Richards, Alan vs. Lloyds of London Year: 1995 Court: U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit Case Number: 95-55747, 95-56467 Issue: Choice of LawForum selection State: California Lloyds of London should be judicially estopped from asserting inconsistent positions with regard to enforcement of forum selection and choice of law clauses.
Ravindran vs. Harleysville Insurance Company Year: 2002 Court: Superior Court of Pennsylvania Case Number: Issue: Bad Faith State: Pennsylvania Tutorial to court re: utmost good faith; bad faith; arbitration
Radian Guaranty Insurance vs. Respondents Year: 2002 Court: California Insurance Commission Case Number: SF 15404-A, OAH No. N2002070670 Issue: Title Insurance State: California UP supports DOI ruling that two companies that do not meet California criteria for title insurers to cease and desist from transacting title insurance.
Quan vs. Truck Exchange Year: 1998 Court: California Court of Appeal Case Number: 5071510 Issue: Duty to Defend State: California Amicus in support of request for review. Duty to Defend.
Qualcomm Inc. vs. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London Year: 2007 Court: California Supreme Court Case Number: S163293 Issue: Excess Insurance State: California Letter in Support of Petition for Review. UP took that the position that where a policyholder settles with a primary insurance for less than the full amount of the policy, the policyholder may still collect from its excess insurance company if a judgment is rendered…
QBE Insurance Corporation vs. Chalfonte Condominium Apartment Association, Inc. Year: 2008 Court: Florida Supreme Court Case Number: SC09-441 Issue: Good Faith State: Florida This case concerns whether or not Florida law recognizes a claim for breach of the implied warranty of good faith and fair dealing. Making an insurer accountable for causing additional damages that naturally flow from the breach of its mandated obligation of utmost good faith…
Powerline Oil Company, Inc. vs. Superior Court of California (Central National Fire Insurance Company) Year: 2002 Court: California Supreme Court Case Number: S113295 Issue: Coverage State: California When a policy uses the terms “suit” and “claim” in its “ultimate net loss provision, the insurer must provide coverage for a lawsuit in a court of law and other judicial proceedings.
Plastics Engineering Company vs. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Year: 2007 Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court Case Number: Appeal No. 2008AP333 Issue: AllocationOccurrence State: Wisconsin Because the incident giving rise to liability was each individual plaintiff’s continuous or repeated exposure to asbestos and not the business decision to manufacture asbestos or a failure to protect against their alleged hazards, the only plausible way to interpret “occurrence” is that it refers…
Allstate Insurance Company vs. Pincheira Year: 2001 Court: New Mexico Court of Appeals Case Number: 22,760 Issue: DiscoveryMcKinsey documents State: New Mexico UP opposes Allstate’s attempts to shield important documents regarding claims handling practices based on trade secrecy status. Court should allow discovery of internal documents pertaining to manner of handling claims (claims Core Process Redesign.) Secrecy allows corporate misdeeds by insurers to continue unchecked.
Pilkington North America vs. Travelers Casualty and Surety Company, et al. Year: 2004 Court: Ohio Supreme Court Case Number: 2005-0378 Issue: Liability insurance follows liability by operation of law State: Ohio Relying on the majority rule, UP supported the argument that a corporate policyholder is entitled to a defense and indemnity for pre-acquisition liabilities because liability insurance coverage follows the alleged liability by operation of law. The majority of courts have held that anti-assignment clauses do…
Philip Morris USA vs. Mayola Williams Year: 2005 Court: U.S. Supreme Court Case Number: 05-1256 Issue: Punitive Damages State: United States Review of Court’s previous decisions regarding punitive damages. The Court should not be setting substantive due process standards for punitive damage cases. Lower Courts have interpreted the Court’s opinion in Campbell V. State Farm Mut. Auto Ins. Co., as requiring a single digit ratio for…
Permanent General Assurance Corp. vs. Superior Court (Hernandez) Year: 2003 Court: California Court of Appeal, 4th District Case Number: G033269 Issue: Claims HandlingDiscovery and admissibility of evidence of pattern State: California Request for depublication. ********* Depublication granted Nov. 2004.
Perez vs. Fire Insurance Exchange Year: 2004 Court: California Court of Appeal, 5th District Case Number: F043931 Issue: Corporate Structure of Farmer’s Insurance Exchange State: California
Penzer, Michael, etc. vs. Transportation Insurance Company Year: 2007 Court: Florida Supreme Court Case Number: SC08-2068, Lower Court Case No.: 07-13827-FF Issue: Advertising InjuryDuty to Defend State: Florida Insurance companies have a duty to defend violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) under a CGL policy’s “advertising injury” clause even when the facsimile transmission does not disseminate private information. Despite the absence of private information, an unsolicited facsimile arguably can still constitute…
Pennsylvania General Insurance Co. vs. Park-Ohio Industries, Inc. Year: 2008 Court: Ohio Supreme Court Case Number: 2009-0104 Issue: Multiple Policies State: Ohio UP joined with the Ohio Manufacturers Association (OMA), a statewide association that employs the majority of the 610,000 men and women that work in manufacturing in the state of Ohio. Together UP and OMA presented the policyholder’s perspective that when a claim triggers multiple policies,…
Penn-America vs. Mike’s Tailoring Year: 2004 Court: California Supreme Court Case Number: S131639 Issue: Proximate and concurrent causation State: California Scope of water damage exclusion involving issues of proximate and concurrent causation.
Pendergest-Holt, Laura, Stanford, R. Allen, Lopez, Gilbert Jr. and Kuhrt, Mark vs. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London and Arch Specialty Insurance Company Year: 2009 Court: U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit Case Number: 10-20069 (US 5th Cir. Court of Appeals) 4:09-cv-03712 (US Dist. Court for the Southern Dist. Tex.) Issue: Duty to pay defense costs State: Texas The application of the “eight corners” rule to an insurers duty to advance defense costs in a “Directors and Officers” context. UP presented arguments to the court to show how the carriers position would defeat the purpose of D&O coverage.
Peerless Lighting Company v. American Motorists Ins. Co. Year: 1999 Court: California Court of Appeal, 1st District Case Number: AO 82975, AO83487, AO84373 Issue: Duty to Defend State: California Request to Grant Petition for Review. Duty to Defend Case. UP supported the position that the duty to defend attaches as soon as there is a possibility that the allegations of the complaint fall within the coverage of the policy.