This past Sunday morning I boarded  a plane for Naples, FL for a mediation in one of the labor depreciation class actions my firm is handling.  When I left, I had no idea that when I returned a few days later Nashville would be a very different place.  The storms that pummeled Tennessee on March 2 and 3 will impact our state for decades.  Lives were lost, buildings destroyed, businesses ruined, and churches toppled.  The…

For the past few years, I’ve been involved in several labor depreciation cases around the Southeast, including one right here in Tennessee against Auto-Owners.  The threshold legal question in that case, Lammert et al. v. Auto-Owners Mutual Ins. Co., was whether an insurance company can depreciate the cost of labor when determining its actual cash value payment obligations.  The Supreme Court’s answer was a resounding “No”. The Lammert case was filed as a class action…

In the case of Conley v Tennessee Farmers, the Court of Appeals held that a misrepresentation as to prior foreclosure on an application is sufficient to void coverage as such misrepresentations increased the risk of loss as a matter of law. The Court of Appeals held:…

I draw your attention to the June 25 Tennessee Court of Appeals decision in the case of Dutton v. Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Company which addressed the question of whether misrepresentations made on an initial policy application which unquestionably increased the risk of loss would still operate to void that coverage when multiple renewals of coverage had taken place. Dutton v TN Farmers. The applicants unquestionably made misrepresentations on the policy application which were…

In the case of Jefferson County Schools v. Tennessee Risk Management Trust, et al., No. E2017-01346-COA-R3-CV (decided March 15, 2018) (Jefferson County Schools v. TN Risk Management), the Tennessee Court of Appeals addressed the question of whether a Fire Marshal’s directive qualified as an “ordinance or law” for purposes of insurance coverage. Following a major rainstorm, a building at the Jefferson County High School collapsed.…

Not so fast Mr. Adjuster, my assignment of claim is valid even if the insurance policy says its not.…

We don’t usually post liability related matters on this blog, but every once and a while there is a ruling that warrants mention.  That ruling was issued today by the Tennessee Supreme Court in Dedmon v. Steelman W2015-01462-SC-R11-CV (click on case for full copy of opinion).  While I may disagree with the result, it is an extremely well written opinion from Judge Kirby.  The bottom line is that the Tennessee Supreme Court unanimously held Tennessee…