Insurers do not want to cover pollution under a basic automobile insurance policy. In their generosity they take on the liability of their insureds if, as a result of a collision or upset of an insured vehicle, some pollution occurs. That does not, however give coverage for every incident of pollution related to a vehicle. […]
The Four Corners Rule, applied in Pennsylvania and several other states, limits the decision to defend and/or indemnify an insured to a review of the allegations of a complaint. As such, it ignores facts extrinsic from the wording of the complaint, and provides an insured with coverage that would not exist if the court applied the facts rather than the allegations. In Lanigan v. T.H.E. Insurance Co., 646 WDA 2013 (Pa.Super. 03/14/2014), a Pennsylvania appellate court was asked to reverse a summary judgment in favor of an insurer by ignoring the facts and applying only the allegations of the complaint.
When some primary insurers exhaust their policy limits, excess insurers must take over the defense and indemnity of the insured as their interests appear. When there are multiple primary and excess insurers the allocation of the costs of defense and indemnity become complicated and result in litigation when the multiple parties should work together to […]
When an Insurer Must Interplead Funds When an insurance company is faced with competing claims for the proceeds of a life insurance policy and cannot determine which claim is proper, it may deposit the benefits of the policy into court and ask that the competing interests litigate the right to the proceeds. Since it has […]
No Excuse For Failure to Appoint Umpire The Supreme Court of Alabama was asked, in Ex parte Tower Insurance Company of New York Inc., 1120228 (Ala. 08/23/2013), to grant a petition for a writ of mandamus filed by an insurance company, an independent adjusting firm, and an adjuster employed by that firm (collectively “the petitioners”) […]
Health Insurance Fraud Health Insurance Fraud is rampant. Most people convicted of health insurance fraud are doctors and other health care providers. Where most of the money goes, however, is to people taking advantage of free or subsidized health care benefits when they are not entitled to receive the benefits because there is no investigation […]
Policy Must Be Read as A Whole Single Fire – Multiple Occurrences Bad facts with severe injuries make bad insurance law when courts attempt to interpret policies to provide maximum funds available for the victim. The Supreme Court of Connecticut was asked to interpret various provisions of a professional liability insurance policy to determine the […]
First Party vs. Third Party “Other Insurance Clause” Eliminates Coverage First party property insurance only insure the owner of the property for its loss and makes no promise to defend or indemnify the insured against claims of third parties. Even in bailment situations, where the policy insures against the risk of loss of property of […]
Insured Must Pay Premium to Effect Insurance If Judge Doesn’t Believe You – You Lose Mark Brooks appealed from a judgment of the Superior Court in favor of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) following a jury-waived trial. At trial, Brooks asserted that MassMutual made misrepresentations to him regarding his obligation to make premium payments […]
Fraud Victim Punished Policy Rewritten to Make Defrauded Insurer Pay Rescission of an insurance policy, by definition, means the policy never existed and the parties are returned to the status quo. The insured gets the premium back and the insurer gets the policy back with no obligation under the policy. In Citizens United Reciprocal Exchange […]
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