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Lately, it seems defense counsel is removing nearly every insurance case to federal court. They usually accomplish this by asserting diversity jurisdiction. For those who aren’t familiar, federal diversity jurisdiction refers to a legal principle that allows civil cases involving parties from different states with more than $75,000 at stake to be heard in federal, rather than state, court. The party asserting federal jurisdiction exists bears the burden of proving it.…

Continue Reading The Problem with Post-Removal Jurisdictional Discovery in Federal Court

Departments of Insurance and insurance regulators should start keeping a Wrongful Claims Conduct Rap Sheet regarding insurance companies that mistreat policyholders. Insurance companies are never going to advertise or air their dirty claims handling tricks to the public. How do policyholders learn which insurance companies are good faith claims handlers versus those with a history of frustrating their customers when it comes time to service and pay claims? Why don’t the state departments of insurance make these complaints easier for the public and journalists to find?   …

Continue Reading Frontline Insurance Company Wrongful Practice Rap Sheet

Attorney Mark Nation contacted me and asked if I knew an expert that could help determine the amount of profit that Frontline makes from lowballing (underpaying and underestimating) property insurance claims. Nation has a bad faith lawsuit pending against First Protective Insurance Company d/b/a Frontline Insurance. In his response to a motion to dismiss, Nation discusses how he currently views the case against Frontline:…

Continue Reading Frontline Insurance Bad Faith—Do You Want to Do Something About How Frontline Treats Policyholders?

This blog follows my previous two blogs, Can Personnel Files Be Discovered?, and Can Insurance Company Claims Adjuster Personnel Files Be Discovered? Part 2. In my first blog post on this topic, I explained that some courts have held that the information in personnel files is discoverable when it is “clearly relevant” and the information is “not otherwise readily obtainable.” In my second blog, I further explained how some courts have interpreted what is considered “clearly relevant.” In this blog post, I’ll focus on what courts have considered “not otherwise readily obtainable” in this context.…

Continue Reading Can Insurance Company Personnel Files Be Discovered? Part 3

This blog follows my previous blog, Can Personnel Files Be Discovered? In my previous blog, I explained that some courts have held that when the information in personnel files is discoverable when it is “clearly relevant” and the information is “not otherwise readily available.”1 To further explore how courts have interpreted this, I’ll focus on what courts have considered being “clearly relevant” in this regard.…

Continue Reading Can Insurance Company Claims Adjuster Personnel Files Be Discovered? Part 2

My sister, Emily Merlin, has a bachelor’s degree in paralegal administration from the University of West Florida. She reminds me that she can do anything that I can as a lawyer except give legal advice, take depositions or go to hearings. The truth is that paralegals help our policyholder clients and can become subject matter experts. They can make the difference between winning and losing a case. …

Continue Reading Marine, Boat, and Yacht Claims Files Are Discoverable In New York—A Tribute Post To Retiring Paralegal Bob Bluni 

Loss reserves are discussed and published in the media, and data freely exchanged until an insurance company is asked for it in a lawsuit. Once the lawsuit is filed, insurers pretend as if this information is something extraordinarily private and only told to a priest in a confessional. I suggest that insurers and their counsel are like Pinocchio, with long noses getting longer when making such absurd arguments preventing disclosure.
Continue Reading Loss Reserve Information For Property Insurers Should Be Disclosed In Litigation—Reserve Information In a First Party Case Is Relevant and Not a Secret

I’ve previously written about the “claims file privilege” in the state of Florida. In that blog post, Obtaining the Insurance Company Claims File, I discussed that the “claims file privilege” is a judicially created privilege and as a result of Florida abolishing common law privilege, privileges cannot be derived from judicial construction. Florida Statutes 90.501-90.510 discuss the applicable privileges in Florida, and “claims file” is not one of them.
Continue Reading The “Claims File Privilege” in Florida

In Florida, insurance defense attorneys often cite the “claims file privilege.” This “privilege” spawned from a series of overly broad court opinions over the last several years. Generally, the “claims file privilege” protects documents in the claims file created and maintained by the insurance carrier. Effectively this allows insurance companies to hide documents by merely stamping it as a part of the claim file. This “privilege” has annoyed many plaintiff attorneys over the years; but how did this privilege come about?
Continue Reading Obtaining the Insurance Company Claims File