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
Ohio recognizes that an insurance company may be liable for its bad faith conduct. The standard for bad faith in Ohio is the following:
[A]n insurer fails to exercise good faith in the processing of a claim of its insured where its refusal to pay the claim is not predicated upon circumstances that furnish reasonable justification therefore.1
Continue Reading What is Insurer Bad Faith in Ohio?
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
A Texas law firm that practices insurance defense work admits that claims delay is a strategy employed by some of its clients. In an article that was sent to me by numerous people, the law firm posted on its website blog:
Continue Reading Insurance Company Defense Counsel Admits That Claim Delay By Insurers Is a Strategy
Our firm is battling State Auto in a commercial first-party property insurance claim in Arizona. As a result, we have been researching deeply into the nuances of Arizona bad faith law in preparation for the upcoming trial. I thought we should give an update on the basics of Arizona first-party common law bad faith.
Continue Reading Arizona First-Party Common Law 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?
The law firm that defended Scottsdale Insurance Company in the bad faith verdict I wrote about in Hurricane Laura Bad Faith Verdict Against Scottsdale Insurance, has a blog that noted the rules for payment of replacement cost value and actual cash value. This seemed to be a major theme throughout the lawsuit since Scottsdale claimed it was properly paying actual cash value payments in a timely manner.
Continue Reading Louisiana Insurance Company Law Firm Posts About Replacement Cost Value and Actual Cash Value
In what I think is the first trial from Hurricane Laura involving bad faith allegations against an insurer, Scottsdale Insurance Company took a shellacking. I have been patiently waiting for one of the numerous Hurricane Laura cases to make its way to verdict, but they have all settled – until last week. Scottsdale argued that it paid on time and even overpaid. It is evident that the jury did not agree.
Continue Reading Hurricane Laura Bad Faith Verdict Against Scottsdale Insurance