Agent Not Required to Inform Insured of Nonrenewal Some cases go on and on with trial decisions reversed, remanded, retried and appealed again. In Collins v. State Farm Ins. Co., — So.3d —, 2015 WL 468970 (La.App. 4 Cir.), 2014-0419 (La.App. 4 Cir. 2/4/15), after eight years of litigation over damages resulting from Hurricane Katrina […]
States, like Louisiana, have enacted statutes requiring insurers to pay an agreed claim immediately but no later than 30 days from the date of the agreement. In Louisiana a court can assess a penalty even if the payment is made 34 days after the settlement agreement. However, to get the penalty it is necessary that […]
Reinstatement of Life Policy Like New Policy States, in an attempt to protect life insurance beneficiaries, make it impossible to contest the viability of a life insurance policy, even if obtained by fraud, unless the coverage is contested within two years of the inception of the policy. In Texas the requirement for an incontestability clause […]
Pollution Exclusion Applies It is axiomatic that insurance companies have the right to limit coverage in any manner they desire, so long as the limitations do not conflict with statutory pro- visions or public policy. People who are sued have a problem with the concept when the policy wording does not apply to the allegations […]
You Can Lie to an Insurer in Illinois and Still Keep Coverage When a person, directly or through a broker, lies in an application for insurance it usually results in voidance of the insurance policy either by the equitable remedy of rescission or by the language of the policy. Illinois, at least in the case […]
Liability insurance policies are designed to protect those insured against claims seeking damages from the insured. Some suits, however, seek equitable remedies and no damages. In such a case, where damages are neither alleged nor proven, the availability of coverage for defense is questionable. The question was brought again in Ohio by a vexatious litigator. In […]
In this case the California Court of Appeal was asked to once again apply the well-established principle that any limitation on the coverage provided by a liability insurance policy must be expressed and consistent with the reasonable expectations of the insured. Simply put, people who write insurance policies should say what they mean and do […]
[ON MY RADAR] By Barry Zalma Must Insured First Prove Prima Facie Case? An LLC is not an Employee When an insured acquires an insurance policy the insured promises, among other things, to first prove that when presenting a claim for indemnity the insured will establish a prima facie (on its face) case that coverage […]
[ON MY RADAR] By Barry Zalma Other Insurance Clause Raises Actual Controversy Self-Insured & Insurer “Other Insurance Clause” When two or more insurers agree to insure against the same risk of loss disputes often arise as to which insurer must pay on a primary basis, which is excess or whether they must share the liability […]
Insurance policies of all types have contribution or excess clauses. Sometimes the clauses conflict and when two insurers insure the same risk both will claim that the responsibility lies with the other. In Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Health and Welfare Fund v. First Agency, Inc. — F.3d —, 2014 WL 2933225 (C.A.6 (Mich.)) […]
A Beacon International Group, Ltd. Member
