Mitchell v. State Farm and Casualty Company
Year: 2019
Court: UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
Case Number: 3:17-cv-00170-MPM-RP
Issue:
  • Labor Depreciation
State:
  • Mississippi

In this amicus brief, UP argues that labor should not be depreciated by insurance companies in their determination of actual cash value. Many insurers do not engage in the practice of depreciating labor. For the insurance carriers who do depreciate labor, most use coverage forms…
Bridgeman v. Woodmen
Year: 2019
Court: Commonwealth of Kentucky Supreme Court
Case Number: 15-CA-000720
Issue:
  • Policyholders have a right to hold insurers accountable in open court in a jury trial
State:
  • Kentucky

**UPdate 4/25: The Kentucky Supreme Court dismissed the petition as settled. Immediately upon the Supreme Court’s acceptance of United Policyholder’s amicus brief, the insurer (Woodmen) paid the claim. The amicus brief was the impetus/trigger to a successful result for the insured’s beneficiaries. Thank you again…
Perry v. Allstate Indemnity
Year: 2019
Court: UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
Case Number: 18-4267
Issue:
  • Fair and unfair depreciation applied by insurers to property claims
State:
  • Ohio

One of the ways UP helps property owners impacted by disasters is by weighing in via “friend of the court” briefs in coverage and claim disputes that involve issues that commonly arise where properties have been totally destroyed or substantially damaged. When insurers depreciate losses…
Sapa Extrusions, Inc. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.
Year: 2018
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Case Number: 18-2206
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
  • Insurance contract interpretation
  • policyholder reasonable expectations
State:
  • Pennsylvania

In its brief, UP focuses on three grounds for reversal of the district court opinion: The District Court failed to interpret the insurance policies as a whole and rendered products liability coverage illusory in Pennsylvania. The District Court’s interpretation of “occurence” contravenes the insured’s reasonable…
Villanueva v. Fidelity National Title Co.
Year: 2018
Court: Supreme Court of California
Case Number: S252035
Issue:
  • Title Insurance
State:
  • California

UP’s Amicus Curiae Letter in Support of Petition for Review, or in the alternative Request for Depublication of Villanueva v. Fidelity National Title Co., S252035; published at (2018) 26 Cal.App.5th 1092 . Villanueva for the first time, strips California consumers of all rights to monetary…
Karas v. Liberty Insurance Corporation
Year: 2018
Court: Supreme Court of the State of Connecticut
Case Number: S.C. 20149
Issue:
  • Contract Interpretation
State:
  • Connecticut

“Substantial impairment of structural integrity” is the applicable standard for “collapse” and need not be clarified. This definition includes an impairment which, if not remedied, will lead inevitably to a caving in, a falling down, and/or a structure’s being unsafe to occupy. The terms “Foundation”…
Erie v. Moore, McCutcheon
Year: 2018
Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Case Number: No. WAP 2018
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • Pennsylvania

Insurance companies may not preemptively discern an intent to cause injury when a complaint alleges accidental injury to nullify the insurer’s duty to defend. The point of the duty to defend is ensure that the policyholder has a defense to potentially covered allegations pending a…
Travelers Indem. Co. v. Mckenzie & Sons, Inc. et al.
Year: 2018
Court: Eleventh Circuit
Case Number: No. 18-13172-D
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • Florida

In its brief, UP argues that the District Court erred in determining Travelers did not owe a duty to defend based on Exclusion (j)(5). Examination of the plain language and intent of the exclusion makes clear that the exclusions have a limited application that does…
Fils v. Starr Indemnity & Liability Insurance Company
Year: 2018
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal, Third Circuit
Case Number: Docket No. 17 00896-CA
Issue:
  • Bad Faith
State:
  • Louisiana

In this case, UP weighed in to preserve Louisiana residents’ rights to be compensated when they’ve been harmed by bad faith conduct by an insurance company. Our Friend of the Court brief points out that the District Court erred in maintaining Star Indemnity & Liability…
Harvey v. Geico
Year: 2017
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Case Number: SC17-85
Issue:
  • Bad Faith
State:
  • Florida

