On February 2011, David DeVeau was in a car accident in Florida in which Ashly Rierson suffered devastating injuries.  DeVeau was insured by Progressive Select Insurance Company, apparently under a Florida policy that did not include bodily injury coverage.  Rierson sued DeVeau in Florida.  Progressive defended the lawsuit under a reservation of rights.  A jury found in DeVeau’s favor in 2018, but that verdict was vacated on appeal.  The case is scheduled for retrial in…

Many insurers use standard insurance forms and endorsements issued by the Insurance Services Office, or ISO, which is subsidiary of a company called Verisk Analytics.  ISO recently made several changes to its forms and endorsements.  The law firm of Saxe Doernberger & Pita has described the changes here.  As summarized in the Saxe blog post, the changes expand who is an additional insured, especially in the context of construction defect and liquor liability claims. …

On February 19, 2019, an employee of Performance Trans, Inc. (“PTI”) drove a tanker truck off the road in New York.  The truck overturned and spilled 4,300 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel. PTI undertook an emergency response action to clean up the spill.  It sought coverage for its costs in doing so from its insurer, General Star Indemnity Company.  General Star disclaimed coverage on the basis of a total pollution exclusion. Utica Mutual Insurance…

In my last post I discussed how in  Rawan v. Continental Casualty Company (no citation available yet) the SJC upheld the legality of consent-to-settle clauses.  The plaintiffs in Rawan also alleged that Continental Casualty Insurance had violated Mass. Gen. Laws chs. 93A and 176D by its “persistent effort” to hide a report that supported their claim that the insured engineer, Kanayo Lala, had done faulty work, and by its misrepresentation of the applicable policy limits. …

When I was an insurance defense litigator — an attorney hired by insurance companies to represent people who were covered by insurance who had been sued — I was always thrilled to have the rare client who actually cared about the case in which I was representing them.  One of the biggest benefits that liability insurance provides is that if you cause an accident, your insurance takes care of it for you.  You might have…

Agency Checklists has a good summary of the bill, here.  One thing the article notes that I have not seen in more general news reports is that a third offense will result in an insurance surcharge. OK Boomer confessions:  Until recently I had been using a Garmin GPS that sat nicely on my dashboard, except when it slid off into my lap.  When it died I switched to the GPS on my phone, which…

In my last post I was discussing Ricchio v. Bijal, Inc., 2019 WL 6253275 (D. Mass.) (unpublished), a case that addresses insurance coverage for a claim of kidnapping and sex trafficking.  Peerless Indemnity Insurance Company insured Bijal, the owner of Shangri-La Motel.  Plaintiff Lisa Ricchio had been taken to the motel against her will by Clark McLean and imprisoned there, allegedly with the knowledge of Bijal and two of its employees, Ashvinkumar and Sima Patel. …