement

Contingency fee multipliers increase attorney fee awards substantially. The general custom in American law is that each party is responsible for his or her own attorney’s fees, regardless of the outcome of the action. See...more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

Unequivocal Denial: District of New Jersey Court Outlines What is Not Necessary

We have previously featured New Jersey District Court decisions addressing “unequivocal” denials in the context of policies’ suit limitation provisions. In the latest, Ryan v. Liberty Mut. Fire Ins. Co., No. 14-6308...more

Nossaman LLP

California Supreme Court Endorses the Insurance Commissioner’s Authority to Regulate Wayward Insurers

Nossaman LLP on

On Monday, the California Supreme Court revived a 2011 insurance regulation designed to protect homeowners from underinsurance because of the insurance company’s use of potentially misleading estimates for home replacement...more

Pullman & Comley, LLC

California’s High Court Gives Insurance Regulators New Tools To Broaden Authority

Pullman & Comley, LLC on

Nearly two years ago, a California appellate court invalidated a rule promulgated by the state’s Insurance Commissioner, on the ground that the regulator lacks authority to prohibit “deceptive acts or practices” which are not...more

Cozen O'Connor

California Supreme Court Upholds Replacement Cost Estimate Regulation (For Now)

Cozen O'Connor on

In 2011, the California Insurance Commissioner promulgated a regulation governing replacement cost estimates for homeowners insurance (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 10, §2695.183 [the Regulation]). After the trial court and...more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

District of Connecticut Reaffirms That Definition Of “Collapse” Is Unambiguous

The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut recently reaffirmed its ruling that the term “collapse,” as defined by a homeowners insurance policy, is unambiguous and that the policy in question did not...more

Cozen O'Connor

Wisconsin Supreme Court Narrowly Interprets the “Permanent Property Insurance” Condition in a Builder’s Risk Policy

Cozen O'Connor on

In Fontana Builders, Inc. v. Assurance Company of America, Case No. 2014AP821, 2016 WL 3526408 (Wis. Jun. 29, 2016), the Wisconsin Supreme Court addressed whether the purchase of a homeowner’s policy by the occupiers and...more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

Broad but not Ambiguous: Eighth Circuit Weighs In On Water Below The Surface Exclusion  

An exclusion in a homeowner’s policy for loss resulting from “water . . . below the surface of the ground” is not limited to naturally occurring water, according to a recent decision of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in...more

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