Attorneys Courtney Britt and Bill Bulfer wrote the North Carolina Chapter in the Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Compendium published by the Defense Research Institute. The compendium surveys insurance law and practices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It focuses on claims handling and timing issues, providing references to applicable…
Plaintiffs’ waterfront home was damaged during Hurricane Irene in August of 2011. After the storm, Plaintiffs made a claim under a flood insurance policy issued by Allstate Insurance Company (“Allstate”) under the National Flood Insurance Program. Following inspections of the property by engineers hired by both Allstate and Plaintiffs, Allstate denied the claim. FEMA upheld…
A federal court in West Virginia has reviewed what constitutes a substitute auto in the context of a commercial auto policy. The owner of JRH Trucking, Ltd., James Herrington, contacted a mechanic to service one of the company’s coal trucks. The mechanic drove a flatbed truck to JRH’s facility, but was unable to complete the…
A federal court in North Carolina recently ruled that homeowner-defendants in a declaratory judgment action sufficiently pled a counterclaim for bad faith against their insurer. The homeowners filed a claim with their insurer after their residence suffered water damage while they were out of the country. The insurer denied the claim after it determined that…
Last week was the one-year anniversary of Harleysville Mut. Ins. Co. v. Hartford Cas. Ins. Co., 2015 WL 859586 (E.D.N.C. Feb. 27, 2015), in which the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina required five insurers to equally contribute to the defense of a mutual insured in connection with three underlying…
In recent discussions with clients regarding the development of professional liability coverage, I was asked whether we would be “better off” with eroding limits coverage. That question sparked an interesting discussion about the value of eroding limits in cases where defense costs represent the majority of exposure and the impact that eroding limits can have…
Teague Campbell is now able to provide coverage counsel in North Carolina, South Carolina & Tennessee.
Last week, automakers and the US government reached an agreement on ways to improve safety, including warding off cyber-attacks in the ever-increasing number of Internet-connected vehicles and supporting the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles. This collaborative approach by regulators and industry leaders highlights the overlap between automobile liability, cyber security, and autonomous vehicles.
Stoms v. Federated Service Ins. Co., __ A.3d __, 2015 WL 6153403 (2015) On November 3, 2012, David Stoms (hereinafter “Decedent”) was returning from a family outing driving a vehicle owned by his employer, Diamond Motor. Decedent was struck by an uninsured driver and killed. At the time of the accident, Decedent was employed as…
Bartkowiak v. Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London, __ N.E.3d __, 2015 IL App (1st) 133549 (Ill. August 13, 2015) In 2009, a truck delivering road-surfacing materials struck and killed plaintiff’s husband. The insured was a truck broker that assigned the job to the at fault truck driver. The insured was named on the truck driver’s automobile liability…