Any Insurance Law Attorney knows the heart of the law regarding bad faith insurance is found in the Texas Insurance Code. Other sources include the Texas Department of Insurance and the Texas Administrative Code, among other sources. The Texas Insurance Code, Chapter 541, defines and prohibits unfair and deceptive insurance…
As has been discussed before, insurance companies would rather litigate cases in Federal Court instead of State Court. The reasons are numerous. One way to stay out of Federal Court is to defeat diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. Section 1332(a). This is most commonly done by suing a local adjuster…
Here is a situation almost never seen. It involves a case out of the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. It is styled, William M Arrington, Individually, as Beneficiary, and as Representative of the Estate of William L. Arrington v. Jackson National Life Insurance Company, Danny C. Burba, and Gordon…
Many times an insurance agent makes mistakes and those mistakes cost his customer, the insured. An experienced Insurance Law Attorney should be able to recognize when an agent violates a duty he owes to his customer. There are arguably several duties that exist for insurance agents in Texas, among them:…
What is the value of a claim? That is always the question. Just how much can be recovered depends on lots of factors. The Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, had a case recently wherein the insurance company filed suit in the Federal Court and the defendant tried to have…
A Fort Worth Federal Judge dismissed a lawsuit on October 11, 2018, wherein the claimant was suing his insurance company for it’s denial of a hail and windstorm damage claim. The case is out of the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division. The style of the case is, University…
For Experienced Insurance Lawyers, the question of who has the burden of proof is made clear by Texas case law. (Not) Pursuant to the 1994, San Antonio Court of Appeals opinion, Telepak v. United Serv. Auto. Ass’n., the insured has the initial burden of proof as to damages covered by…
Insurance lawyers will often get calls wherein the person on the other end of the line is explaining to the lawyer that his insurance company wants to perform an examination under oath (EUO) of them before going any further with the claim. And the question is, “Do I have to…
Many property insurance policies contain appraisal clauses. These clauses define a process for appraising the value of the damaged property, if the parties cannot agree. Common provisions call for each party to choose an appraiser. Those appraisers then chose a neutral third appraiser, called an umpire. If the parties or…
This time, one of the insurance company games does not involve cheating on a claim, rather it involves they overcharging for auto insurance. The information comes from an Insurance Journal story titled, Lawsuit Says Fargo Executives Knew About Insurance Overcharges. The article tells us that Wells Fargo & Co. executives…