The Georgia Supreme Court recently held that diminution in value of real property is potentially covered under a property insurance policy in addition to the cost of repairs. See Royal Capital Development LLC v. Maryland Casualty Company, No. S12Q0209, 2012 Ga. LEXIS 501 (Ga. May 29, 2012). This type of diminution in value potentially
Property Insurance
New Underwriting Class Action Against Allstate Alleges Overvaluation of Homes
In February, there was a new class action filed against Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, Florida’s property insurer of last resort, alleging that it was using Xactware’s 360Value software to purportedly overvalue homes and charge inflated premiums. This week, Allstate was sued in a putative nationwide class action in Illinois federal court making claims on…
Tornado Damage Claims Lead to Class Actions Against Insurance Companies in Alabama
Hurricane Katrina resulted in a slew of property insurance class actions. While hopefully the U.S. will not see a disaster of that scale again for decades, recent years have brought a large number of smaller-scale catastrophes, most notably tornadoes, such as the ones that hit Joplin, Missouri, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 2011. Recent years have…
Recent Property & Casualty Class Action Decisions – Part One
There have been an unusually large number of significant decisions in insurance class actions over the last couple of weeks. I will not be able to discuss all of them in detail but thought you would like to have shorter summaries of them. Here is the first installment regarding recent P&C class action decisions:
- Folks
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Class Action on Valuations Using Xactware’s 360Value Filed Against Florida Citizens Insurance, With More Cases Reportedly To Follow
This week there has been some buzz in the insurance industry media and Florida media about a new class action filing against Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state-sponsored property insurer of last resort in Florida, and Xactware Solutions, Inc. The case, Freitas v. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, was filed in the Circuit Court of…
Property Insurance Class Action on Polybutylene (PB) Pipes Against State Farm: Partial Summary Judgment in Favor of Class Is Recommended
A recent report and recommendation by a federal magistrate judge in Arizona recommends that partial summary judgment be granted in favor of a certified class of insureds, in a property insurance class action involving polybutylene (PB) plumbing. Given this result, other insurance companies might see new “piggyback” class action filings on this issue, which potentially…
Insurance Bad Faith Class Action: Louisiana Supreme Court Reinstates $92 Million Verdict
The hot topic in the insurance class action world this week is the Louisiana Supreme Court’s decision, by a 4-3 vote, to reinstate a $92 million verdict against Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state-sponsored insurer of last resort, in a bad faith class action. Remarkably, Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon (who was just recently…
Overhead and Profit Class Action: Alabama Supreme Court Reverses Class Certification
A hot issue in recent years in property insurance class actions, an issue I’ve defended a number of cases on, is general contractor overhead and profit. The issue is under what circumstances insurance companies are required to include in their estimates on property damage claims a fee for the services of a general contractor. For…
Recent New Insurance Class Actions Involving Use of Staff Counsel, Wildfire Claims, and Depreciation on Auto Claims
Several notable recent class action filings against insurers have come across my desk (or computer screen) and seem worthy of interest to readers of this blog. I will summarize and comment briefly on them. If you’d like a copy of any of the complaints, just e-mail me.
- Use of Staff Counsel: In Golden
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Hurricane Irene: As Insurance Companies Prepare to Adjust Claims, How Can They Reduce Bad Faith and Class Action Exposure?
As Hurricane Irene takes aim at New York and Connecticut (where I live), and the rest of the mid-Atlantic and New England, insurers are preparing to deploy their catastrophe teams and/or independent adjuster teams to handle claims in a region that has not been impacted by a hurricane in a number of years. An…