Richard B. Wolf is a partner in the Los Angeles office of the nationwide law firm of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP. Since 1970, Wolf has specialized in insurance coverage advice and litigation. He is a member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and serves on the panel of arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association (AAA). In a decision filed July 14, 2017, the US District Court for the Central District of California invoked the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) in refusing to vacate an insurance appraisal award determining the value of insured tools stolen from their …
In an insurance dispute spanning two states, and applying Kentucky law, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, over a spirited dissent, held there was no coverage for an accident in Los Angeles. The reason: The Mercedes-Benz driven by Davida …
A Florida state Court of Appeal reversed the dismissal of a claim for negligent procurement of property insurance, because, when placing the coverage, the insurer’s agent failed to account for a reduction in insurance loss proceeds caused by operation of …
A United States District Court, applying South Carolina law, found that an automobile liability insurer had no obligation to defend or indemnify a driver who was operating an insured vehicle without the named insured’s permission, even though the operator allegedly …
Latest Case and Growing Trend Say it Must Fall Down or Cave in The scope of insurance coverage for collapse, first provided by the industry in 1954, has long been the subject of litigation in many jurisdictions. The arguments for …
Certain Lloyd’s underwriters lost their unopposed coverage motion for summary judgment based on an assault and battery policy exclusion, because a bar patron injured by gunfire did not allege she was shot as a result of a dispute, threat or …
On January 23, 2017, the California Supreme Court ruled that the insurance Commissioner of that state was given the power by the legislature to specify what factors must be covered by replacement cost estimate tools used by insurers in connection …
Nicholas Fiocchi sued Ronald Zatyco for assaulting him after a verbal argument between them at a bar earlier the same evening. Fiocchi’s complaint in Pennsylvania state court attempted by artful pleading to capture Zatyco’s parents’ homeowners coverage, alleging that the …
In a decision filed November 18, 2016, Arkansas U. S. district judge Susan Webber Wright, the same jurist who in 1998 handed a defeat to Paula Jones in her sexual harassment lawsuit against then President Bill Clinton, dealt this time …
On October 6, 2016 the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, applying Missouri law, granted a summary judgment for Travelers Property & Casualty Company of America, after holding that the injured plaintiff was not insured by …