A Colorado federal court relieved the Travelers Indemnity Company of America and Travelers Property Casualty Company of America of any obligation to defend or indemnify two putative class actions, finding neither action implicated the insuring agreement for "personal and advertising injury" contained in several Travelers commercial liability policies. The Underlying Actions Two underlying class actions were filed in Washington federal court against various coffee ... Keep Reading »
Class Action
COVID-19 Insurance Coverage Class Actions
Over the last several months, there have been numerous lawsuits filed across the country by policyholders seeking business interruption insurance coverage for losses they claim are resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last month, the new trend has been to file many of these claims as class actions. Several of the nation’s top plaintiff-side class action law firms have filed class action lawsuits seeking coverage for nationwide classes of policyholders. These ... Keep Reading »
Are COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims Appropriate for a Coverage Class Action?
Over the last few weeks, a tsunami of lawsuits has been filed in many states alleging a variety of issues related to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The lawsuits have targeted a variety of industries, such as banking and financial services, travel and hospitality, and retail. The property and casualty insurance industry has also been in the news as likely hundreds of thousands of policyholders have faced shutdowns of their businesses. These policyholders have looked to ... Keep Reading »
Texas Appeals Court affirms Class Certification in Case Alleging Roofer Violated Insurance Code
Texas homeowners Joe and Stacci Key sued their roofer, Lon Smith Roofing Contractors (“LSRC”), alleging LSRC violated the Texas Insurance Code by acting as an unlicensed public insurance adjustor. The trial court granted class certification, and LSRC sought interlocutory review. The Texas Court of Appeals affirmed in a case captioned Lon Smith & Assocs., Inc. v. Key, No. 02-15-00328-CV (Tex. Ct. App. Aug. 3, 2017). When it Hails… The Keys retained LSRC to make ... Keep Reading »
Round Up The Usual And Customary Suspects: Insurers May Determine UCR Prices By Shopping At Retail Outlets
For more than a decade, medical providers have tried to limit the discretion of automobile insurers to pay less than the billed amount for services and equipment offered to injured insureds. Most of these efforts involve challenges to the use of automated bill review systems. But in Freedom Medical Supply Inc. v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., No. 14-1628 (3rd Cir. June 8, 2016), a company charging 1,000% mark-ups on equipment it bought at Bed Bath & Beyond argued ... Keep Reading »
Florida Makes it Safer to Collect Subrogation Claims from Consumers
As insurers show increasing interest in pursuing recovery opportunities after paying claims, they face increased exposure to litigation hazards associated with the debt collection industry. A recent decision by a federal court in Florida will help ameliorate that risk—at least within the Sunshine State. In Schaefer v. Seattle Service Bureau, Inc., No. 2:15-cv-444 (M.D. Fla., Dec. 16, 2015), the court ruled, as a matter of first impression, that insurance subrogation ... Keep Reading »
As TCPA Class Actions Soar, Issues Emerge in TCPA Coverage for Claims
Both the number of cases under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the types of practices that those cases challenge have mushroomed within the last several years. Yet a dedicated form of insurance against TCPA claims has not yet developed. Instead, businesses seeking defense and indemnification of TCPA suits have resorted to traditional policy provisions dealing with property damage, personal and advertising injury, and (more recently) the language of ... Keep Reading »
Cyberclaim Coverage Denied: The TCPA Protects Privacy, Not Personally Identifiable Information
In Doctors Direct Ins., Inc. v. Beaute’ E’mergente, LLC, No. 1-14-2919 (Ill. App. Ct. June 22, 2015), an Illinois state appellate court recently affirmed that a medical malpractice liability insurer did not owe a duty to defend or indemnify its insured in an underlying class action lawsuit alleging violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (the “TCPA”) and the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act (the “ICFA”), because there was no ... Keep Reading »
In Overhead and Profit Class Actions, The Third Trade’s No Longer The Charm
When repairs to a damaged home reach a certain level of complexity, they call for supervision by a general contractor, who receives a percentage of the actual repair costs as "general contractor's overhead and profit" or "GCOP." Under "replacement cost" policies, insurers must pay GCOP for appropriate claims, even if the insured chooses not to use a contractor or elects not to make repairs. In the past, this obligation has been the subject of class action suits, in ... Keep Reading »
Georgia Supreme Court: Insurer Did Not “Unreasonably” Withhold Consent to Settle
In Piedmont Office Realty Trust v. XL Specialty Insurance Co., No. S15Q0418 (Ga. Apr. 20, 2015), the Georgia Supreme Court reiterated that, in the face of a policy provision prohibiting the insured from unilaterally settling a claim, the insured may not enter into a settlement and then seek coverage or assert a bad faith claim. Piedmont, the insured, was named as a defendant in a federal securities class action. Its defense was covered under both a $10 million ... Keep Reading »