Mike Duffy, Ed Eshoo, and Christina Phillips head up Merlin Law Group’s Chicago office. As far as I am concerned, they are the best insurance lawyers in Chicago, and we are very lucky to have them hitching their stars to the Merlin Law Group wagon.… Continue Reading
In Florida, the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (“FIGA”) handles and resolves claims of insolvent insurers under certain statutory guidelines. But what happens when the underlying insurer had reached a settlement agreement with a claimant before becoming insolvent? You would hope that FIGA would be ordered to honor such an agreement. It is a beautiful thing when the law follows common … Continue Reading
It is a good practice to always review documents in detail before signing them. Courts usually enforce the terms of a document even if one party did not read and understand it before signing. One very important document to read and understand in the property insurance context is a settlement release. A proposed release often … Continue Reading
Contingent business coverage is a type of business interruption coverage intended to protect the “dependent business” from an external business income exposure. There are four (4) types of dependent business ISO endorsements: Contributing Premises, such as the businesses that deliver materials to the insured; Recipient Premises, such as the businesses that receive the insured’s products; … Continue Reading
The Florida Supreme Court has made it clear that insurers cannot condition settlement offers on the mutual acceptance of joint insureds.… Continue Reading
Texas Judge Susan Criss signed an Order this morning approving the settlement of the slabbed cases from Hurricane Ike. She made the following findings: 4. The Court finds that the Settlement was negotiated at arm’s length by Plaintiffs’ counsel and TWIA’s counsel. The Settlement is reasonable in light of the uncertainty as to whether the Class … Continue Reading
Dan Luby, of the Florida Insurance News, does a fantastic job tracking down timely articles involving insurance. He linked Taylor Heads to Supreme Court to Get TWIA Documents, which involves a Texas legislator trying to obtain confidential resolutions and settlement information from the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA).… 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 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
September 1970 was a time of big personal change for me. We were living outside Washington, D.C. and my father had just received orders to the National Data Buoy Project at NASA’s Mississippi Test Facility, now known as the Stennis Space Center. My mother, who grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was in tears wondering how her children … Continue Reading
I have been asked to participate in a roundtable discussion regarding alternative dispute resolution processes by Sean Shaw, the Florida Consumer Advocate.… Continue Reading
When somebody starts talking with you over dinner about which part of the brain makes you worry that something bad may happen to you and talks with sentences that seem to have "cognition" interspersed frequently with "cortex," you know to skip cocktails. The person speaking with me was Alaska attorney, Don Bauermeister. He is a person of study and reflective … Continue Reading
Following yesterday’s post, What is a Bad Faith Claim? Or, When Does an Insurance Claim Wrongfully Handled Become a Bad Faith Claim?, there were a couple of posts suggesting that class action lawsuits were the answer to wrongful claims practices. Frankly, most policyholders are more successful financially with individual cases than through class action cases … Continue Reading
I just finished a two day settlement conference of a commercial insurance claim dispute held on the 51st floor of Fulbright & Jaworski in Houston. The view from the conference room was beautiful and in juxtaposition to the manner my client felt the insurance claim was handled. As is becoming customary for many of my cases, … Continue Reading
(Note: This Guest Blog is by Deborah Trotter, an attorney with Merlin Law Group in the Gulfport, Mississippi office). As homeowners, business owners, adjusters, and government and relief agencies begin to sort through the devastation left in the wake of the dangerous storms and tornadoes that tore through the southeast last week, the stark and … Continue Reading
Making an offer to the other party in a lawsuit to settle a case confidentially is equally available to both parties. Once agreed to, strict adherence is an absolute requirement.… Continue Reading
The best way to prepare for an insurance settlement is to prepare the case for trial. Trying to predict what would probably happen at trial is a great way to gauge the value of an insurance dispute. I am writing this while flying to New Orleans for a mediation tomorrow morning. This blog post may … Continue Reading
Nowdoucit from Slabbed wrote a comment to my post, Surplus Lines Insurers, Sinkholes, and the Law of Mars, concerning the selection of lawyers: "The more cases I read, the more convinced I become of the importance of retaining an attorney experienced in insurance claims litigation – better yet, experienced and successful. The case you cited, Chip, … Continue Reading
There is nothing like combining business with pleasure. I suppose if your business is fun, you are always having a party at work. Today, I am meeting with my bad faith insurance attorney colleagues. Tonight, I will celebrate the Port of New Orleans litigation with my client, co-counsel and legal staff.… Continue Reading
After posting two Blogs (Effective Endgame Communications; Influence and Persuasion) regarding the topic of settlements, I was amused by SLABBED referring to settlements as "kissing one’s sister." While that was on my mind, I was provided our Leeds Appellate Answer Brief to a trial that I won with Jean Niven in 2007. While I can understand that civil lawsuits play … Continue Reading
As indicated in my previous blog, everybody can benefit from understanding some basics of intellectual influence. While my speech was given to trial attorneys who typically represent people against insurance companies, anybody can use them, and should, if they want better results with dealing with people who have different views. Some may question why I would … Continue Reading
Most cases resolve before a trial. While thorough preparation for trial is paramount, most of our policyholder clients want a resolution as quickly as possible and for a much as possible. Settling a case for less than its value is an easy way to get a quick resolution. Settling a case for more than its … Continue Reading
The Merlin Law Group has settled the claims of 103 State Farm policyholders. While the terms of the individual settlements and total amount paid by State Farm are confidential, attorney Chip Merlin noted that each settlement amount was negotiated on a case-by-case basis and according to each client’s unique situation.”This was not a ‘cents on the … Continue Reading