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California residents were not spared from disaster in 2018. Instead, devastating wildfires continued, which included the biggest and most devastating wildfires to ever ravage California. The continued disasters were more frequent and begun much earlier during California’s prolonged dry period. The number and size of the wildfires along with insurance carriers’ claim handling have brought insurance issues to the legislature and governor’s attention. This has resulted in new laws benefitting policyholders. Some of the important…
Between 2010 and 2016, the number of shareholder appraisal actions filed in Delaware courts increased every year, but in 2017 and again in 2018, the number of appraisal actions declined, according to a recent report from Cornerstone Research. The decline arguably is a result of recent Delaware Supreme Court decisions in which the court reversed lower court rulings holding that the fair value exceeded the deal price and instead indicated that the deal price should…
The United States District Court for the Central District of California, applying California law, has held that an insurer was not entitled to summary judgment in full, finding that triable issues of fact remained regarding the insurer’s alleged failure to provide an immediate defense to the insured corporation and to assign separate counsel for an insured director.  Celerity Educ. Grp. v. Scottsdale Ins. Co., 2019 WL 430497 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 4, 2019).…
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Resources for the Claims Professional For the insurance industry to survive and profit it is absolutely necessary that it maintains a staff of insurance claims professionals who can read, understand and apply the terms and conditions of the insurance policy, treat all insureds and claimants fairly and in good faith, and keep all of the promises made by the insurance policy. In addition the insurance claim professional must be able to recognize and defeat attempts…
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No Policy in Effect No Coverage Employer provided life insurance under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) usually requires that the employee actually work for the employer before the employer provided life insurance benefit comes into effect. If you die before it comes into effect there is no policy and no coverage regardless of the hardship the lack of coverage places on the beneficiary. In Pamela M. Morgan-Lapp v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co.,…
Here is a preview of the February 2019 issue of the Miss. Jury Verdict Reporter: $2 million verdict- Hinds County car wreck case reported here (2/7/19); $968,000 verdict- George County uninsured motorist case (1/31/19); $2.5 million verdict (15% fault)- Hinds County medical malpractice verdict reported here (1/18/19); $350,000 verdict- Jackson federal court civil rights verdict reported here (1/16/19); historic Mississippi jury verdicts- there is an interesting section on a 1984 Holmes County verdict and 1971…
In a February 14, 2019 order, Southern District of California Judge Gonzalo Curiel entered an order reversing his earlier decision on the same issue and concluding that the digital tokens offered by cryptocurrency company Blockvest LLC represented “securities” within the meaning of the federal securities laws. In the following guest post, John Reed Stark, President of John Reed Stark Consulting and former Chief of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement, takes a look at Judge…
He Jing, Jerry Xia February 3 was the deadline for the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China to accept the public comments on the new version of the proposed Draft Amendments to the Patent Law (“the Draft”).  This new draft is the result of the first reading at the end of December by the standing committee.  The 2nd reading of the Draft is expected to be in April 2019.  The final version…
Resources for the Claims Professional For the insurance industry to survive and profit it is absolutely necessary that it maintains a staff of insurance claims professionals who can read, understand and apply the terms and conditions of the insurance policy, treat all insureds and claimants fairly and in good faith, and keep all of the promises made by the insurance policy. In addition the insurance claim professional must be able to recognize and defeat attempts…