Other Jurisdiction

Insurance Inspections May Be Seen and Heard in Florida

When Ryan and Andrea Gesten’s home suffered a plumbing leak, made a claim with their carrier American Strategic Insurance Company and hired a public adjuster. The public adjuster put ASI on notice he would video and audio record the inspection. ASI appeared as scheduled, objected to the audio recording and, after the insured insisted, the inspection was not completed. ASI brought a declaratory...Read More

Missouri Court Affirms Arbitration Award For Damages For STI Contracted In Vehicle

In M.O. v. Geico General Insurance Company and Government Employees Insurance Company, a Missouri appellate court affirmed the confirmation of a large arbitration award stemming from a claim by a plaintiff that she sustained damages when she contracted HPV while having unprotected sex with her partner in his vehicle. Plaintiff submitted a settlement offer to her partner’s automobile insurer...Read More

Johnny Depp Takes The Stand In A $50 Million Defamation Lawsuit

Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp recently took the stand in a Virginia court in a defamation case against his ex-wife, Amber Heard. Depp is suing Heard for $50 Million dollars over a 2018 Op-Ed she wrote for the Washington Post, where she described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” What is particularly interesting about this suit is that the Op-Ed never...Read More

Remove Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace

In Florida, plaintiffs often ask the state court to grant leave to amend to assert an insurance bad faith claim upon successful conclusion of their breach of policy claim against an insurer. More often than not, the case is more than one-year old when the amendment is made. Under federal diversity of jurisdiction rules, a citizen of one state, who is sued by a citizen of another state in state...Read More

Florida Appellate Court Approves Of Insurer’s Right-to-Repair In Lieu Of Payment Clause

People’s Trust Insurance Company takes an unorthodox approach to homeowner’s insurance, “In return for a premium discount, the [] policy contain a Preferred Contractor Endorsement” which gives “People’s Trust a right-to-repair option, i.e., after inspecting a covered loss, People’s Trust ha the option to select its own contractor to repair the damages to the insureds’ property in...Read More

Alec Baldwin Sued For Wrongful Death Of Cinematographer

In a well-publicized incident which took place in October 2021, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed by actor Alec Baldwin on the set of the movie “Rust.” On February 15, 2022, the Hutchins family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in New Mexico’s 1st Judicial District Court against the movie’s producers and certain cast and crew members, including Alec Baldwin. At the time of the...Read More

Gaming the System: Statutory Claims Under New Jersey’s Expansive Consumer Fraud Act Must Be Arbitrated

Last week, the Federal District Court in New Jersey further reinforced the arbitrability of claims involving the statutory rights of plaintiffs. In Ackies v. Scopely, Inc., 2022 WL 21451 (D.N.J. 2022), a class action complaint was brought against Scopely, Inc., a company that developed an online video game called Star Trek Fleet Command (“STFC”) available for download on Android and Apple...Read More

Florida Appellate Court Approves Of Insurer’s Right-to-Repair In Lieu Of Payment Clause

People’s Trust Insurance Company takes an unorthodox approach to homeowner’s insurance, “In return for a premium discount, the policy contain a Preferred Contractor Endorsement” which gives “People’s Trust a right-to-repair option, i.e., after inspecting a covered loss, People’s Trust ha the option to select its own contractor to repair the damages to the insureds’ property...Read More

Timing is Everything!

In Synergy Contracting v. Fednat Insurance, Case Number 2D21-144 (Fla. 2d DCA December 10, 2021) the insured’s home suffered a covered loss. The insured contracted for repairs with, and assigned its policy benefits to, Synergy Contracting. A dispute arose, and Synergy sued Fednat for breach of contract. Fednat invoked the policy’s appraisal clause, timely paid the $3,795.62 appraisal award and...Read More

Just The Facts Please

Few things are more irritating than having to tell a client, in a first party insurance claim, that it must pay prevailing party attorney’s fees and costs that are two, three, four times or more than that recovered by the insured. This is especially true in Florida where it often seems that excessive, legally unsupported, fee and cost awards are not the exception, but the norm. In Citizens...Read More