Steven Plitt is the current successor author to Couch on Insurance, 3d. He maintains a national coverage practice with The Cavanagh Law Firm. He has been listed continuously as one of Arizona's 50 lawyers by Southwest Super Lawyers. He can be reached splitt@cavanaghlaw.com. To read additional articles by Steven Plitt, go to www.insuranceexpertplitt.com. In many property loss cases, distinguishing between “coverage” and the “amount of loss” will be straightforward for purposes of invoking appraisal. See, e.g., Kawa v. Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 174 Misc.2d 407, 664 N.Y.S.2d 430 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1997), …
When an insurance company defends its insured under a reservation of rights, the question arises as to whether the insurer has a right to seek reimbursement from its insured for payments made toward attorney’s fees and court costs when it …
Insurance companies may negotiate with their policyholder a settlement of a coverage dispute through a coverage buyback agreement. In this situation, after a potentially non-covered loss has taken place, a settlement of the coverage dispute is negotiated whereby the insurance …
Insurance companies have an early opportunity to obtain information and material that may be in the insured’s possession regarding a claim through the examination under oath (EUO) process. An EUO is an important investigative tool which permits an insurer to …
As a general proposition, the doctrine of estoppel cannot be used to expand or create insurance coverage where no coverage exists. See e.g., Continental Casualty Co. v. Advance Terrazzo & Tile Co. Inc., 462 F.3d 1002 (8th Cir. 2006) (interpreting …