Last year I wrote a blogpost about the large class action lawsuit in Connecticut centered on the crumbling foundations due to pyrrhotite in the concrete poured by the J.J. Mottes Company in approximately 20,000 buildings across Connecticut.… Continue Reading
In the New York class action suit, Mazzocki v. State Farm, 1 A.D.3d 9 (N.Y. 3rd Dept. 2003), the Appellate Court for the Third Department finally clarified the question regarding overhead and profit in actual cash value and replacement cost value claims.… Continue Reading
I discussed the Lon Smith Roofing class action case against a contractor accused of practicing public adjusting in, Unauthorized Practice of Public Adjusting and the Lon Smith Roofing Case Should Scare Contractors and Roofers with Contingent Contracts. An appellate court reaffirmed the dangers contractors face when negotiating claims and benefits with insurance companies and contracting … Continue Reading
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. It is listed as the 35th largest company in the Fortune 500. Big companies sometimes have big problems. State Farm had a one billion dollar judgement problem that now may be a seven billion dollar problem.… Continue Reading
A recently filed proposed class action1 accusing California health insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross of using a “bait and switch” scheme that offered insurance policy “renewals” that did not clearly disclose major policy changes offers a great example of why the law requires insurers to notify insureds of reductions in insurance coverage.… Continue Reading
In certain situations, insurance companies may hedge their risk against any loss in an insurance contract. This is called re-insurance. Typically, no one would have an issue with this as it is smart to minimize your risk in certain situations.… Continue Reading
Merlin Law Group filed a class action lawsuit in Federal Court today alleging that sales tax was not being paid to many Superstorm Sandy policyholders with flood insurance claims insured by Selective Insurance. Some must be wondering that if policyholders cannot trust insurance company engineering reports, why should they trust that the estimates of damage … Continue Reading
When a borrower fails to obtain or maintain proper hazard, flood, or wind/hail insurance on property that secures a loan, the lender remains authorized to “force place insurance” on the property in order to protect the lender’s interest in the property. Sounds reasonable… right? On its face, it makes sense that lending institutions should have … Continue Reading
In a recent conference on Class Actions and Aggregate Litigation,1 a recent trend in Class Actions was discussed that could have a significant affect on the property damage insurance claims handling industry: (i) “Private regulatory actions” – i.e., mass lawsuits based on a private right of action that challenge conduct not widely recognized as being … Continue Reading
Let’s consider the following scenarios. For purposes of this discussion, we assume you handle hail claims all over Texas: For all claims statewide in which the carrier pays for full roof replacement, the carrier still denies payment for particular roofing system components. The carrier pays Overhead & Profit for Dallas claims, but denies Overhead & … Continue Reading
Let’s consider the following: How many public adjusters and lawyers do you know who routinely represent policyholders on claims that total less than $500? How many public adjusters and policyholder lawyers do you know who refuse to resolve any claim unless the carrier pays for every lower-value damaged component in the roofing system? What if … Continue Reading
I recently deposed corporate representatives from American Family, Auto Owners, State Farm and Allstate Insurance Companies and received the following admissions from some of those corporate representatives: the independent adjuster (often catastrophe adjusters) failed to follow key aspects of the insurers’ own claims handling guidelines; the independent adjuster failed to properly document the claims … Continue Reading
Property Casualty 360 posted a story by the Associated Press, describing the continuing saga of Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporations’ Hurricane Rita and Katrina claims.… Continue Reading
Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Company has settled a state class action case, Press v. Louisiana Citizens Fair Plan Property Insurance Corp., for failing to fully pay overhead and profit to insureds. The proposed settlement, for $23 million, covers claims from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.… Continue Reading
The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation issued a Transfer Order yesterday in which it consolidated economic, environmental and personal injury cases arising out of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.… Continue Reading
The Galveston Island and Bolivar Peninsula slab cases are settling. There was an agreement between the Texas attorneys that nothing would come out in the press until the clients signed the agreements. Since even the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) participated with a press release, I assume that the gentlemen’s confidentiality agreement to wait on … Continue Reading
The oil spill attorneys advertising for a mass of clients and recent advertisements in Texas regarding Hurricane Ike claims, seem to indicate that all my colleagues always win, and win big. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that if you are going to trial or push for what should fully be paid, … Continue Reading
Jay MacDonald, of Bankrate.com, read a number of our posts and interviewed me regarding insurance coverage issues pertaining the BP Oil Spill. In his insurance blog post, Will Homeowners Insurance Absorb Oil?, he noted a number of my observations concerning the major issues facing policyholder insurance claims resulting from the BP Oil Spill:… Continue Reading
On Bloomberg, I gave a television interview regarding the legal and financial aspect of claims and lawsuits which are being generated as a result of the BP Oil Spill. Lost profit and business interruption claims and disputes are not novel to those of us with commercial first party insurance claims experience. Every Sunday, Michelle Claverol, in our … Continue Reading
The Destin beach’s white sugar sand was in full glory yesterday. While flying back to Tampa and looking down on the crystal blue water and the most gorgeous stretch of beach in the United States, I told Corey Harris that such beauty and fun is being wasted because of fear caused by the oil spill. … Continue Reading
The tragedy of loss of human life and damage to the environment when discussing the BP Oil Spill cannot be overstated. The important role that accountants and business interruption experts will play helping prove financial loss cannot be overstated either. Experienced professionals like Bob Glasser, noted in yesterday’s Are Lawyers Pandering for BP Oil Spill Clients … Continue Reading
There has been a disgraceful amount of pandering by potentially incompetent lawyers to sign up BP Spill Victims. Many of these lawyers are experienced only in personal injury cases, and many are not licensed in the affected states and are using the internet to lure clients. One attorney from California, who is not licensed in … Continue Reading
It appears that BP and others involved in the current oil spill may be taking their cues from insurance carriers. Insurers have always hedged their bets by saying that they would pay “legitimate claims” after disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Northridge Earthquake. This is a brilliant public relations strategy. It allows top executives … Continue Reading
I have seen this look before. Panic and loss have a certain emotional face where people need compassion and then a plan. Over my only meal of the day late last night, I told my client, Dewey Destin and his wife that I felt proud to be an American and part of the Gulf Coast … Continue Reading
