A severe recent federal court decision in New York state emphasized the importance of having your subrogation counsel identify and notify the insurer for potentially responsible parties of subrogation claims as soon as possible. In 2008, the New York legislature amended Insurance Law § 3420 to require an insurer, in disclaiming liability coverage in which...
A California court has given new meaning to the judicial maxim “on a clear day you can foresee forever!” In Collins v Navistar 2013 DJAR 4169, the Court of Appeals, Third Appellate District, held that a manufacturer could be held strictly liable for damages allegedly caused by a defectively designed truck windshield. In Collins, it...
Can a landlord’s insurer subrogate against a negligent tenant in Indiana? Before answering, be sure you are aware of recent caselaw in Indiana on the issue. Indiana Courts have addressed this issue two times, and their recent decision confirms that courts in Indiana are to look at the individual facts of the case and the...
“This is a maritime case about a train wreck” is how Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor began the 2004 Supreme Court decision in Norfolk Southern v Kirby, 543 U.S. 14 (2004). Since Kirby, other cases have tested legislative overlaps and conflicts when goods are transported using over water and land using "through bills of...
Imagine that your insured’s house has caught on fire, but when a firefighter attempts to connect the water hose to the hydrant nearest the home, he cannot open the valve because he turned the valve in the wrong direction, breaking the stem of the hydrant. The firefighter moves on to the next hydrant, but that...
This past week an unfortunate nightmare came true – a family had the unthinkable horror of hearing and watching a loved one perish when a sinkhole opened under the man’s bedroom in his Florida home. As has been reported, sinkhole losses have been increasing in magnitude and volume throughout the country, especially in certain...
When Alon’s Big Spring, Texas oil refinery exploded on February 18, 2008, destroying Veolia’s waste treatment facility, Alon did not even bother to contest its liability for the damages to Veolia’s facility. Nor did Alon dispute that the only proper measure of damages for the completely destroyed facility was its fair market value immediately...
So how can an insurance professional, risk manager, general adjuster, and asset manager make an informed decision regarding investigating a flood claim? Assuming that there is insurance coverage and that a claim will be paid, which of the thousands of flood claims carriers receive each year should be investigated for subrogation? There are several approaches,...
The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey recently reinforced that a public adjuster’s fee is not a recoverable element of an insured’s damages. In doing so, the court distinguished the cost incurred in retaining a public adjuster from the cost incurred in retaining other third-party contractors following a loss. ...
Exhaust fans commonly found in the ceilings of bathrooms and laundry rooms cause many residential fires and fires in commercial and industrial buildings. Exhaust fan fires have caused more than $50 million in property damages.[1] Exhaust fan fires are frequently ignited by electrical arcing in the fan motor or by heating caused by the fan motor bearings “locking up.” The...
