40 results for 'cat:"Insurance" AND cat:"Tort"'.
J. Carlos grants an insurance company’s motion for default judgment stating that it has no duty to defend or indemnify a construction company in an underlying state court matter in which a worker was severely injured when the below-ground-level trench collapsed on him. The construction company eventually stopped all communication with its counsel, opposing counsel, and the court, supporting an entry of default judgment.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Judge: Carlos, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv4936, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: insurance, tort, Indemnification
J. Breedlove finds that the lower court properly granted summary judgment for the appellees in this suit to enforce a settlement agreement, which arose from an automobile accident. The appellants argue that there was no enforceable settlement agreement, because there was no "tender" of the settlement amount and the insurance company "made a counteroffer, not an acceptance." However, the court finds that "the rule of tender found in Baucum is inapplicable" and that there was an agreement based on the demand letter and subsequent email. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Breedlove, Filed On: April 3, 2024, Case #: 05-23-00181-CV, Categories: insurance, Settlements, tort
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that the lower court properly found for the insurer, ruling that it is not obligated to provide supplementary uninsured/underinsured motorists coverage under an insurance policy. The insurer is not obligated to provide supplementary uninsured/underinsured motorists because the injured bus driver failed to obtain its prior consent to a settlement with the driver responsible for the accident. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: February 28, 2024, Case #: 00998, Categories: insurance, tort, Contract
J. Lopez partially grants both the Uber passenger and Uber's insurer's motions for summary judgment in an uninsured-motorist suit with additional defamation claims. The passenger's tortious breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, tort, and defamation claims against Uber's insurer are dismissed, as is his claim for unfair claims adjustment practices. His claims for bad-faith or contractual breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and breach of contract claims against the insurer and tort claims against the two uninsured drivers survive, as do the insurer's crossclaims against the drivers. Uber's insurer's crossclaim against the passenger's insurer is dismissed, while the passenger's insurer's claim against Uber's insurer is maintained.
Court: USDC Puerto Rico, Judge: Lopez, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 3:20cv1074, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: insurance, tort
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J. Crenshaw denies the defendant trucking company's motion to dismiss for improper venue or, alternatively, to transfer venue. The plaintiff insurance company seeks a declaratory judgment regarding its duty to defend or indemnify the company in an underlying state court case. The incident at issue in the underlying case allegedly occurred at a truck stop in Tennessee, and the case is "pending in Tennessee state court."
Court: USDC Middle District of Tennessee , Judge: Crenshaw, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv1059, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: insurance, tort, Venue
J. Rios upholds the trial court's award of attorney fees to an insured on his action against State Farm for underinsured motorist coverage. Although the jury's award was less than State Farm's pre-suit settlement offer, the insured was still successful on his claim, and "[t]o hold otherwise would effectively penalize [the insured] for declining to accept" the offer. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Rios, Filed On: February 2, 2024, Case #: 04-22-00113-CV , Categories: insurance, tort, Attorney Fees
J. Seeley finds the lower court properly found for an insurer and denied the policyholders' request for coverage under their home and umbrella policies in a car collision case. The injuries sustained by the passenger in the vehicle driven by the policyholders' son while intoxicated could not have occurred without the son's operation of a motor vehicle, and the policies at issue contain exclusions for non-covered vehicles. Affirmed.
