I’m currently preparing to try another coverage case. This one involves the question of whether an insurance company, having denied a defense outright, can later second-guess the amount of defense costs and settlement paid by the policyholder out of its own pocket.
In preparing the case, I came across an interesting opinion written by the…
So here’s a frustrating aspect of coverage work. The underlying plaintiff sues the policyholder based on a complaint that was inartfully drafted (which, in some instances, is a nice way of saying that the complaint looks like it was written while the lawyer was tripping on mescaline). The carrier denies coverage because nothing in the…
Got an e-mail from my friend John Denton at Marsh Risk Consulting about The English & American Underwriting Agency Pools (“EAU”) and their Scheme of Arrangement closure. Any historic London excess placements probably would have included one or more of the EAU companies as carriers. There are actions necessary to safeguard any outstanding claims, whether known or
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In commercial accounts, retrospective rating is a fairly common concept. A retrospective premium program is exactly what its name suggests: a method to calculate the policyholder’s premiums for liability insurance “retrospectively.” While the formulae for calculating retro premiums can get pretty involved, the basics are as follows.
A retrospective premium policy, unlike a standard insurance…
Needless to say, it can be very dangerous for insurance companies to “roll the dice.” Over at the Michigan Auto Lawyers Blog, Steve Gursten tells the story of an adjuster who showed up 40 minutes late for a mediation, and then wouldn’t go north of $1 million in a catastrophic truck accident case involving serious personal injury. The…
Most lawyers brag about the cases they’ve won. I prefer to pick apart the ones I’ve lost. It’s cathartic.
The subject of general liability insurance coverage for supposed intellectual property offenses is hotly contested. Depending on the “personal injury” and “advertising injury” coverage forms used in a particular policy, for example, insurance may exist for…
It’s amazing how, when the economy tanked, construction defects began to multiply exponentially. I’m not (necessarily) trying to ascribe purely financial motives to the plaintiffs in these cases, but there’s no doubt that, at my firm at least, we’ve seen a marked increase in the amount of coverage litigation over construction defects.
So, what’s the…
The subject of invasion of privacy has been in the news (pretty tragically) lately with the terrible suicide death of a Rutgers University freshman. Classmates allegedly had been spying on his personal life through a webcam, which upset him to the point that he took his own life.
I don’t mean to seem insensitive or…
From the “no good deed goes unpunished” department: Over at Claims Magazine, they recently published an article called “The Hidden Risks of Green Buildings.” “Green” (or “sustainable”) buildings involve processes that are supposedly environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and deconstruction. So, for example…
My father-in-law (who worked for DeLorean Motors long ago) once told me that success in business was simply a process of accumulating whip marks. Succeeding in the law is no different. Here’s a whip mark I got a few months ago, and which you can avoid by always paying your insurance premiums on time. …