Bad Faith

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If you want to win a bad faith case, you better hire attorneys that are contenders and not pretenders. Bad faith cases are not easy, and the term is overused by those ignorant on the topic. Larry Bache told me a story about a relatively new attorney from another firm on the speaking circuit who has never tried a bad faith, much less a complete insurance breach of contract case, who was pontificating about bad faith in an effort to make cases rain to his firm. Those are pretenders.
Continue Reading How Not To Win A Bad Faith Hail Damage Case

How often do insurance companies shop for a new opinion looking for a way to deny coverage of a large loss? This was the situation in a recent trial which resulted in the insurer being liable for $44 million. The facts summarizing the “shopping” for a new expert opinion regarding a boiler and machinery loss were outlined by the court:…
Continue Reading A $44 Million Verdict After Wrongful Denial of a Boiler and Machinery Claim—Yet No Bad Faith?

If you have not been to the Jersey Shore in the summer, you have missed out. My mother grew up in Philadelphia and always talked about going to the New Jersey beaches in the summertime. Following Superstorm Sandy in 2012, I lived and worked in New Jersey and greater New York City.
Continue Reading Catching Up On Summer 2022 Along The Jersey Shore, Ohio Limitations on Punitive Damages In Bad Faith Cases and Colorado Appraisals

Happy Independence Day!

The owners and attorneys of Eaux Holdings were celebrating an early 4th of July on Friday when they received a court Order confirming their bad faith verdict against Scottsdale Insurance. I previously blogged about this case in Hurricane Laura Bad Faith Verdict Against Scottsdale Insurance. Scottsdale is a non-admitted surplus lines insurance company affiliated with and wholly-owned by, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.
Continue Reading Scottsdale Insurance Company Bad Faith

Treble damages may be available when insurance companies act deceptively handling claims under North Carolina North Carolina’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 75.1-1. A recent decision involved an obvious “collapse loss” where the insurer searched for a theory that would find no coverage. Collapse losses to buildings are no joke. Serious damage to property and people are at stake. The facts of this collapse show how close having fun can be to a horrific event.
Continue Reading Treble Damages for Insurance Company Misconduct in North Carolina and Collapse Coverage Confirmed

For some reason, one of my favorite non-insurance-related classes in law school was none other than constitutional law. Although the field of constitutional law is one that I enjoy reading and learning about, it is not often that first-party property insurance overlaps with constitutional law issues.
Continue Reading Citizens Property Insurance Immunity from Bad Faith Insurance Violations and the State Action Doctrine

Following a speech about claims ethics and claims practice lawsuits, one of the questions I get asked is whether the insurance company’s adjuster can be sued for bad faith. The answer is that it depends on the state law. But I often ask the question—“Why do you want to sue the individual adjuster when the adjuster is already an agent of the insurance company?”…
Continue Reading Can The Individual Adjuster Be Sued For Statutory Bad Faith? Can The Adjuster Be Sued In Colorado?