What is an Appraisal?
It is long-standing law in Florida (and elsewhere) that an insurer can deny a claim when it was prejudiced by a policyholder’s failure to provide timely notice. However, there has been some debate in recent years about whose...more
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
SPOTLIGHT: Third Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms No Coverage for Sex Trafficking Claims - In Nautilus Insurance Co. v. Motel Management Services Inc., the Court of Appeals granted a motion for judgment on the pleadings...more
On July 20, 2022, Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal reversed and remanded a trial court’s decision compelling the parties to proceed with appraisal and staying litigation until that appraisal was completed. Florida’s...more
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
In Westfield Ins. Group v. Pure Renovations, LLC, 2019-Ohio-4773, 2019 Ohio App. LEXIS 4829, the Court of Appeals of Ohio considered whether the lower court properly granted the defendant’s summary judgment motion. In its...more
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
Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal (DCA) ruled on Sept. 5, 2018, that an insurer's anti-assignment provision was not prohibited. The Court disagreed with the Fifth DCA's decision in December 2017 prohibiting any such...more
The Holding - In Farmers Ins. Exchange v. The Honorable David Udall, 2018 WL 2931906 (June 12, 2018), the Arizona Court of Appeals accepted special action jurisdiction to hold that Insureds validly assigned post-loss...more
The Holding - In Teufel v. Am. Family Mut. Ins. Co., 244 Ariz. 383, 419 P.3d 546 (2018), the Arizona Supreme Court recently held that a Contractual Liability Exclusion in homeowner policies did not apply to a claim for...more
First party insurance claims involving multiple perils present unique challenges when assessing whether an insurance policy provides coverage. For example, suppose an insurance policy covers damage resulting from fire, but...more
On April 11, 2017, the Division III Washington Court of Appeals, on a 2 to 1 vote, held that third party administrators and adjusters can be liable in bad faith actions under multiple legal theories. Merriman v. Am. Guar. &...more
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
In Assn. of Cal. Insurance Companies v. Jones ( No. S226529, filed 1/23/17), the California Supreme Court reversed trial and appellate court decisions to hold that California’s Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones had the...more
Two new opinions show the Second DCA continues to hold that if an insurance policy providing sinkhole coverage authorizes the insurer to withhold payment for subsurface repairs until the policyholder presents a signed...more
In Allen v. State Farm Florida Ins. Co., 2D15-3114 (Fla. 2d DCA June 10, 2016), a sinkhole plaintiff sued two insurers for the same damage, and then settled with one of them before trial. The non-settling insurer wanted to...more
Schmidt v. Indiana Insurance Co., No. 22S01-1507-PL-412, Supreme Court of Indiana, December 2, 2015 - Plaintiff was the owner of a house in which he allowed his cousin to live from 2007 to 2009. When the cousin moved...more
The Court of Appeal for Ontario has held that appeal courts will review decisions interpreting standard form contracts on a correctness standard, as opposed to the more deferential standard of review of reasonableness....more
Appellate Court Advance Release Opinions: AC36382, AC36387 - Hilton v. Commissioner of Correction - AC36922 - Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co. v. Pasiak - This was Round Three of a case previously reported on. An...more
Monday, in Nurse v. Omega U.S. Insurance., Inc., 2015 Mass. App. LEXIS 158, 2015 WL 5774390 (Mass.App., Oct. 5, 2015), a unanimous panel of Massachusetts’ intermediate level appellate court held that the two-year suit...more
For years, Florida courts have been seesawing between two different doctrines to determine whether there is coverage under a property policy when two perils – one excluded and one included — combine to cause a loss. Two...more
In Preferred Mutual Insurance Company v. Vermont Mutual Insurance Company, 87 Mass App Ct. 510 (June 17, 2015), the Massachusetts Appeals Court discussed several interesting insurance coverage issues when it addressed a...more
California Court: Rejected Demand Within Policy Limits Not Necessary for Bad Faith Claim - Why it matters: Insurers must proceed with caution when they become aware that a settlement within policy limits is possible,...more
In Albert v. Mid-Century Insurance Co. (No. B257792, filed 4/28/15, ord. pub. 5/20/15), a California Court of Appeal held that an insured’s trimming of a neighbor’s trees which allegedly damaged the trees was not an accident...more
On April 8, after a careful statutory analysis, the California Second Appellate Division held that the California Insurance Commissioner exceeded his authority in promulgating a regulation that defined a new act as an unfair...more