New Jersey Insurance Coverage Litigation

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New Jersey Insurance Coverage Litigation

Your life insurance may be illegal

By Gene Killian on June 28, 2019

In Billy Wilder’s 1944 film noir masterpiece, “Double Indemnity,” Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) seduces insurance agent Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) into murdering her husband to collect on his accident policy. (Who knew insurance could be so seedy?) The suspicious and relentless claims adjuster, Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), eventually gets to the bottom of the scheme, and along the way, delivers a great (and hilariously overdramatic) movie speech about the important role his job plays: “Desk…

New Jersey Insurance Coverage Litigation

Don’t take no for an answer on water damage claims

By Gene Killian on May 13, 2019

“Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters.” [Genesis 7:17.] I’m guessing that people didn’t have flood insurance in the times of Genesis. Many people and businesses don’t have it now. The problem is, if water is involved in an insurance claim…

New Jersey Insurance Coverage Litigation

The “reasonable expectations” doctrine in insurance coverage

By Gene Killian on March 12, 2019

There’s a very true old quote about interpreting insurance policies that I (and other policyholder lawyers) like to cite. It goes: “Ambiguity and incomprehensibility seem to be the favorite tools of the insurance trade in drafting policies. Most are a virtually impenetrable thicket of incomprehensible verbosity…The miracle of it all is that the English language can be subjected to such abuse and will remain an instrument of communication.” Universal Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Travelers Ins.…

New Jersey Insurance Coverage Litigation

Insurance coverage for water damage

By Gene Killian on January 16, 2019

The great American humorist and writer Ambrose Bierce (1842-circa 1914) published a famous work called “The Devil’s Dictionary,” in which he provided astute (if sardonic) definitions of many common terms in the English language. Bierce defined “insurance” for example, as “An ingenious modern game of chance in which the player is permitted to enjoy the comfortable conviction that he is beating the man who keeps the table.” I’m thinking of starting “The Devil’s Dictionary: Killian…

New Jersey Insurance Coverage Litigation

D&O Insurance and the “Capacity” Exclusion

By Gene Killian on December 17, 2018

Back in the 80s and 90s, during the environmental insurance coverage wars, each side (insurance companies and policyholders) frequently accused the other of trying to insert imaginary language into insurance policies after losses had happened. Many lawyers put their kids through college arguing about the meaning of the words “sudden” and “accidental,” for example, in the standard-form pollution exclusion. Both sides were fond of quoting from “Alice in Wonderland” in their legal briefs, and particularly…

New Jersey Insurance Coverage Litigation

The discoverability of insurance company claims files

By Gene Killian on October 31, 2018

I once had a coverage case that involved a claim for environmental contamination at a chicken farm. (Yes. A chicken farm. In New Jersey.) When we were able to pry the claim file loose in discovery, we noticed that the carrier had spent a grand total of $24 to investigate the complex pollution claim, which involved millions of dollars in cleanup costs. Using that evidence, we were able to get a well-respected judge to hold…

New Jersey Insurance Coverage Litigation

Measuring the proper amount of business interruption loss

By Gene Killian on September 27, 2018

Earlier this month, I woke up to the sound of sirens and the smell of smoke. My neighbors and friends from around the block suffered a catastrophic fire, and lost their home and all of their belongings, escaping with literally the shirts on their back (and their dogs). Fortunately, no one was injured, but now they have to go through the time-consuming and laborious process of having their insurance claim adjusted. The important thing was…

New Jersey Insurance Coverage Litigation

Arbitration clauses in insurance policies

By Gene Killian on August 28, 2018

In our last post, I talked a bit about the dangers of arbitration clauses in insurance policies. I wanted to continue to develop that topic. Joseph Stalin supposedly once said: “Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.” He was talking about manipulated voting, Soviet-style, not insurance. But one thing’s for sure: Control the procedural “rules” in any endeavor, and you have much more control over the outcome (fairly or unfairly). That’s why, when reviewing…

New Jersey Insurance Coverage Litigation

Appraisal Provisions in Insurance Policies

By Gene Killian on July 18, 2018

According to the American Arbitration Association’s website, “arbitration—the out-of-court resolution of a dispute between parties to a contract, decided by an impartial third party (the arbitrator)—is faster and more cost effective than litigation.” Yeah…don’t be too sure about that. Insurance companies are slipping arbitration clauses into more and more policies, and many of these clauses can make life very difficult for policyholders. Often, the arbitration clauses require disputed claims to be arbitrated before a…

New Jersey Insurance Coverage Litigation

Insurance coverage (or maybe not) for computer fraud

By Gene Killian on May 22, 2018

In the world of insurance, computers are the new “environmental.” Let me explain. Back in the 1980s, the insurance industry, recognizing the magnitude of exposure it faced for environmental liabilities, embarked on a public relations campaign to convince courts and policyholders that no coverage existed for environmental problems under comprehensive general liability insurance policies. (The industry later changed the name of “comprehensive general liability policies” to “commercial general liability policies,” apparently concerned about the way…

New Jersey Insurance Coverage Litigation

Blog Authors

Your life insurance may be illegal

Don’t take no for an answer on water damage claims

The “reasonable expectations” doctrine in insurance coverage

Insurance coverage for water damage

D&O Insurance and the “Capacity” Exclusion

The discoverability of insurance company claims files

Measuring the proper amount of business interruption loss

Arbitration clauses in insurance policies

Appraisal Provisions in Insurance Policies

Insurance coverage (or maybe not) for computer fraud

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