Notice Requirements and Claims-Made Coverage
“For want of a shoe, the horse was lost,” goes the old saying. If you handle claims from the policyholder side, nothing will aggravate you more than seeing a perfectly good claim go awry because of...
View ArticleThe Appraisal Provision in First-Party Property Policies
I’m not a big fan of arbitration. I think it costs too much (which kind of goes against its main marketing point), and I don’t particularly like the fact that there’s no right of appeal absent the...
View ArticleIndependent Counsel and the Insurance Company’s Duty to Defend
I know that this is hard to believe, but even when an insurance company complies with its duty to defend, the interests of the insurance company and its policyholder may not be aligned. The...
View ArticleInsurance Coverage for Alleged Intentional Harm
I’ve sometimes commented on this blog that my first boss in the business warned me: “If you assume there’s no coverage, you won’t find any.” There are plenty of risk managers and brokers who believe...
View ArticleLimitations Periods in Insurance Policies
Here are a few universal truths. If politicians can raise taxes, they will. If lawyers can bill, they will. And if judges can find a way to help clear their docket, they will. That last truth can...
View ArticleThe law of subrogation, and how it affects policyholders
“Subrogation” seems to be a simple concept. You suffer a loss. Your insurance company pays for the loss. Your insurance company then assumes your rights against the party that damaged you. But, like...
View ArticlePolicy rescission because of misrepresentations on an insurance application
There’s an old joke about lawyers and clients. A man is flying in a hot-air balloon and realizes he’s lost. He spots a guy down below. He lowers the balloon and shouts, “Excuse me, can you help me? I...
View ArticleLimitations periods and notice provisions in insurance policies
When I was a kid in Maplewood, New Jersey, our next-door neighbor was a feisty Irish widow named Anne Byrne. (She was related to our former Governor, Brendan Byrne, but I forget how.) When I would do...
View ArticleThe “reasonable expectations” doctrine in insurance coverage
There’s a very true old quote about interpreting insurance policies that I (and other policyholder lawyers) like to cite. It goes: “Ambiguity and incomprehensibility seem to be the favorite tools of...
View ArticleGriggs and the Recalcitrant Carrier
Back in the halcyon days of insurance coverage litigation (before many defense-oriented judges began to view themselves as Guardians at the Gate of the Insurance Industry), New Jersey courts would...
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