california new auto insurance law

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INSURANCE LAW NEWS

• Insurer Subrogation Against Product Manufacturers
  When an insurance company pays a first-party claim, it ordinarily thought to succeed to the insureds rights as against others who may be responsible for the loss. This is known as subrogation, and virtually all policies expressly provide in the insurance contract that the insureds rights are tra
• Silica Bodily Injury Claims: 'Polluting' the Injured ?
  The California Court of Appeal recently held that bodily injury claims arising from workplace silica exposure were the result of pollution, the coverage for which was barred by an absolute pollution exclusion. Garamendi v. Golden Eagle Ins. Co. (March 9, 2005). Importantly, and a disti
• Contingent Business Interruption Coverage Insuring Against Loss from Ones Dependence on Others
  Business-interruption or business-income coverage protects against the risk that a casualty will affect the insureds on-going ability to make a profit. When a fire damages a facility, the insured has a property loss for the costs of repair and a business-interruption loss from its inability to o
• Better by Fax? Perfecting Coverage under Notice-of-Circumstances Provisions of Claims-Made Policies
  Many claims-made liability-insurance policies have an important extension of coverage that enables a policyholder to lock in coverage in one year the year that a bad situation is discovered that later may produce claims even though claims against the insured arising from the situation are not ma
• Expecting the Run-Around: Juries and Insurance-Coverage Cases
  Over the past few years, we have participated in mock jury exercises in some of our coverage cases for policyholders. These exercises are extremely helpful in preparing for trial. They allow us to road test trial themes and to see what points gain transaction with our mock jury. Mock jury exer
• The Economics of the Property-Casualty Insurance Business (including Reinsurance)
  Warren Buffett annually issues a letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway discussing business developments over the year. As is well known, a significant core of Berkshire Hathaways business is insurance: property-casualty from National Indemnity, auto from GEICO, and reinsurance, espec
• Recoupment of Defense Costs
  The question whether an insurance company that defends its policyholder may recoup the defense-cost payments it made continues to be litigated with divergent results. Most recently, the Illinois Supreme Court and Montana Supreme Court reached opposite conclusions in opinions issued a few weeks a
• Just the Fax: Coverage for Unsolicited Faxes under the TCPA
  It wasnt long ago when junk faxes were the spam about which legislators were concerned. Congress responded in part by passing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227 (TCPA), a statute that has spawned its own cottage industry of lawsuits because of the mandatory liquidated damages
• Denominators and Punitive Damages in Bad-Faith Cases
  In State Farm v. Campbell, which limns the constitutional parameters of awarding punitive damages, the United States Supreme Court in a third-party insurance bad-faith case ruled that in practice, few awards exceeding a single-digit ratio between punitive and compensatory damages, to a s
• D&O Implications of the AIG Mess
  New Yorks Attorney General and Insurance Commissioner have filed a civil complaint against AIG, Maurice Greenberg, and Howard Smith. (A copy of the complaint is available at http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2005/ma
• Accidental Suicide
  Derivative liability for the acts of others is a feature of tort and other liability regimes, and these forms of liability then present insurance-coverage issues in terms of whether the insured seeking coverage is somehow charged with the knowledge of the actor who engaged in the conduct at issue
• Notice this Case
  New York has been one of the last jurisdictions to hold onto the view that a policyholders promise to provide notice to its insurer of occurrence, claim or suit must be performed punctiliously at the risk of complete forfeiture of coverage. Following a relaxing of this rule when insurers themsel
• Its a Crime: Efforts to Constrict the Broad Scope of Fidelity Insurance Coverage
  Companies purchase fidelity-insurance policies to cover them against the risk of loss from employee dishonesty. Fidelity coverage generally is divided into two types: financial fidelity, which covers banks and other financial institutions, and commercial fidelity (or commercial crime coverage),
• Equitas Financial Reports 2005 Version
  As part of the Reconstruction and Renewal of Lloyds in 1996, several Equitas entities were created to serve as the final reinsurer-to-close and to manage the run-off of underwriter liabilities for non-life 1992 and earlier business. On June 7, 2005, Equitas issued a press release on its a
• Mess in Texas -- Insurer Reimbursement of Settlement Payments
  The Texas Supreme Court unanimously has held that an insurer may recover from its own insured monies advanced by the insurer to settle an uncovered liability claim though the justices sharply divided on the rationale. The case, Excess Underwriters at Lloyds, London v. Franks Casing Crew & R