Subrogation & Recovery Law Blog : Insurance Subrogation Lawyer & Attorney : Cozen O'Connor Law Firm : Property Damage & Insurance Commentary

On January 20, 2011 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) announced a voluntary recall of Propane (LP) Gas, manufactured by Aux Sable Liquid Products of Morris, Illinois.  The affected propane was sold in portable cylinders and delivered to storage tanks.  The problem with this estimated 700 rail car units of propane gas is that some of the propane did not have sufficient levels of the odorant that should be added to propane to help alert consumers to a gas leak. Without the proper levels of odorant, a clear hazard is created in that failing to detect leaking gas can present fire, explosion and thermal burn dangers to consumers.

According to the CPSC, the recalled propane was sold to propane retailers in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia from February 25, 2010 through September 30, 2010.  The CPSC has encouraged consumers in the affected states who purchased propane gas during the aforementioned timeframe to contact Aux Sable to arrange for a free inspection and exchange.

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On March 11, 2011, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) will officially launch a new website which offers a forum for consumers to register complaints about product-related safety issues. The database, located at http://saferproducts.gov/ will register complaints of injury or of potential harm filed by consumers, safety groups, health care professionals and other interested parties; non-safety product quality and performance complaints will not be included. Other information traditionally promulgated by CPSC, such as recall notices, will also be published in the database. It is further indicated that the database will provide automated email alerts to subscribers regarding new complaints and recalls.

Previously, product safety issues were publicly reported by the CPSC only after the body of safety complaints regarding a particular product reached the critical mass necessary for a recall. With the introduction of this database, subrogated insurers will be able to discover reported product deficiencies before they result in a recall or even if no recall ever issues.

Because participation in the complaint registration process is not limited to consumers, insurers affected by product failure should also be able to file complaints. If insurers are active in adding loss-causing product defects to the database, the depth and breadth of aggregated product hazard knowledge will grow exponentially, making the new database a more and more valuable resource over time.
 

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It is as commonplace and disconcerting as ordering specialty food at a fast food restaurant and receiving what they commonly serve. You don't get what you want.

In litigation, product manufacturers, builders and providers of products and ideas are seldom producing background information on those items and ideas without first requiring that the requesting party execute a "confidentiality agreement" which cloaks not only the attorneys and parties, but their experts and consultants as well. These agreements are required as a pre-requisite to the production of any materials which the party required to produce claims is either trademark, proprietary, confidential or trade secret information.

Further, manufacturers and companies are withholding vital information until the requesting party either executes a confidentiality agreement or seeks an order from the Court compelling the production of this information.

In a recent unpublished* California Appeals Court Decision, the Court in Seahaus La Jolla Owners Association vs. Superior Court of San Diego County [San Diego County Superior Court 37-2009-00095253-CU-CD-CTL] [*unpublished decisions can neither be relied upon or cited, but serve as illustration of examining of legal issues] addressed the circumstance of a builder not providing testing data concerning construction materials to a Homeowner's Association which had sued for construction defect of a condominium project. The Appellate Court in examining the facts of the matter, deduced that the trial court owed a duty to formulate an appropriate protective order based upon the interests of the parties and that ordering a party to execute a confidentiality agreement was an abuse of the trial court's discretionary powers.

Hence, ultimately, the Court placed the burden on the party demanding the confidentiality order to establish the need and basis for that claim. Reviewing this decision, it would appear that this vision by the Court at the very least requires that the party seeking the claim of confidentiality must take the initiative by seeking a protective order or by providing evidence at a motion to compel, that the confidentiality claims are valid and supported by potential adverse consequences to the party seeking to protect the information.

While the opinion is unpublished and cannot serve as precedent in this area, it nonetheless demonstrates that product manufacturers, builders and providers of products cannot, without substantive proof, immediately assert and require that litigants execute confidentiality agreements as a precursor to obtaining discovery data. The ubiquitous nature of these agreements, which extend to cloak lawyers, agents, experts and consultants, have far-ranging and perpetual ramifications that affect all items produced in discovery and may ultimately prove to be unwarranted if challenged by Court review.
 

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 The prevailing laws in the Middle East are generally based on, and utilize elements of, Shari’ah, The Koran and the Hadith together with what is termed as Latin law, influenced by Egyptian Napoleonic Code style law. The concept of insurance is not contradictory to Islam, the payment of blood money by an individual to a deceased’s family has been common through the ages. Further, the concept of risk mitigation, by using what can be termed as the law of large numbers, is common practice in Islam. One of the explanations often cited for the low uptake for conventional insurance (or what is termed as Islamic insurance or Takaful) in the Middle East is that insurance is viewed by many to be considered impermissible. It inherently contains elements of gharar (uncertainty) or, to put it into context, trading in risk, which is addressed in Shari'ah law.

Insurance law in the UAE was codified following the enactment of Federal Law No.6 of 2007 (the "2007 Law”), which created the UAE Insurance Authority ("IA"). The precise application of the 2007 Law is ongoing, and is adopted from Jordanian insurance law.  Currently, the 2007 Law is very grey in its application and far from an all-encompassing regulatory system for conducting insurance activities in the UAE.

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has recently issued an opinion holding that a subrogating insurer can sue a defendant for negligence for damage to property even though the subrogating insurer and the defendant were not in privity of contract.  This opinion provides guidance on privity of contract as well as economic loss issues.

In Affiliated FM Ins. Co. v. LTK Consulting Servs, Inc., Affiliated FM Insurance Company (AFM) was subrogated to the rights of its insured, Seattle Monorail Services Joint Ventures (SMS), for a fire that damaged the Seattle monorail. SMS sued LTK asserting that LTK had provided negligent design advice to SMS, which ultimately caused the fire. LTK challenged AFM’s interest in the Monorail System because SMS only had a contractual right to operate on the property owned by the City of Seattle. LTK argued it was not in privity of contract with SMS, and therefore AFM could not sue LTK. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals certified the issue to the Washington State Supreme Court, who concluded that SMS had legally protected interests in the monorail and that LTK, having undertaken its engineering services, had assumed a duty of reasonable care. The Court concluded that LTK’s duty encompassed SMS’s legally protected interests in the monorail, and therefore AFM was free to subrogate and sue LTK for negligence.
 

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The Expedited Jury Trials Act (ETA) Assembly Bill 2284 became effective in California state trial courts.  Additional rules implementing the program are being prepared by the California Judicial Council.  AB 2284 provides for expedited jury trials in civil cases where both parties agree.   The trials scheduled pursuant to the ETA will be heard on a date certain.  Only eight jurors are required.  Both parties will only have three peremptory challenges each against those jurors.  Each party will have three hours to present their testimony and arguments.  The goal of the program is to conclude a civil trial as close to one day as possible.

The rationale behind the bill is to address the ever increasing delays in getting a civil case to trial.  Limiting the length of trial testimony and argument should make the trial less costly.  Further, shortening the trial to roughly one day will be less burdensome on jurors time away from work.  However, the bill provides that the parties waive all rights to appeal  except as provided for in the ETA.

In the right situation, where the parties cannot agree to resolve a disputed matter, certain simplified cases should be considered for ETA.  Of course the other party must agree to participate to trigger the ETA program. 

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