In 1947, some Bedouin shepherd boys were tending their sheep and goats near the ancient settlement of Qumran, near the Dead Sea. One of the boys threw a rock into an opening on the side of a cliff and heard something break. Curious, they entered what was a small cave. Inside, they discovered a large clay vessel that had been broken by the thrown rock. It contained several scrolls. This led to the discovery of more clay jars and more scrolls, what would later be come ... Keep Reading »
Property
Grateful Marijuana Grower Scores Coverage Victory in Colorado Federal Court
The refusal of the Senate to fill a Supreme Court vacancy has put gridlock back on the front page, as it leaves important questions about immigration and clean energy unresolved. Uncertainty about federal policy is also affecting other areas of American life, including one of our most popular pastimes. Recently, in The Green Earth Wellness Center, LLC v. Atain Specialty Ins. Co., No. 13-cv-03452-MSK-NYW (D. Colo. Feb. 17, 2016), a federal court in Colorado held that the ... Keep Reading »
Too Little, Too Late: The Harsh Bright Line of Suit Limitation Provisions
Approximately twenty percent of Americans have been classified as chronic procrastinators, which means one in five policyholders faces a potential problem when suing for coverage. While the statute of limitations for breach of contract varies by state, it is typically three years or more. However, insurance policies often impose their own, contractual suit limitations, and it is often only a year or two. When and how these provisions operate to bar coverage varies ... Keep Reading »
Coverage for Direct Physical Loss Does Not Necessarily Include “Matching” or Require “Aesthetic Uniformity”
When a property insurance policy covers a multi-story building or multi-building property, and a portion sustains damage, there is often a question regarding the extent to which undamaged property should be replaced to ensure matching and/or aesthetic uniformity throughout the property. In Great American Insurance Company of New York v. The Towers of Quayside No. 4 Condominium Association, 15-CV-20056 (S.D. Fla. Nov. 5, 2015), a District Court recently determined that ... Keep Reading »
Arkansas Court Finds Extension of Coverage for Contingent Time Element includes Contingent Extra Expense
All risk insurance policies typically provide coverage for loss of or damage to the insured property unless otherwise excluded. Coverage is provided for physical damage, as well as resulting business interruption losses. Such policies sometimes also include coverage for loss resulting from damage to property that wholly or partially prevents a supplier from providing goods to the insured. This coverage is referred to as Contingent Time Element coverage. In Lion Oil ... 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 »
Off Schedule: Texas Supreme Court Rules That Ambiguity Produces Blanket Coverage
Owners of multiple commercial properties can significantly reduce their insurance premiums by purchasing a scheduled policy, under which each item of covered property is separately reported (or "scheduled"), and the coverage limit for any one item is determined independently of damage to any other item. The alternative is a blanket policy, which applies a single coverage limit to the aggregate losses of all the covered properties. Recently, in RSUI Indem. Co. v. The ... 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 »
Florida Appellate Court Rejects Bid to Curb Insureds’ Assignments to Contractors
Many property insurance policies contain terms that prohibit assignment, but Florida law has long deemed those terms inoperative once a loss has occurred. E.g., W. Fla. Grocery Co. v. Teutonia Fire Ins. Co., 74 Fla. 220 (Fla. 1917). As a result, contractors who repair or remediate damaged property increasingly offer to accept assignments from policyholders in lieu of payment—a practice that gives them greater leverage in setting prices, because it enables them to back ... Keep Reading »
Florida’s Immune System: No First-Party Bad Faith Claims Against The State-Created Property Insurer
Earlier this month, in Citizens Property Insurance Corp. v. Perdido Sun Condominium Association, Inc., No. SC14-185 (Fla. May 14, 2015), the Supreme Court of Florida held that the immunity from suit granted to Citizens under its enabling statute, Fla. Stat. § 627.351(6), applies to the cause of action for an insurer's first-party bad faith that was created by a different statute, Fla. Stat. § 624.155(1)(b). Because Florida does not recognize a common law cause of action ... Keep Reading »
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