Court: Connecticut Court Of Appeals, Judge: Seeley, Filed On: December 1, 2023, Case #: AC45933, Categories: insurance, tort, Contract
J. Brunner finds the administrative law judge properly granted the policyholder's discovery request for documents that would have been excluded in a contract action. The bad faith claim asserted by the policyholder against the insurer is a tort action independent of the insurance contract between the parties and allowed the judge to apply Ohio law in his choice of law analysis. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Supreme Court, Judge: Brunner, Filed On: November 1, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3921, Categories: insurance, tort, Choice Of Law
J. Soto finds a lower court did not err in denying an insurance company’s efforts to intervene in a personal injury lawsuit brought against an oil services company by workers who said they were injured in an explosion. The insurer cannot show a lower court abused its discretion by denying its intervention because the insurer’s question of whether it has a duty to indemnify the oil company can be determined “if and when a judgment is entered” against the oil company.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: October 31, 2023, Case #: 08-23-00223-CV, Categories: Civil Procedure, insurance, tort
J. Tostrud largely denies the insurer's motions for summary judgment in its suit seeking a judgment that it is not obligated to defend the insured order of Catholic priests against claims that one of their members sexually abused children, and grants the order's motions to join some of those children's responses to the insurer's motions for summary judgment. While two alleged abuse victims are not entitled to coverage under the insurer's policies since they did not suffer a "bodily injury" required to trigger coverage, two others did suffer such injuries and therefore coverage is not precluded. A reasonable juror also could find that the order did not know that the priest was likely to engage in abusive behavior prior to the incidents potentially covered by the policy.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tostrud, Filed On: October 24, 2023, Case #: 0:20cv2261, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: insurance, tort
J. Miller finds that the trial court improperly granted summary judgment and dismissed the motorist's claims against the insurer of a driver who allegedly caused an auto accident. The insurer did not establish that the policy holder "had the intent to deceive" when he said in the application that the vehicle would be located in Texas as opposed to Louisiana. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Miller, Filed On: October 18, 2023, Case #: 2023CA0157, Categories: insurance, tort, Choice Of Law
Per curiam, the Fifth Circuit finds the district court properly granted the offshore oil and gas business’ motion for summary judgment in Lloyds’ intervenor complaint seeking to recover maintenance and cure benefits paid to an injured seaman. Lloyds is responsible for payments under a protection and indemnity policy under which the business is an assured. Because the vessel upon which the injury occurred was engaged in its “intended operations” at the time of the injury and the limitation on the waiver of subrogation does not apply, Lloyds waived its subrogation rights. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: October 13, 2023, Case #: 22-30371, Categories: insurance, Maritime, tort
J. Kleeh grants the insurance carrier’s motion for summary judgment in the complaint an employee of a business client seeks to declare the carrier is obligated to compensate him above the $300,000 per accident coverage for the uninsured and underinsured motorist claim he submitted for the injuries he sustained on May 4, 2021, when was he was knocked unconscious after a motorist driving southbound on Interstate 79 in Braxton County failed to stop in time, and collide with the overturned vehicle that barrel rolled from the northbound lane while he was rendering aid to the driver. The court finds since the employee parked the company vehicle on the shoulder of the southbound lane and exited it to aid the driver of the overturned vehicle, he does not qualify as an “insured” under the carrier’s policy, as he was not occupying the vehicle at the time of the collision. All other pending motions denied as moot.
Court: USDC Northern District of West Virginia, Judge: Kleeh, Filed On: September 27, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv14, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: insurance, tort, Business Practices
J. Murphy finds the circuit court properly granted summary judgment to the insurance company in this dispute over coverage for a traffic accident caused by a drunk driver with a suspended license who was not named on the insurance policy. The policy exclusion stating that the company does not provide liability coverage for injury or damage “caused by or in any way arising out of operation, maintenance or use of a vehicle by a … person who does not possess a valid, in-force operator’s license,” is properly characterized as unambiguous. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Murphy, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: CV-22-499, Categories: insurance, tort, Vehicle
J. Colloton finds a lower court improperly granted summary judgment in favor of a civilian who was injured after a City employee hit him with a vehicle. The civilian argued that the City's insurance policy covered up to $2 million in damages for injuries he suffered. However, the insurance company sufficiently showed in court that the policy limits for his recovery was $500,000. Reversed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Colloton, Filed On: August 25, 2023, Case #: 22-2769, Categories: insurance, tort, Contract
J. DeLort finds the circuit court properly denied the worker’s request to satisfy the balance of the interest owed by the insurance company out of workers’ compensation lien funds which were held by counsel in escrow pursuant to a court order in this complex personal injury dispute arising from the worker’s injury during the construction of a Walmart. Using insight derived from case law "not squarely on point," the court observes that employers have “no legal right to a portion of the [post-judgment] interest awarded to [the plaintiff] that accrued between the date of the judgment and the date the judgment was satisfied.” There is no authority to grant the worker's request on this point. The appeals court reverses, though, on the date of the accrual of interest. Affirmed in part. Reversed in part.
