The Insurance & Reinsurance Report

January 29, 2019 Bad Faith and Extra-Contractual Liability

Not So Fast – Pennsylvania’s Bad Faith Statute Is Not A Blank Check for Fees

The Third Circuit recently held that a jury bad faith damage award does not automatically entitle a successful claimant to an award of attorney’s fees under Pennsylvania’s bad faith statute. In affirming the district court’s denial of an award of attorney’s fees, the Third Circuit formally endorsed the view that where a fee-shifting statute provides a court with discretion to award attorney’s fees, such discretion includes the ability to deny a fee request that is outrageously excessive. In doing so, the Third Circuit joins the …

January 23, 2019 Bad Faith and Extra-Contractual Liability / Other Insurance

NY Court Clarifies Pleading Standard for “Consequential Damages” in Coverage Litigation

The Appellate Division of New York’s Supreme Court, First Department, recently overturned a trial court’s dismissal of an insured’s claim for consequential damages on a pre-answer motion to dismiss. While the decision sheds light on the degree of specificity required at the pleading stage to sustain an insured’s claim for consequential damages, it does little to clarify the level of proof required to prevail on such claim at trial.

The coverage dispute among the parties in D.K. Property, Inc. v. National Union Fire Insurance …

January 22, 2019 Professional Liability

Vicarious Liability and Additional Insured Coverage: Illinois Appellate Court Clarifies Factual Allegations Sufficient to Trigger Defense Duty

The Appellate Court of Illinois recently considered whether an underlying complaint against an a general contractor (additional insured), filed by the estate of an independent contractor/subcontractor’s employee who was killed in a job site accident, triggered the defense of the general contractor under the subcontractor’s liability policy. The subcontract at issue contained the standard additional insurance requirements. The court first decided that the liability policy’s additional insured endorsement did not protect an additional insured for its own negligence; and the issue was whether a duty …

January 22, 2019 General

FEMA Rescinds Prior Ruling that Halted National Flood Insurance Program during Government Shutdown after Wave of Backlash from Insurance Industry

In the midst of the partial federal government shutdown, on Wednesday, December 26th, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), the main source for flood insurance in the U.S., would have limited ability to issue new or renewal policies, or issue increased coverage on existing policies, although claims would be paid on policies that were in force before midnight on December 21, 2018. A wave of backlash from the insurance, banking, and housing industries followed, and FEMA has …

January 18, 2019 Other Insurance

The Duty to Defend Additional Insureds in Post-Burlington New York

Anyone with a connection to the insurance coverage world in New York knows about the New York Court of Appeals 2017 decision in Burlington Ins. Co. v. NYC Transit Auth., 29 N.Y.3d 313 (2017), which held that “where an insurance policy is restricted to liability for any bodily injury ‘caused, in whole or in part’ by the ‘acts or omissions’ of the named insured, the coverage applies to injury approximately caused by the named insured.” At the time the decision was rendered, it was …

January 8, 2019 Bad Faith and Extra-Contractual Liability

Dismiss or Abate? The Eleventh Circuit Dismisses Bad Faith Allegations in Breach of Insurance Contract Actions

The longstanding debate in Florida’s state courts as to whether bad faith allegations can remain in a pending breach of insurance contract case, or whether they must be dismissed pending the outcome of the coverage dispute, has now reached the federal courts.

In Aligned Bayshore Holdings, LLC v. Westchester Surplus Lines Ins. Co., 2018 WL 6448632, Case No. 18-21692-Civ-Scola (S.D. Fla. Dec. 10, 2018), the insured sustained losses due to Hurricane Irma and submitted a claim to its insurer, which did not promptly pay …

December 27, 2018 General

The Insurance and Reinsurance Report Named Best Niche and Specialty Blog of 2018!

We are pleased to announce that the Insurance and Reinsurance Report blog has been named the best legal news blog in the country and earned 5th place overall in The Expert Institute’s Best Legal Blog Contest for 2018!

The Expert Institute — a leading legal service provider for identifying, verifying, and retaining expert witnesses — holds this annual contest to vet and recognize the best legal blogs out of the thousands that are on the web. In the 2018 Best Legal Blogs Contest — what …

December 14, 2018 General

The Insurance & Reinsurance Report: Year in Review — Why We Think It’s the Best Legal News Blog of 2018

Goldberg Segalla’s Insurance and Reinsurance Report is in the running for The Expert Institute’s Best Legal News Blog of 2018. Fans and readers of the Report and others who stay abreast of developments in the legal blogosphere are invited to vote for the best legal news blog through the following link:

https://www.theexpertinstitute.com/legal-blog/the-insurance-reinsurance-report/

Honored to be in the running and by the support we’ve seen thus far, we took this opportunity to reflect on some of the Insurance and Reinsurance Report’s most notable accomplishments of 2018.…

November 29, 2018 Automobile Coverage / Legislative Update

New York Appellate Court Permits Use of Extrinsic Facts to “Clarify Ambiguous Pleadings” and Establish the Applicability of a Policy’s Auto Exclusion

On October 23, 2018, our Global Insurance Services group hosted an interactive webinar discussing states’ varying interpretations of what is considered “loading and unloading” in the context of a liability policy’s “Aircraft, Auto or Watercraft” exclusion. During that presentation, we identified inconsistencies in the courts’ application of this provision when assessing an insurer’s duty to defend, particularly in New York. Ironically, that same day, a New York Appellate Court analyzing the application of a the “Aircraft, Auto or Watercraft” exclusion relied on facts extrinsic to …

November 21, 2018 Class Actions

Third Circuit Revives Consumer Fraud Act Class Action against Insurer Based on Adjuster’s Alleged Deceptive Conduct

The Third Circuit’s recent decision in Alpizar-Fallas v. Favero, __ F.3d __, 2018 WL 5987140 (3d Cir. Nov. 15, 2018), is a stark reminder that the process of adjusting an insurance claim is not exempt from the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, N.J.S.A. 56:8-1 et seq. (CFA). In Favero, Progressive Garden State Insurance Company (Progressive) insured, under two separate policies, the drivers of two vehicles involved in an accident. After the accident, a Progressive adjuster allegedly visited Ana Lidia Alpizar-Fallas (Plaintiff), one of …