Breaking Down Bad Faith: Insurers’ Good Faith Duties and Defending Bad Faith Claims
JONES DAY PRESENTS®: Insurance Implications of the California Consumer Privacy Act
With increasing frequency, insurers are challenging the sufficiency and clarity of settlement demands they failed to previously accept. The insurer’s challenges can take many forms but most focus on a demand not being written...more
In Brodowy v. Progressive Direct Ins. Co., the Ninth Circuit affirms the district court’s granting of Progressive Direct Insurance Company’s (“Progressive”) motion for summary judgment as to claims alleging bad faith and...more
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. Finson, Apr. 17, 2024, 2nd DCA - This appeal followed a trial for underinsured motorist (UM) benefits in which the judge entered a final verdict in the amount of...more
The first two papers in this series—Handling Business Income Loss During Hurricane Season and Projecting Revenues for Business Income Losses During the Pandemic—largely emphasized impacts from the pandemic and the resulting...more
In the intricate landscape of catastrophic trucking cases and the interplay of multiple layers of liability insurance can resemble a precarious game of Jenga. Each move carries the potential to destabilize the structure,...more
Questions arise when an insurer is faced with multiple claimants and insufficient policy limits to settle all claims. Join partners Colleen E. Hayes and Thomas M. Wester for a discussion of the approaches various...more
Insurers are frequently asked to satisfy their duty of good faith and fair dealing by entertaining reasonable settlement offers within the combined limits of the policies. However, primary and excess insurers do not always...more
In the fall of 2023, California's Department of Insurance unveiled the Sustainable Insurance Strategy, a comprehensive initiative aimed at reforming the state’s insurance market. The impetus for this strategy was driven by a...more
What happens between a primary and excess liability insurer when their mutual insured is hit with a verdict $2.15 million over the primary limit and the excess insurer was not put on notice until after the verdict? This was...more
In states that haven’t passed safe harbor legislation, multiple claimants and insufficient limit claims pose certain challenges to insurers in the claims handling stage. Numerous claimants competing for severely limited...more
Over the past five plus years, the Missouri legislature has continued to grant insurer’s new rights and protections. This includes requirements for time-limited demands, interpleader protections and the ability to intervene...more
Claims Made and Reported policies are their own animal. Proper reporting of claims is vital to ensure coverage for any loss. Knowing what constitutes a “claim” that must be reported and when and how to report the claim can be...more
Earlier this month, the New Jersey Appellate Division issued an unpublished opinion reminding policyholders of the first rule of insurance: Words matter. In Rivera v. Starstone Specialty Ins. Co.,1 the court was asked to...more
Parties to a lawsuit may have vastly different perspectives on the validity and value of a claim, but as a matter of course, the issue of settlement will arise. Trial is an exceedingly expensive endeavor with an uncertain...more
Excess insurers facing claims should heavily scrutinize their policies for conditions that may be unsatisfactory —even if seemingly immaterial— because they can provide a complete defense to coverage. In a recent case, an...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
In recent years, the number of insurers offering M&A insurance (known as warranty and indemnity (W&I) insurance) in Asia has doubled. This is ushering in a new era for risk allocation in M&A that is more favorable to buyers...more
Insurers attempting to accept a time-limited demand (often called a “Holt” demand in Georgia) must adhere to every term and condition of performance therein, even those that appear immaterial; otherwise, a court may find that...more
Join Goldberg Segalla partners Christian A. Cavallo and Dustin C. Blumenthal for an interactive webinar discussing practical and legal considerations for insurers presented with a time-limited demand that they pay their...more
In a cautionary tale for insurers everywhere, a California court recently ordered two excess carriers to pay their policy limits twice for a single policy term. Why? Because in the policies at issue, the policy limits paid...more
The last three years have launched unprecedented changes in the world as we knew it. These changes carry over into issues faced by professionals in multiple disciplines. With advancements in technology like ChatGPT and other...more
Tendering policy limits to an insured in response to a Notice of Intent to Litigate, under section 627.70152, Florida Statutes (2021), precludes insureds from recovering pre-suit attorney’s fees from their property insurers...more
On June 3, 2023, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signed into law AB 398 (the Act) which modifies the Nevada insurance code by restricting the types of liability policies that can be offered in the state. The End of Eroding Limits...more
In recent years, the use of representations and warranties insurance (RWI) in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions has experienced dramatic growth worldwide. Consequently, deal participants in Latin America are showing...more
This year began like the last one ended, with lots of activity. Total loss class actions kept going around the country, and labor depreciation class actions experienced ups and downs, depending on one’s viewpoint. New class...more