The Florida Supreme Court held there was substantial evidence to support the jury’s finding that Geico acted in bad faith in failing to settle a fatal car crash claim against its policyholder and reinstated the jury’s $9.2 million verdict against Geico. See: https://www.uphelp.org/blog/guest-blog-supreme-court-fl-rules-favor-policyholder-application-floridas-bad-faith-law
House Concurrent Resolution No. 89 Position Paper
Year: 2018
Court:
Case Number: House Concurrent Resolution No. 89
Issue:
  • Bad Faith
State:
  • Louisiana

UP’s position paper submitted to the Louisiana State Law Institute to urge and request the Institute support application of a ten-year prescriptive period to an insured’s bad faith claims against its insurer.
Susan Hicks and Don Williams, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Company, Defendant-Appellant.
Year: 2018
Court: U.S. Court of Appeal, 6th Circuit
Case Number: Case No. 18-5104
Issue:
  • Labor Depreciation
State:
  • Kentucky

This amicus brief discusses the wrongful depreciation of labor, an insurer strategy to minimize benefit payments after a loss. An insurance contract must receive a reasonable interpretation consistent with the parties’ expression in the language of the contract. Depreciation is the reduction of tangible property…
Opry Mills Mall Limited Partnership et al v. Arch Insurance Company et al
Year: 2018
Court: Tennessee Supreme Court
Case Number: M 2016 01763-SC-R11-CV
Issue:
  • policyholder reasonable expectations
State:
  • Tennessee

The rules of insurance policy interpretation in the States of Tennessee and Indiana are well-settled law and should continue to preserve policyholders’ reasonable expectations of coverage. Ambiguous policy wording should be construed in favor of coverage.
Jane Doe v. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Inc. and the Harvard Pilgrim PPO Plan MA Group Policy # 0588660000
Year: 2018
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Case Number: 17-2078
Issue:
  • ERISA
State:
  • Massachusetts

This amicus brief addresses the ERISA fiduciary’s duty under the ERISA statute and Secretary of Labor regulations to afford full and fair review when a fiduciary denies a benefit claim This duty requires a fiduciary to help secure “readily available material evidence of which it…
Lammert et al v. Auto Owners Mut. Ins. Co.
Year: 2018
Court: Tennessee Supreme Court
Case Number: M2017-02546-SC-R23-CV
Issue:
  • Labor Depreciation
State:
  • Tennessee

Tennessee law upholds a policyholder’s reasonable expectations of coverage. Consistent with those principles, the cost of labor should not be depreciated. Depreciation of labor results in policyholders not receiving the full amount that they reasonably are entitled to under their actual cash value coverage, and…
Rising Dough, Inc. v. Society Insurance
Year: 2020
Court: United States District Court - Eastern District of Wisconsin
Case Number: 2:20-CV-00623-JPS
Issue:
  • COVID-19
State:
  • Wisconsin

In its brief, UP, along with NIVA, opposed a Motion to Dismiss and argued that the unsuitability of a property for its intended purpose resulting in the suspension of business operations can and did constitute “physical loss of” the insured property under the Policies issued…
Dakota Ventures, LLC v. Oregon Mutual Ins. Co.
Year: 2020
Court: United States District Court District - District of Oregon
Case Number: 3:20-cv-00630-HZ
Issue:
  • COVID-19
State:
  • Oregon

In its brief, UP, along with NIVA, opposed a Motion to Dismiss and argued that contamination, suspected contamination, and/or the imminent threat of contamination by SARS CoV-2 that result in the suspension of business operations can constitute “physical loss of or damage” under a property…
IN RE: COVID-19 Business Interruption Protection Insurance Litigation
Year: 2020
Court: United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
Case Number: MDL Docket No. 2942
Issue:
  • COVID-19
State:
  • United States

In its brief, UP urged the court against creating the first-ever nationwide insurance coverage MDL, attempting to consolidate all lawsuits seeking coverage for losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic into a single MDL proceeding of staggering scope and breadth. UP argued: First, while the cases…