Identifying and Quantifying Government Contract Claims
Can’t We All Just Get Along? Effective Ways to Navigate the Tri-Partite Relationship Among Policyholders, Insurers, and Insurer Chosen Defense Counsel
Settling a Claim: Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable
Reservation of Rights and the Insurer
The insureds were sued for alleged environmental contamination from the operation of a marine terminal and chemical storage facility. The claimants alleged that hazardous materials leaked from storage tanks over a fifty-year...more
Civil Code section 2860 authorizes the retention of independent counsel in the event a conflict of interest arises between the insurer and its insured. Under the statute a conflict of interest is deemed to arise “when an...more
Where a liability carrier has assumed its insured’s defense under a reservation of rights, a variety of conflicts between those parties may arise when there are settlement discussions to resolve the underlying litigation....more
Responding to what have been called “strategic lawsuits against public participation” (“SLAPP”), twenty-nine states, including Connecticut, have enacted some form of anti-SLAPP legislation in recent years. These anti-SLAPP...more
The California Court of Appeal recently disposed of a novel attack on bad faith law launched by Zurich American Insurance Company. In Miller Marital Deduction Trust, et al. v. Zurich American Insurance Company, 2019 DJDAR...more
Miller Marital Deduction Trust v. Zurich American Insurance Company, — P.3d –, 2019 WL 5304862; First Appellate District Court of Appeal, Division Three, Case No. A155398 (October 21, 2019). In Miller Marital Deduction...more
In its recent decision in Temple Insurance Company v. Sazwan, the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta (Court) considered the scope of, and exceptions to, an insurer’s right and duty to defend. This is the first decision in...more
Lawsuits over defective construction are common in South Carolina. So, when a construction company covered by a CGL insurance policy is sued over an alleged construction defect, the insurance company may agree to defend the...more
• Relationships between insurer, insured and insurer-appointed defense counsel – also known as the "tripartite relationship" – have long been recognized as a potential source of conflicts of interest. By a 5-4 majority in...more
Insureds won a round the other day when the South Carolina Supreme Court held that reservation of rights letters, which it characterized as nothing but “generic statements of potential non-coverage coupled with” large...more
Recently, once again, a California appeals court weighed in on the scope of the right to Cumis counsel and the meaning of Cal. Civil Code §2860. St. Paul Mercury Insurance Company v. McMillin Homes Construction, Inc., No....more
Disqualification — Substantially Related Matters — Waiver of Conflict by Lack of Diligence in Seeking Disqualification - State of Minnesota, et al v. 3M Company, Hennepin County (Minn.), Court File No. 27-CV-10-28862...more
The Nevada Supreme Court has adopted California’s independent counsel rules, holding that an insured is entitled to select its own counsel where an insurer’s coverage reservation creates an actual conflict of interest between...more
Answering two certified questions, the Nevada Supreme Court has adopted the independent counsel rule first laid down in San Diego Navy Federal Credit Union v. Cumis Insurance Society, Inc., holding: When a conflict of...more
In Centex Homes v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. (No. E060057, filed 5/22/15), a California Court of Appeal held that a developer’s declaratory relief lawsuit seeking a declaration of the right to independent counsel was...more
A bill recently introduced in the Illinois State Senate known as the Insureds Independent Counsel Act, while, if enacted, will only apply in that State, is instructive as to when an insurance company must supply independent...more
The court in Perma-Pipe, Inc. v. Liberty Surplus Insurance Corporation, Case No. 13 C 2989, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54867 (N.D. Ill. April 21, 2014), held that a CGL insurer breached its duty to defend by refusing to pay for...more
On October 15, 2012, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit – applying Texas law – addressed another Cumis counsel matter. See Coats, Rose, Yale, Ryman & Lee, P.C. v. Navigators Specialty Ins. Co., No....more