No, all of that insurance industry money flowing into the Florida legislature has not led to a change in Fla. Stat. 627.428, Florida’s one-way attorney fee shifting statute. Loyal readers of Insurance Law Florida know that Fla. Stat. 627.428 allows policyholders to recover their attorneys fees upon the successful completion of coverage litigation. The statute’s …
Once again AIG placed dead last in the Harris Interactive “Reputation Quotient” survey released last week. It is the third year in a row that AIG has been listed as America’s least reputable company. It would have been a five-peat if not for Freddie Mac’s slightly lower rating in 2010. AIG maintained the bottom spot despite undertaking a massive rebranding …
The recent appellate decision from Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal in GEICO General Insurance Company v. Harvey, No. 4D12-1525 (Fla. 4th DCA Jan. 23, 2013) demonstrates the limitations of Florida’s non-joinder statute, Fla. Stat. 627.4136, when it comes to asserting direct action bad faith claims. Harvey arose out of a horrific automobile accident in which the …
I previously discussed the American Building Materials coverage cases here. ABM II was decided against the policyholder under Massachusetts law. Judge Bucklew of the Middle District of Florida entered summary judgment in the insurer’s favor after finding that Granite State’s Total Pollution Exclusion unambiguously excluded coverage for the Chinese drywall claims. Yesterday, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed …
Insurance coverage litigation is a lot like improv. You often deal with uncertain underlying facts, and you need to adapt quickly on the fly. One of the more difficult coverage claims to litigate is the “mysterious disappearance” claim. It seems there are a lot of claims out there where nobody knows exactly when something went …
In most jurisdictions, an insurer’s duty to defend is determined based on what is commonly referred to as the “eight corners rule”. Under the eight corners rule, the only relevant pieces of information when determining the duty to defend are the coverage promises contained within the four corners of the insurance policy and the allegations …
I have written before about my views on efforts to depopulate Citizens (see here). There is no question that Florida needs to strengthen its private insurance market and reduce the number of policies written by Citizens, which remains the largest insurer by far in the State. Florida’s legislature has tried a lot of different ways …
The insurance concept of “trigger” is a bit esoteric, so let’s start with a little background. Trigger is one of the most important concepts in insurance law. It is also one of the most misunderstood. It is often mistaken for allocation, but the two concepts are different. Trigger determines which years of coverage apply to …
The Florida Supreme Court’s decision in Deni Associates of Florida, Inc. v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Insurance Co., 711 So.2d 1135 (Fla. 1998) continues to haunt Florida policyholders with Total Pollution Exclusions in their general liability policies. This time it was Southern District of Florida Judge Robert Scola’s July 16, 2012 decision in First …
Coverage disputes frequently arise when claims contain some elements of damage that are covered and some that are not. The general rule in the duty-to-defend context is clear: where some allegations against a policyholder are potentially covered by the policy, the insurer must defend the entire action. This is often called the “in for a …