Last month, Florida lawmakers passed tort reform legislation by extending COVID-19 liability protection to businesses and health care providers, but Florida’s construction industry says they’re facing a form of lawsuit abuse that lawmakers failed to address.
On March 26, 2021, the Fourth District issued a ruling in the matter of Jennifer Mezadieu v. Safepoint Insurance Company, which critically cemented the principle that ‘intentionality’ on the part of an insured is not a prerequisite for prevailing on material misrepresentations pursuant to the fraud or concealment provisions commonly found in homeowner insurance policies.
In recent years, there have been changes across jurisdictions, expanding the scope of potential liability for bad-faith damages. In addition, there are challenges in navigating the continued erosion of the attorney-client privilege in bad-faith litigation.
A restaurant owner who settled a harassment lawsuit against Stockbridge for $1.7 million in March is being sued by the insurance company that paid the bill.
In September, we discussed a Florida district court’s finding that an insurer must defend a Miami strip club in a lawsuit filed by 17 models who alleged the club used their images to promote its business without authorization.
Historically, the common law tort of public nuisance aimed to uphold community morals and address public health violations. Now, public nuisance has emerged as a central cause of action in some of the largest environmental and non-environmental claims facing the insurance industry, raising compelling coverage issues.
An excess D&O insurer had no obligation to contribute to Vizio’s settlement with its primary general liability insurer for liabilities arising from the Smart TV Litigation, a California federal district court has held.
Toward the end of the 2021 Florida legislative session, the Florida Senate passed Senate Bill 76, a bill that focuses on reducing litigation related to property insurance claims and also places restrictions on companies soliciting insureds to file roof claims.
Commercial liability clients do not have to settle personal injury lawsuits even if the defendants are perceived as having deep pockets, a recent Court of Appeal for Ontario ruling suggests.
To date, climate change-related litigation, and the resulting economic and environmental impacts, has been a tort with no successful path for private litigation.
You might ask what Vice-President Kamala Harris was best known for prior to becoming the first female vice-president in U.S. history. One piece of notoriety was, as Attorney General of the State of California, she oversaw the prosecution of Wells Fargo & Company, the American multinational bank and financial services company for violation of §§ 632 and 632.7 of the California Penal Code.
Applying Montana law, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a claim made during one claims-made policy period but not noticed until a second policy period was not covered under either policy.
Although American inventor and Founding Father Benjamin Franklin was not referring to insurance when he penned the famous words ‘time is money,’ today’s risk managers should take the expression to heart if they wish to reduce their companies’ claims costs.
An issue that often arises when an insurer is determining whether a policy provides coverage for bodily injury or property damage under a liability policy is the number of occurrences that may be triggered under the policy.
