When two or more uninsured motorist policies apply, a question arises as to whether those policies should pro-rate with each other, or one of the policies should be designated as primary, with the other as excess. This issue was addressed by the Kentucky Supreme Court in Countryway Insurance Co. v. United Financial Casualty Insurance Co., 2016 WL 4488306 (Ky. August 25,…
Recently, the Montana Supreme Court, in a split decision, found that the trial court must utilize an objective standard in considering the value of the claim and the insured’s loss of coverage when it determines the reasonableness of a stipulated settlement entered into by the insured after the insurance company wrongfully denied coverage. In Tidyman’s Management Services, Inc. v. National…
New York has adopted a pro-rata allocation methodology for continuous and progressive losses where coverage for all triggered policies is determined on a time-on-the-risk basis. Recently, the New York Court of Appeals in Keyspan Gas East Corp. v. Munich Reinsurance America, Inc., 143 A.D.3d 86 (Appellate Division, September 1, 2016), found that insurance companies were not required to indemnify the…
Louisiana has recognized a pro rata allocation method for determining indemnification in long latency exposures. However, the Louisiana courts have not resolved the issue of whether defense costs should also be allocated in those type of cases. The Louisiana Supreme Court recently resolved that issue in Arceneaux, et al. v. Amstar Corp., et al., 2016 WL 4699163 (La. September 7,…
By Brett Donaldson, Esq. and John Wittwer, Esq. The Cavanagh Law Firm, PA, Phoenix, AZ Read Full Article Donaldson-Wittwer-ARCP-2018-Amendments
A Beneficiary Deed, in essence, is a “pay on death designation” for real property. It is very useful if you want to leave your house or other real estate to one or two persons upon our death. A Beneficiary Deed avoids probate without giving up any present ownership interest in the property like joint tenants with right of survivorship does.…
In Parker v. Safeco Insurance Co. of America, 2016 WL 3911544 (Mont. July 19, 2016) the issue was whether damage to a vacation cabin from a large boulder that fell down a hillside and into the cabin structure was covered under the Safeco policy. Safeco’s policy contained an earth movement exclusion in which “earth movement” was defined as the “shrinking,…
The Cavanagh Law Firm is pleased to welcome Maryam Naioom as an Associate in the Firm’s Civil Litigation group. Ms. Naioom is a graduate of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and the University of Arizona. Prior to joining Cavanagh, Ms. Naioom was a Judicial Fellow with Chief Judge Michael A. Martinez in the 2nd Judicial District of…
The 2nd Circuit recently found that the sale of counterfeit branded goods was not covered as advertising injury under a commercial general liability policy. In USF&G v. Fendi Adele S.R.L., 823 F.3d 146 (2nd Cir. 2016), applying New York law, upheld the district court’s ruling that the commercial general liability policy issued by USF&G did not cover sales of counterfeit…