For an insurance attorney to know the insurance adjuster did something wrong when it comes to a lawsuit is not good enough. When filing a lawsuit, the allegations of wrongdoing by the adjuster must be properly alleged in the lawsuit papers. This is illustrated in the Southern District, Corpus Christi…
A 1994, Texas Supreme Court opinion styled, Chicago Title Ins. Co. v. McDaniel, is a case that says title insurance is different than your normal insurance. This is a summary judgment case in favor of the insurer. This Court affirmed the finding in favor of Chicago Title. In September 1983,…
Texas Insurance Code, Section 541.060(a)(1), says it can be bad faith for an insurer to misrepresent to a claimant a material fact or policy provision relating to a coverage issue. The 1990, Texas Supreme Court opinion, Black v. Victoria Lloyds Ins. Co., provides some guidance on this topic. Wood Brothers…
Texas Insurance Code, Section 541.060(a)(7) requires an insurance carrier to conduct a reasonable investigation when refusing to pay a claim. The Texas Supreme Court 2009, opinion styled, Tex. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Morris, found there was sufficient evidence to support finding the insurance carrier refused to pay a claim without…
An inconsistent investigation and the insurance company relying on it is bad faith according to the 1988, Dallas Court of Appeals opinion, Harco Nat’l Ins. Co. v. Villanueva. The owner of a truck reported the theft of the truck to his insurance company, Harco. Harco’s investigator stated that he saw…
An insurance company may breach its duty of good faith and fair dealing by failing to reasonably investigate a claim. As an example, in the 1997, Texas Supreme Court opinion, Universe Life Ins. Co. v. Giles, the insurer could not escape liability merely by failing to investigate the claim so…
As was stated in the 1997, Texas Supreme Court opinion, Universe Life Ins. Co. v. Giles, an insurer violates its duty of good faith and fair dealing by denying or delaying payment of a claim if the insurer knew or should have known that its liability was reasonably clear. However,…
The standard of bad faith was originally phrased in the negative under the 1988, Texas Supreme Court case, Aranda v. Insurance Co. of N. Am. Under that case, the first element of bad faith required an objective determination of whether a reasonable insurer under similar circumstances would have denied plaintiff’s …
The Insurance Code sections and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act were adopted together in 1973, as part of a package to reform legislation, are interrelated, and incorporate each other. Texas Insurance Code, Section 541.008 says the Insurance Code provisions are to be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying…
Insurance attorneys know that Section 541.051 broadly prohibits making any statement misrepresenting the terms of a policy, or the benefits, advantages, or dividends of a policy, making misrepresentations about the financial condition of an insurer, misrepresenting the true nature of any policy or class of policies, or making any misrepresentation…