After State Farm rate hike, legislators are pressured to provide relief. Here’s what could be on the table. - “Gov. JB Pritzker wasted no time in calling on state legislators to do something about rising insurance rates...more
In In Re State Farm Automobile Insurance Co. and Lindsey Nicole Dessart, 712 S.W.3d 53 (Tex. 2025), the Texas Supreme Court clarified the proper procedure for litigating bad faith claims related to uninsured/underinsured...more
Schnatzmeyer v. State Farm Ins. Co., No. 3:23-CV-02820-K, 2025 WL 1697505, at *1 (N.D. Tex. June 17, 2025). In a case involving two overlapping freeze claims—and a substantial array of legal issues affecting insurers in...more
Property Insurance/Replacement Cost - Homeowners Did Not Substantially Meet Policy’s Condition Precedent to Recover Replacement Cost Value - Insurer Did Not Waive Conditions - Henderson v. State Farm Fire and...more
In State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Coway USA, Inc., No. 22-cv-3516, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 192849, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (District Court) considered whether the plaintiff...more
U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Edison of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas recently issued a decision granting summary judgment for an insurance carrier in a first-party case involving alleged...more
In PAJ, Inc. v. Hanover Ins. Co., the Texas Supreme Court set forth the “notice-prejudice rule,” which states that unless an insurer was prejudiced by an insured’s delay in giving timely notice of its claim or suit, an...more
Merchants Preferred Insurance Company filed a declaratory judgment action in New York seeking a declaration that it had no duty to defend or to indemnify its insureds in an underlying Florida personal injury action arising...more
The recent decision of Marcantel v. State Farm Fire, No. 2:22-CV-01511, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111077 (W.D. La. June 24, 2024) offers valuable lessons for policyholders regarding the importance of cooperation in the insurance...more
The parent of an infant sued Kim Eichle for Eichle’s alleged negligence in serving alcohol to her houseguest, Jacob Russo, who allegedly assaulted the infant, and for negligence in failing to keep the sidewalk at her...more
The Insurer issued an Auto Policy and an Umbrella Policy. The Auto Policy provided $100,000 of UIM coverage and the Umbrella Policy provided $2,000,000 of UIM coverage. Just like ARS § 12-555(C)(2),the Auto Policy barred UIM...more
We have written about class actions filed against State Farm and other carriers alleging systematic undervaluation of damaged vehicles. One of our articles focused on a decision by the Middle District of Georgia dismissing...more
New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) is concerned that AI’s self-learning behavior increases the risks of unlawful or unfair discrimination. DFS will audit insurers’ use of AI. Such insurers need to maintain...more
In our January insurance update, we include three state cases addressing some less common situations. It’s not often that a pollution exclusion is interpreted in the context of an auto policy. But the South Dakota Supreme...more
In State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Tamagawa, Index No. 510977/2021, 2023 N.Y. Misc. Lexis 5434, the Supreme Court of New York considered whether an insurance carrier can settle its property subrogation lawsuit with the...more
The insureds owned a house covered by an all-risk homeowner’s insurance policy issued by Erie Insurance Company of New York that provided coverage for damage to the house unless specifically excluded. The policy contained an...more
We bring you our March Insurance Update. As college basketball programs embark on the road to the final four, we select our top four insurance cases from the past month. In a dispute over the priority of coverage, the...more
We have written about class actions filed against State Farm and other carriers alleging systematic undervaluation of damaged vehicles. See, e.g., Eleventh Circuit emphasizes the abuse of discretion standard in affirming the...more
In a recent unpublished opinion, the 11th Circuit upheld summary judgment for an auto insurer on claims of breach of contract, bad faith and outrage stemming from an underinsured motorist (UIM) claim. Voss v. State Farm Mut....more
First Department Affirms That Business Interruption From COVID-19 Not Covered- The insured purchased a commercial property policy that included business interruption coverage for its restaurants. The restaurants were...more
On April 8, 2022, the United States District Court, District of Delaware, granted defendant-insurers’ motion for a change of venue, transferring the directors and officers (D&O) insurance dispute originally filed in Delaware...more
Accepting coverage for part of a claim may subject an insurer to a policy’s appraisal process when the extent of covered damage is in dispute, according to a recent ruling issued by the Eastern District of Tennessee....more
The Supreme Court of Florida issued a significant decision regarding the calculation of personal injury protection (PIP) benefits in MRI Associates of Tampa, Inc., etc. v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company;...more
The New York Supreme Court – Appellate Division (Second Department) (“Court”) addressed in an October 20th Decision & Order (“Decision”) alleged damages associated with the remediation of oil contamination. See Bennett v....more
In our March Insurance Update, we discuss four state supreme court cases and four cybercrime cases. The state high courts address: •From whose perspective should a consent-to-settle provision be judged? •What standard...more