Court of Appeals Affirms Evidentiary Privilege Protection of Insured-Insurer in Bad Faith Litigation
Zurich American Ins. Co. v. Circle Centre Mall, LLC 2018 WL 5813048 (Ind. Ct. App. 2018) In Indiana, there have not been many cases addressing the discoverability of insurance claim materials. In the case of Zurich American Ins. Co. v. Circle Centre Mall, LLC, the Court of Appeals addressed a number of evidentiary privileges in […]
Florida Supreme Court Reinstates Bad Faith Verdict Against Insurer Despite Its Offer of Insured Policy Limits Within Nine (9) Days of Accident
Harvey v. GEICO Gen. Ins. Co. 2018 WL 4496566 (Fla. 2018) Normally, the authors of this newsletter do not present cases from other jurisdictions. However, a recent Florida Supreme Court decision determining that an insurance company engaged in bad faith despite its tender of its insured’s policy limits within nine days of an accident is […]
Indiana Court of Appeals Holds That Insured’s Two Wrongs Were One “Occurrence”
Auto-Owners Ins. Co. v. Long, 2018 WL 5575178 (Ind. Ct. App. 2018) Commercial general liability (“CGL”) policies provide coverage for property damage and bodily injury caused by an “occurrence” (an accident), and the available limit of coverage is usually tied to the number of “occurrences.” Because the number of “occurrences” can affect, among other things, […]
Federal District Court Addresses Whether Liability Insurance Coverage Existed for College Student’s Sexual Assault Claims Against Fellow Student
AYALA v. BUTLER UNIV. 2018 WL 5044678 (S.D.Ind. 2018) On April 18-19, 2015, a male Butler college student engaged in sexual activity with a female college student, who had advised her friend that she was going back to her dormitory room instead of going to the male college student’s room. The friend of the female […]
Indiana Court of Appeals Determines That Named Insured Cannot Recover Uninsured Motorist Coverage While Riding as a Passenger in His Own Vehicle
PROGRESSIVE SOUTHEASTERN INS. CO. v. SMITH 2018 WL 4905966 (Ind. Ct. App. 2018) Smith possessed an insurance policy with Progressive for his pick-up truck. Smith and a friend, Clayton, attended an event together. Upon leaving, Smith gave Clayton permission to drive Smith’s pick-up truck. Clayton lost control of the truck resulting in serious personal injuries […]
Court of Appeals Determines That Insurance Agent Lacked Legal Duty to Motorist Injured in Automobile Accident With Customer Who Sought Insurance Coverage From the Agent
In a case involving an unfortunate set of facts, multiple Plaintiffs were injured in a serious automobile accident and sought to impose a legal duty upon the negligent driver’s insurance agency (“Agency”). The Court of Appeals rejected that argument and found that no duty was owed by the Agency to the injured motorist. The Agent was […]
