Out With a Bang: Current State of Play on Coverage for COVID-Related Losses
The Calm Before and After the Storm: How to Maximize Insurance Recovery for Catastrophic Weather Events
Protect Your Construction Project: Top 10 Insurance Provisions to Know
Filing Insurance Claims After the Texas Winter Storm
Subro Sense - The ABC's of RCV and ACV
K&L Gates Triage: Emergency Preparedness and Response in Long Term Care - Part II
What Money Damages Are Available In A Personal Injury Claim?
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
In Rodriguez v. Safeco Ins. Co. of Ind. the Texas Supreme Court addressed a key issue concerning appraisal that was dividing lower Texas state courts and Texas federal district courts. The United States Court of Appeal for...more
Chris Popov and Mike Heidler, partners at Vinson & Elkins, talk through a major opinion from the Texas Supreme Court, their role in the case, and what it means for investors in Texas companies....more
For Presentation at the 20th Annual Advanced Insurance Law Course, June 1-2, 2023, Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort, San Antonio, Texas - No Texas insurance practitioner disputes that an insured may only recover for...more
The question of whether a particular application of herbicide on one property caused damage on another’s property requires expert testimony. When a plaintiff claims that herbicide drift caused reduced crop yields, it is not...more
You’ll find some notable decisions in our May Insurance Update. Appeals over pandemic-related business interruption losses have made their way up to state high courts. And so far, these courts have continued the trend...more
Texas practitioners can add a new term to their legal vocabulary: “the Monroe exception.” The Texas Supreme Court has finally weighed in on whether to create an exception to the eight corners rule when determining if an...more
In February, the Supreme Court of Texas issued two opinions important to Texas’s duty-to-defend analysis. First, the court settled a split among Texas appellate courts by endorsing a limited exception to the eight-corners...more
For decades, an insurer’s duty to defend under Texas law was determined exclusively by reviewing the insurance contract and the allegations of the complaint under the “eight-corners rule.” All of this changed last week when,...more
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has joined seven other Circuits in finding no coverage for COVID-19 business interruption claims. In Terry Black’s Barbecue, L.L.C. v. State Auto. Mut. Ins. Co., 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 287...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
One year after its initial decision in a significant bad faith case, the Texas Supreme Court has issued its much-awaited opinion in USAA Tex. Lloyds Co. v. Menchaca. The case involved a homeowner whose post-Hurricane Ike...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
On December 15th, the Texas Supreme Court agreed to revisit its April 7, 2017 decision in USAA Texas Lloyds Co. v. Menchaca, No. 14-0721, a “bad faith” case arising out of Hurricane Ike damage, in which the court held that a...more
2017 was a busy year for insurance practitioners, legislators and jurists. The year brought a number of long-awaited Texas Supreme Court opinions, ranging from a case of simple contract construction to a lengthy opinion...more
When (if ever) are an insurer’s attorney’s fees and billing information discoverable in a coverage dispute? Though the question is straightforward, the answer can vary from case to case and jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The...more
In an effort to clarify over 20 years of conflicting precedent, the Texas Supreme Court announced five rules that, according to the court, explain the relationship between claims for breach of insurance policy and...more
On Friday, April, 7, 2017, the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion in USAA Texas Lloyds Company v. Menchaca, describing its ruling as clarifying much of the confusion that has existed among the courts in Texas with respect...more
In First United Pentecostal Church of Beaumont v. Parker, a church hired an attorney to defend it against sexual abuse allegations. 2017 Tex. LEXIS 295 (Tex. March 17, 2017). During the same time, the church also engaged the...more
According to both the appellant and the appellee, the Texas Supreme Court already decided this issue. Each, of course, finds a different answer. Cause No., 14-0721, USAA Texas Lloyds Co. v. Gail Menchaca, in the Texas...more
G. T. Leach Builders V. Sapphire V.P.: Non-Signatories’ Right to Compel Arbitration; Waiver of Right to Arbitrate - By far, the most recent, significant arbitration development for construction law practitioners was the...more
In U.S. Metals, Inc. v. Liberty Mutual Group, Inc., No. 14-0753, 2015 Tex. LEXIS 1081 (Tex. Dec. 4, 2015) the Supreme Court of Texas ruled that installation of a faulty component does not cause physical injury to the...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
Often damage to a building or structure can be the result of multiple perils. One of the most common examples is when a windstorm causes a building to sustain both flood and wind damage. Based on the policy language at issue,...more
Last Friday, Texas’ highest court unanimously endorsed lower court and federal court decisions giving effect to anti-concurrent causation (ACC) clauses and held that such provisions bar coverage where a combination of an...more