Prompt Payments: How CASPA and Other State Laws Afford Contractors Protections
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
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
Until recently, property insurers who paid a binding appraisal award in Texas were almost certain to end a matter by doing so, with respect to both breach-of-contract claims and all extracontractual claims. But changes...more
In 2019, the Supreme Court of Texas issued a pair of decisions that allowed policyholders to prosecute claims under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (“TPPCA”) even after the insurers paid appraisal awards. The decisions...more
Just a few short years ago, there was a bright line rule under Texas law concerning appraisal awards. If an insurer timely paid an appraisal award, that payment extinguished all of the insurer’s contractual and...more
In Hinojos v. State Farm Lloyds, the Supreme Court of Texas addressed liability under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (the “TPPCA”) when an insurer timely pays only part of a claim....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
The Michigan Uniform Trade Practices Act (UTPA) provides for 12% penalty interest on certain no-fault insurance claims that are not timely paid by the insurer. For “third party tort claimants,” penalty interest only applies...more
With the continued onslaught of hail and other weather related litigation in Texas, insurance carriers often elect to resolve claims through the appraisal process outlined in the policy. Insurance carriers historically...more
In recent years, the number of Texas lawsuits arising from hail-damage claims to residential and commercial properties has reached staggering levels, leaving the courts in several Texas counties struggling to keep up with...more
Insurance practice in Texas has become somewhat rote. Typically, a petition is filed against both an insurance company (that is often not based or incorporated in Texas) and a local adjuster. In addition to a breach of...more
Virtually all property insurance policies contain an appraisal clause, which outlines the appraisal procedure in broad terms. Those broad terms sometimes do not provide much guidance about the process, or about the effect...more
Any Texas lawyer with even a passing interest in insurance law knows that if you want to see sparks fly, just utter the word “appraisal” near a couple of insurance lawyers. If you really want fireworks, make sure one...more
For more than a decade, courts applying Texas law — including the Fifth Circuit, two federal district courts and several Texas courts of appeal — have uniformly held that an insurer’s full and timely payment of an appraisal...more
In a recent decision, the Fifth Circuit considered when the 18 percent damages interest under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (Prompt Pay Act) accrues and whether an insurer can waive a policy’s one-year cost reporting...more