The Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (“TPPCA”), codified in Chapter 542 of the Texas Insurance Code, contains deadlines relating to payment of claims. The TPPCA allows for an insured to recover actual damages, penalty...more
A roofing contractor called Stonewater Roofing, Ltd. (Stonewater) challenged a Texas statute regulating public adjusters' conduct on the basis that the statute violates free speech and due process rights under the First and...more
There are a litany of deadlines an insurer must be mindful of, and this is especially true in Texas, which imposes a number of statutorily prescribed deadlines during the claim adjustment process. The Texas Prompt Payment of...more
On April 11, California Attorney General (AG) Rob Bonta filed an amicus brief before the Supreme Court of the State of California arguing that policyholders should be able to assert claims under the state’s Unfair Competition...more
In In re Illinois National Insurance Co., the Texas Supreme Court held that disclaiming insurers were not bound by any underlying settlement agreement, entered into without the insurers’ consent, where the claimants promised...more
When an insurer pays the full amount of an appraisal award plus statutory interest, the insured is precluded from recovering attorney’s fees under Chapter 542A of the Texas Insurance Code, according to a recent decision from...more
A California state court of appeals, applying California law, has held that, as a matter of first impression, a provision in the California insurance code excluding insurance coverage for loss caused by an insured’s willful...more
This past May, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of a life insurance company, finding that California’s lapse statute applies only to life insurance...more
The Texas Supreme Court reinforced common law precedent that insurers cannot avoid liability under an insurance policy based on a misrepresentation in an insurance application unless the insurer can establish that the insured...more
HB 3359 amends Chapter 1301 of the Texas Insurance Code. Chapter 1301 sets forth the legal requirements and obligations of a “preferred provider benefit plan”. A “preferred provider benefit plan” is a benefit plan in which an...more
Chapter 542 of the Texas Insurance Code, also known as the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (“TPPCA”), generally allows an insured to recover interest and attorneys’ fees, in addition to the amount of the insurance claim,...more
In a case of first impression, the Dallas Court of Appeals recently held that, under a statute passed by the Texas Legislature in 2017, if an insurer pays an appraisal award issued in connection with a weather-related...more
In an interesting new decision, the Ninth Circuit in Aspen Specialty Ins. Co. v. Miller Barondess, LLP (“Miller Barondess”) held that Section 533 of the California Insurance Code—which states that “[a]n insurer is not liable...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, applying California law, has held that California Insurance Code Section 533, which prohibits insurance coverage for willful conduct, does not require a final...more
Ever since the Texas Supreme Court changed the landscape of Texas law regarding appraisal in Barbara Technologies Corp. v. State Farm Lloyds, 589 S.W.3d 806 (Tex. 2019) and Ortiz v. State Farm Lloyds, 589 S.W.3d 127 (Tex....more
Fortuity is the hallmark of liability insurance, incorporated into insurance policies through the definition of “occurrence.” California law adds an additional layer of complexity to the typical occurrence requirement in...more
In its recent decision, People ex rel. Ellinger v. Magill, et al., —Cal.Rptr.3d—, No. E076378, 2022 WL 1077988 (Cal. Ct. App., Mar. 18, 2022), the California Court of Appeal refused to extend liability under California’s...more
In our May 2021 issue, we discussed the rise in life insurance policy lapse notice cases in California following the state’s 2013 enactment of California Insurance Code sections 10113.71 and 10113.72. These statutes establish...more
Illinois does not recognize bad faith as an independent tort. In the first-party context, bad faith is a purely statutory construct which hinges upon whether an insurer’s conduct was “vexatious and unreasonable.”...more
In its recent decision, Villanueva v. Fidelity National Title Company, --- P.3d ---, No. S252035, 2021 WL 1031874 (Cal. Mar. 18, 2021), the California Supreme Court rejected an expansive view of the immunity afforded to title...more
On Oct. 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is set to hear oral arguments in Pearson v. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company. The case centers on statutory construction of Chapters 542 and 542A of the...more
Amid the chaos surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak, the Texas Department of Insurance has issued a Commissioner’s Bulletin extending certain claim-handling prompt payment deadlines for property carriers handling claims in...more
In People ex rel. Allstate v. Suh (No. B280293; filed 6/17/19), a California appeals court upheld a jury’s award of over $6 million in civil penalties for insurance fraud under Insurance Code section 1871.7....more
In Ins. Co. of St. of PA v. Amer. Safety Indemnity Co. (No. B283684, filed 3/1/19) (“ICSOP”), a California appeals court rejected one insurer’s efforts to limit the scope of another insurer’s direct action as a judgment...more
On April 13, 2018, the Texas Supreme Court issued its highly-anticipated decision on rehearing in USAA Tex. Lloyds Co. v. Menchaca, 2018 Tex. LEXIS 313 (Tex. Apr. 13, 2018). This replaced an earlier opinion dated April 7,...more