If Insurer Agrees to Defend Insured May Not Expect it to Pay Independent Counsel The Insureds sued Mid-Continent for failing to pay their attorneys’ fees in defense of the underlying lawsuit where the Insureds alleged several causes of action against Mid-Continent, including breach of contract, bad faith, and several Insurance Code violations. Mid-Continent filed a […]
Ambiguous Policy Language Forces Insurer to Pay Losses It Did not Intend to Cover INSURER HOIST ON ITS OWN PETARD Insurers often complain that their insureds do not read the insurance policy and compel them to fulfill all policy terms or receive nothing. In my experience almost no one reads an insurance policy until there […]
Rescission Results in Policy Void From its Inception Imperial Casualty and Lloyd’s Underwriters retained me in the 1980’s to advise concerning the fire claim presented by Levon Sogomonian and his wife as a result of a major arson fire and explosion that destroyed their home. The investigation took more than a year, multiple days of […]
Attorneys May Not Be Sued for the Tort of Bad Faith For many years lawyers for policyholders have sued insurer’s lawyers for the tort of bad faith to avoid federal court. I was sued dozens of times in spurious lawsuits claiming that drafting a denial letter was sufficient to sue me personally as the lawyer […]
Situs of Assault Does not Create Coverage A coverage dispute arose from the sexual assault of a special needs student aboard her school bus. National Liability and Fire Company sought a declaration that it had no duty to defend or indemnify the bus company or its school district client in a state court action brought […]
Three sophisticated commercial parties in the insurance industry entered into what appears, in hindsight, to be a somewhat unsophisticated business arrangement. That arrangement led to complex litigation, which generally isn’t a good thing for a business arrangement to lead to. In American Builders Insurance Company v. Keystone Insurers Group and Ebensburg Insurance Agency, No. 4:19-CV-01497, […]
After a multiple-count indictment against dozens of members of the Gangster Disciples five of them, Alonzo Walton, Kevin Clayton, Donald Glass, Antarious Caldwell, and Vancito Gumbs, appealed their convictions and sentences following a joint trial. Each raised several grounds for reversal contending they were overcharged and over-sentenced. Some argued that the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt […]
McCann Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, Inc.; Andrew R. McCann; and Wendy McCann, sued defendant, Pekin Insurance Company, for breach of an insurance contract and sought declaratory judgment because the demolition of an adjacent building damaged the McCann’s building. In McCann Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, Inc., an Illinois Corporation; Andrew R. McCann; and Wendy McCann v. […]
Steven and Nancy Taylor appealed the trial court’s granting defendant Lake Michigan Insurance Company’s motion for summary disposition and dismissing their case and the court’s denial of their motion for reconsideration. In Steven G S Taylor and Nancy Taylor v. Lake Michigan Insurance Company, No. 360974, Court of Appeals of Michigan (August 24, 2023) the […]
In late 2018 or early 2019, plaintiff noticed that on two occasions an elderly neighbor stumbled and fell as she descended plaintiff’s outside staircase and learned that the pitch of the stairs had changed and that to make the stairs safe the staircase needed to be replaced. In late April 2019, plaintiff authorized the work […]
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