insurance/bad faith
Representative Cases
- Plaintiff famous rock group had planned a tour of South America which was cancelled due to Covid-19. Plaintiff sued its insurance company for its failure to cover its losses under a concert cancellation, abandonment and non-appearance insurance policy for the tour. Insurance company claimed that coverage was excluded by various policy provisions, including that the cancellation of the tour was not covered because the cancellation was caused by a Communicable Disease, which was a specifically excluded cause of loss.
- Plaintiffs had experienced property damage caused by water intrusion after a storm. Defendant insurance company made certain repairs but claimed that the water intrusion was caused by uncovered wind-driven rain.
- Plaintiff insured sued defendant insurance company for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, based upon defendant’s allegedly late payment of insurance benefits. Defendant claimed that it handled in claim in a reasonable manner and that plaintiff was not damaged.
- Major insurance company sued third party administrator for handling of workers’ compensation claim. Plaintiff was the excess insurance carrier and defendant had approved back surgery for the claimant, who was rendered paraplegic by medical malpractice during surgery. This was a case of first impression regarding whether a third-party administrator had a duty to an excess carrier.
- Insurer issued an insurance policy to major manufacturer which was reinsured by international insurer. A claim was filed on the policy and the insurer notified the international insurer’s broker, which did not respond. Issue of first impression as to whether a company was required to prove to its reinsurer that there was coverage for an underlying claim under a reinsurance contract and that the settlement was reasonable.
- Lawsuits arising from coverage of approximately $7 billion in losses due to Hurricane Katrina. Multiple levels of coverage for multiple properties were at issue.
- Lawsuits arising from a Superfund site in the Inland Empire. Damage occurred over decades and liability alleged against multiple owners and users, with many levels of insurance coverage with policies involving different exclusions and coverage grants over all those years, with many policies missing.
- A $95 million fraud was perpetrated upon thousands of individual investors who believed they were investing in viatical settlements (the purchase of insurance policies of terminally ill people at a discount). In fact, there were no insurance policies. The receiver for the escrow company filed suit against the Escrow Agents’ Fidelity Corporation for coverage of the loss and also acted to recover from all other potential sources, including legal malpractice insurance.