Court: Illinois Appellate Court, Judge: DeLort, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 1-22-0900, Categories: insurance, tort, Workers' Compensation
J. Nunley refuses to find for an insurer on several individuals’ claims arising from a UIM coverage dispute. There are genuine issues of fact regarding their claims for punitive damages, bad faith, breach of contract and elder abuse.
Court: USDC Eastern District of California, Judge: Nunley, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv2215, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: insurance, tort, Contract
J. Kocoras partially grants the defendant insurance company’s motion for summary judgment on defamation, damages and intentional tort claims brought by the plaintiff insurance broker. The company blamed the broker for failing to add one of its trucking company clients’ trucks to a list of insured vehicles, leading to internal financial and legal disputes as to whose fault it was that the truck wasn’t properly insured after it was in an accident. One of the broker’s experts later claimed that the insurance company’s accusation reduced the broker’s sale price to a larger insurance group by $1.1 million. The court finds factual disputes make summary judgment on the broker’s defamation and intentional tort claims inappropriate, but it partially grants the insurance company’s motion to toss the broker’s damages claims.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Kocoras, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 1:19cv3188, NOS: Assault, Libel, & Slander - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: insurance, tort, Damages
J. Humphreys finds the lower court improperly granted a tortfeasor’s motion to mark judgment satisfied. Judgment was awarded to the insured, and the insured’s insurance company waived its right to subrogation against the tortfeasor if he would proceed to trial, which he did. The tortfeasor’s insurance paid $50,000 per the terms of his insurance coverage, and the insured’s insurance company paid the remaining balance via the insured’s underinsured motorist coverage, but that does not mean that the tortfeasor has paid off the judgment, it just means that the insured collected per the terms of the underinsured motorist coverage that the insured elected to purchase. The amount collected under that coverage is not a credit toward the balance of the judgment; the tortfeasor is still obligated to pay the balance. Reversed.
Court: Virginia Court Of Appeals, Judge: Humphreys, Filed On: August 8, 2023, Case #: 1100-22-1, Categories: insurance, tort, Damages
J. Higginson finds the trial court properly entered judgment in favor of Liberty Mutual in this insurance dispute brought by the car-auction company alleging that Liberty must defend it in a South Carolina lawsuit. That lawsuit alleges that vehicle storage has damaged adjacent properties. That certain of the property owners’ alleged damages are caused by pollutants is clear, and an unambiguous policy “pollution exclusion” applies. If evidence shows that “cloudy water” was caused only by sand and sediment, then the pollution exclusion may not apply and Liberty may still be obligated to indemnify. Affirmed in part. Reversed in part and remanded.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Higginson, Filed On: July 31, 2023, Case #: 21-10938, Categories: insurance, Property, tort
J. Wiener finds the district court properly granted the insurance companies’ motion to dismiss Weyerhaeuser’s suit seeking defense and indemnification from personal injury suits arising from formaldehyde exposure from a fire-retardant coating used according to its agreement with the coating manufacturer. The agreement only provides defense and indemnity for claims arising out of the coating manufacturer’s own fault and does not evidence a clear intent to benefit third parties. The benefit is intended for the “Named Insured” — the manufacturer — when it owes damages under an insured contract. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Wiener, Filed On: July 14, 2023, Case #: 22-30164, Categories: insurance, tort, Negligence
J. Khalsa denies summary judgment to a driver who was beat up by another motorist after his car was intentionally hit by that motorist. The driver is seeking uninsured motorist coverage for the serious injuries he suffered. Genuine factual disputes exist as to whether the injuries arose from the operation, maintenance or use of the attacking driver’s vehicle.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Khalsa, Filed On: July 12, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv370, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: insurance, tort, Assault
J. Copperhite grants a lawyer representing an insurance company her motion to dismiss allegations of fraud brought by a tractor trailer driver following an accident in which he was injured. The driver’s initial medical examination for workers’ compensation was inaccurate and based on someone with the same name. However, when the doctor reexamined him, he got the same results and the driver received permanent partial disability benefits. He wanted more benefits based on a supposedly worsening condition but was not approved. Although the driver claimed they used the wrong medical records, the insurance company representing his employer and the lawyer used the correct records when arguing their case.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Copperhite, Filed On: July 11, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv359, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: insurance, tort, Workers' Compensation