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 Moore v. GEICO General Ins. Co., 2016 WL 736824 (11th Cir., Feb. 19, 2016), the United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a District Court grant of summary judgment in favor of GEICO in a bad faith set-up …
By statute, automobile liability insurance companies are barred from excluding coverage for personal injuries caused to a named insured under Connecticut law. See, Conn. Gen. Stat. (Rev. to 2009) § 38a-335(d). However, the Connecticut statute contains an exception which permits …
The Illinois Court of Appeals recently considered whether an insurance company was obligated to defend its insured in a wrongful death claim involving methadone intoxication notwithstanding the fact that the insurer’s homeowner policy contained a controlled substance exclusion. In Skolnik …
Are insureds required to notify the insurance company of a change in business form and structure after the inception of the initial policy? This issue recently came before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Christy …
The purpose of insurance is to protect insureds against unknown, fortuitous risks, and the purpose of insurance policies is not to insure liability incurred prior to the policy issuance. Because of this, modern general liability policies often contain a known-loss …
Insuring clauses of many insurance policies obligate the insurance company to indemnify the insured for sums that the insured is “legally obligated to pay as damages …” Long ago, insurance company challenged covenants not to execute that were used as …
In certification from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington in Heidi Kroeber v. GEICO Ins. Co., 2016 WL 166528 (Wash. Ct. App., decided Jan. 14, 2016), the Washington Supreme Court, answered the District Court’s certified question …
Typical legal malpractice policies do not provide coverage for the disgorgement of attorney’s fees that were received by the insured attorney during the representation that gives rise to the malpractice claim. However, recently the United States District Court in Louisiana …
The Florida Court of Appeals, Fourth District, in the case of One Call Property Services v. Security First Ins. Co., 2015 WL 2393353 (Fla. 4th DCA May 20, 2015), held that an insured’s assignment of a breach of contract action …
The California Court of Appeals recently considered the question of when an insurer’s claim for reimbursement of defense costs is ripe. In Centex Homes v. St. Paul Fire and Marine Ins. Co., 237 Cal.App.4th 23, 187 Cal.Rptr.3d 542 (4th Dist., …