Raffone et al v. First American Title Ins. Co.
Year: 2015
Court: Court of Appeal, First District
Case Number: 1D14-4791/2004-CA-78
Issue:
State:
  • Florida

Florida law imposes a non-delegable duty on title insurers to charge a lower reissue rate when a property is refinanced with clear title. UP argued in it’s brief that title insurers are sophisticated data collectors who can and should be able to locate prior owner’s…
Demetrio v. Stewart Title Insurance
Year: 2015
Court: New York Court of Appeals
Case Number: 2010/101760
Issue:
  • Contract Interpretation
State:
  • New York

A court faced with textual ambiguity may review extrinsic evidence to assist the trier of fact in ascertaining what the parties intended in entering into the contract. UP argued in its brief that an insurance company ought not to be able argue to the court,…
Zurich American Ins. Co. v. Sony
Year: 2015
Court: New York Appellate Division, Manhattan
Case Number: 651982/11
Issue:
  • Contract Interpretation
  • Data Breach/Cyber Liability
State:
  • New York

Insurance coverage for data breach should be available under a commercial general liability policy’s “publication” provision. Under New York law, coverage should be available for situations where the insured is alleged to have intentionally published material and when it negligently permits a third party to…
Kelly v. State Farm Ins. Co.
Year: 2015
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Case Number: 2014-CQ-1921
Issue:
  • Bad Faith
State:
  • Louisiana

On certified question from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, the Louisiana Supreme Court was confronted with the issue of whether an insurer can be liable for statutory bad faith for failure to settle a claim when it never received a firm…
Request for Depublication: Stephens v. Fireman’s Fund
Year: 2015
Court: California Court of Appeal, First District, Division One
Case Number: A135938; A136740
Issue:
  • Replacement Cost Value
  • Tort v. Contract Damages
State:
  • California

UP submitted this letter requesting depublication of the decision in Stephens & Stephens XII, LLC v. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co. (A135938; A136740, Certified for Partial Publication November 24, 2014; 231 Cal.App.4th 1131, modified at 231 Cal.App.4th 1437d) based on legal errors in the opinion with…
Grayson v. Allstate Ins. Co.
Year: 2014
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit
Case Number: 14-55959
Issue:
  • Bad Faith
State:
  • California

Under California law, the duty of good faith and fair dealing is implied in all insurance contracts. When an insured purchases insurance, they expect that their insurance carrier will act in good faith when they themselves tender a claim and also where an injured third-party…
USAA Texas Lloyds Company v. Gail Menchaca
Year: 2016
Court: Texas Supreme Court
Case Number: 14-0721
Issue:
  • Bad Faith
State:
  • Texas

The Texas Insurance Code allows for a private right of action for bad faith when an insurance company violates certain claims handling standards. One of these standards is a failure to conduct a reasonable investigation of a claim. This is sufficient for a policyholder to…
Radiator Specialty Company v. Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co.
Year: 2016
Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals
Case Number: 16-638
Issue:
  • Allocation
  • Duty to Defend
  • Indemnify
State:
  • North Carolina

UP supports the position that the terms of the standard commercial general liability (“CGL”) policy compels “all sums” allocation. UP wrote separately from the parties of the case to bring to the Court’s attention the extensive drafting history of the insurance industry, which confirms that…
National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, PA v. The Fund for Animals
Year: 2016
Court: Maryland Court of Appeals
Case Number: No. 18, September Term, 2016
Issue:
  • Notice-prejudice
State:
  • Maryland

Under Maryland law, an insurance company must show actual prejudice in order to deny coverage for a late-reported claim. The prejudice must be actual, meaning tangible, i.e., the insurance company must demonstrate that had the claim been timely reported, the results of the litigation for…
Gordon Blackwell v. Foremost Ins. Co.
Year: 2016
Court: California Supreme Court
Case Number: H042263
Issue:
  • Appraisal
State:
  • California

UP submitted a letter urging the California Supreme Court to grant review on a very important issue for homeowners: whether an insurance company whose policy contains an appraisal provision as a pre-requisite to a lawsuit, can litigate a case for two years and then on…
Paslay v. State Farm
Year: 2016
Court: California Court of Appeal
Case Number: B265348,
Issue:
State:
  • California

UP submitted a request to depublish a portion of an appellate opinion which improperly made a finding of fact about an insurance bad faith dispute. In the case, the insured, while waiting for the adjuster to come to the house to inspect the damage, began…
Snyder v. ACORD corporation et al
Year: 2016
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit
Case Number: 16-1111/16-1215
Issue:
  • Underinsurance
State:
  • Colorado

After wildfires and other major disasters that result in total losses, many homeowners find themselves underinsured. What this means is that despite having been sold a “replacement cost” insurance policy, they do not have enough money to rebuild their home. Plaintiffs in the instant case,…
MarkWest Energy Partners, LP v. Zurich American Ins. Co.
Year: 2016
Court: Colorado Court of Appeals
Case Number: 15CA0770/2016COA110
Issue:
  • Notice-prejudice
State:
  • Colorado

Colorado’s notice-prejudice protects policyholders from a forfeiture of coverage for late reporting of a claim by requiring the insurer to show actual prejudice as a result of the late reporting before it can disclaim coverage. Colorado law authorizes a departure from traditional contract law principles…
Auto Owners Ins. Co. v. Elite Homes
Year: 2016
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit
Case Number: 3:14-cv-01182-TJC-MCR
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • Florida

Under Florida law, the duty to defend under a liability policy is triggered when the complaint brought by a third party against the insured alleges any cause of action or damages that create even a possibility of coverage. In other words, the duty to defend…
Allianz Global Risks U.S. Ins. Co., Allianz Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Ace Property and Casualty Ins. Co. et al
Year: 2016
Court: Oregon Supreme Court
Case Number: A159858
Issue:
  • Contract Interpretation
State:
  • Oregon

In an insurer v. insurer coverage battle, UP and co-amici urged an interpretation favorable to the policyholder of a coverage provision which does not require “seepage, pollution or contamination” resulting from a “sudden, unintended and unexpected happening” during the policy period to be “abrupt” or…
Patriot Cleaning Services v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London
Year: 2016
Court: California Supreme Court
Case Number: S233277
Issue:
  • Reasonable Expectations of Coverage
State:
  • California

In a theft case, UP submitted a letter supporting review on two grounds: First, the trial and appellate courts erred in allowing a motion for summary judgment to survive despite a reasonable inference (in this case that the doors to a van could have been…
Tamarin Lindenberg v. Jackson National Life Ins. Co.
Year: 2016
Court: Tennessee Supreme Court
Case Number: M2015-02349-SC-R23-CV
Issue:
  • Bad Faith
  • Punitive Damages
State:
  • Tennessee

In many jurisdictions when an insurance company breaches an insurance contract, it not only is required to pay what it owed originally and wrongfully delayed or denied, it also must pay attorneys fees and punitive damages. The rationale is that if an insurance company only…
Cypress Point Condominium Association v. Evanston Insurance Co. et al
Year: 2016
Court: New Jersey Supreme Court
Case Number: A-13/14/15 (076348)
Issue:
  • Occurrence
State:
  • New Jersey

The vast majority of states that have addressed the issue of what is an “occurrence” under a commercial general liability policy have reached the conclusion that construction defect claims are within coverage. Since an “occurrence” is defined as an “accident” courts in many states, including…