I’ve been representing policyholders in insurance coverage litigation for 35 years, and I’m convinced that I’ll never understand the logic of insurance company claim departments. They settle cases that I think they might want to fight, and they fight cases tooth-and-nail that I think they really should settle. (Maybe it’s me.)
The carrier’s claim file…
I like to think I’m pretty fair and impartial in these blog posts. I said that to a friend of mine in the defense bar who apparently reads my ramblings, though, and she laughed at me. I suppose I have a classic case of confirmation bias, where I think that insurance companies often forget what…
Earlier this month, I was asked by Elizabeth Lorell, an excellent defense lawyer, to speak at a CLE conference sponsored by her law firm. (You can read Elizabeth’s bio here.) The audience consisted of other defense lawyers, and insurance company claims representatives. In other words, I was basically a snake at a mongoose convention.…
“Subrogation” seems to be a simple concept. You suffer a loss. Your insurance company pays for the loss. Your insurance company then assumes your rights against the party that damaged you. But, like everything in the insurance world, subrogation can result in numerous complications. The problem, of course, is that if your insurance company doesn’t…
I used to know a guy who worked for a major, nationally known public adjustment company. In years where there were no major hurricanes or tornado incidents, he would literally walk around looking like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He never overtly wished death or destruction on anyone (as far…
As the weeks following Sandy have stretched into months, and the months are beginning to stretch into years, businesses and homeowners with unresolved claims have been asking me whether it’s worthwhile to complain about their carrier to the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance (“DOBI”). Truth be told, it’s a complete waste of time.
Settling complex insurance claims involving multiple carriers can be like playing three-dimensional chess. (Since I can’t even play one-dimensional chess, that means it’s really difficult.) I once had a multimillion-dollar environmental insurance coverage settlement fall apart because one of the participating carriers would not assume an extra 1% of the coverage, despite (or perhaps because…
Here’s an interesting question recently confronted by the Ninth Circuit: Is it bad faith for an insurance company to refuse to initiate settlement discussions in a third-party context when liability has become reasonably clear? The carrier (Deerbrook, an Allstate company) took the position that bad faith could not exist unless the carrier failed to…
Here’s an interesting situation that recently came up. A general contractor (Aristone) got sued in a construction defect case involving continuous water damage to a building over several policy periods, involving several insurance companies. One of Aristone’s carriers – OneBeacon – stepped up to provide a defense. Another – Pennsylvania Manufacturers – took a “no…
Here’s a fairly common circumstance in large commercial liability claims. A policyholder settles with the carrier in Layer 1 for less than its limits, leaving a gap between Layer 1 and the next layer up. Does the carrier in Layer 2 then have an obligation to contribute to settlement with the underlying plaintiff?
Example: I…