Category «Duty to Defend»

The “Intentional Injury Exclusion” Does Not Mean What Your Insurer Would Like It To Mean

A while back I wrote a series entitled, “Top 10 Commercial Insurance Myths & Misconceptions.” I did not cover the “Intentional Injury Exclusion” in that series, but perhaps I should have. Insurers continue to try to use this exclusion to argue that there is no coverage for injury or damage caused by a policyholder’s “intentional …

Florida Supreme Court to Decide if Florida 558 Proceeding is a “Suit” Triggering a Duty to Defend

I previously wrote here about Judge Marra’s decision in the Southern District of Florida in Altman Contractors, Inc. v. Crum & Forster Specialty Ins. Co., No. 13-80831-CIV, 2015 WL 3539755, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72466 (S.D. Fla. June 4, 2015). The question in that case was whether a Florida 558 proceeding constitutes a “suit” that …

Triggering Coverage For Construction Defect Claims in Florida & Potential Coverage Gaps For Florida 558 Proceedings

Triggering an insurer’s duty to defend is an important first step in any insurance coverage claim.  Typically, an insurer’s duty to defend is triggered when the insurer receives notice of a lawsuit filed against its policyholder.  But disputes can arise when a policyholder is required to respond to a claim that falls short of litigation, …

Florida Insurance Law 2014 Second-Half Review

One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2015 is to post more regularly to this blog.  It was a very busy 2014, especially the second half of the year, and I have not been able to provide updates as frequently as I would like.  So before we ring in the new year, let’s review some …

Florida Appellate Court Rules Policyholder May Control Its Own Defense When Insurer Reserves Rights

I still need to catch up on several important Florida coverage decisions from this summer, but I could not wait to discuss this new coverage opinion out of the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami.  The case is Geico General Ins. Co. v. Rodriguez, Nos. 3D11-2905 & 3D12-506 (Fla. 3rd DCA Sept. 10, 2014), …

Southern District of Florida Voids Coverage For Pre-Tender Defense Costs

I have been meaning for some time to write about Judge Kenneth Marra’s decision in Embroidme.com, Inc. v. Travelers Prop. Cas. Co. of Am., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7715 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 23, 2014).  Let me start by saying that Judge Marra is a great judge.  But this decision is terribly flawed.  It is now …

Middle District Of Florida Reiterates Florida’s Injury-In-Fact Trigger Rule

I have written about the insurance law concept of “trigger” several times before, most recently in the context of the Middle District of Florida’s decision in Axis Surplus Insurance Co. v. Contravest Construction Co., 921 F. Supp.2d 1338 (M.D. Fla. 2012).  An Insurance Law Florida reader from Colorado recently asked for an update on Florida …

Myth # 6: Your Insurance Company Selects Your Defense Counsel

It has been a fairly quiet summer for insurance coverage decisions in Florida, and it has been a while since I added an installment to my series on Commercial Insurance Myths & Misconceptions. So let’s talk about selection of defense counsel. When appointing counsel to defend a newly-filed lawsuit, insurers typically announce to their policyholder …

Additional Insured Entitled to Independent Defense Counsel

In University of Miami v. Great American Assurance Company, No. 3D09-2010 (Fla. 3d. DCA Feb. 20, 2013), the Third DCA held that an insurance company had to pay for separate and independent defense counsel to defend its additional insured.  The coverage dispute arose out of a tragic incident in which a four-year-old child suffered severe injuries …