Articles Posted in General

Insurance law lawyers can tell you to be aware of arbitration clauses in your insurance contract. These usually favor the insurance company. The Austin-American Statesman published an article titled, Consumer Groups Oppose Insurance Company’s Push For Arbitration.

Government and private sector consumer advocates are calling on a state regulator to reject a proposal by Texas Farm Bureau’s insurance division to allow the company to require customers to go to arbitration over policy disputes.

Deeia Beck, head of the state’s Office of Public Insurance Counsel, wrote this week to David Mattax, the state commissioner of insurance, to tell him that arbitration endorsements on homeowner insurance policies can be harmful to Texans, and the Texas Department of Insurance should not approve a proposal by Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Companies.

Texas insurance attorneys should find this article from the Insurance Journal interesting. It is titled, F.I.D.O.’S Dog Bite Liability Insurance Fills Coverage Gap.

When commercial lines insurance agent and dog owner Debbie Turner began to look into help for her difficult dog back in 2000, she had no idea that her journey would end up leading to a new personal lines insurance option.

Now, she believes her new Covered Canine policy could take a bite out of the dog liability insurance marketplace.

Attorneys who handle insurance cases will eventually have a dog bite case they are involved in helping someone with. The Insurance Journal published a story titled, Number of Dog Bite Insurance Claims Falls But Average Claim Rises to $37K. This story is worth reading to keep informed with what is going on in the world of insurance.

The cost of dog-bite claims for U.S. insurers climbed 16 percent last year on higher medical expenses and larger settlements to resolve court disputes.

The average claim increased to $37,214 in 2015 from $32,072 a year earlier, according to the Insurance Information Institute, an industry group. The average in Arizona was $56,654, the highest figure among the 10 states with the most claims. California has the second highest average cost per dog bite claim at $44,983 while New Yok, at $44,320, comes in third.

One of the issues Arlington insurance lawyers have to deal with is hospital liens.

Texas public policy strongly supports hospital liens, and it is important to understand that these liens aren’t just applicable to hospitals; they also operate in the benefit of EMS providers and doctors at teaching hospitals whose bills are not already included in the hospital bill. The right of hospitals and certain other medical providers to be paid from settlement proceeds or a judgment begins with the Hospital Lien Statute, found in Chapter 55 of the Texas Property Code. It olds, in pertinent part, that a lien attaches to “any cause of action, judgment or settlement” received as a result of an accident for which the person was admitted to a hospital within 72 hours of the injury, as well as any hospital to which the injured party subsequently transferred for the same injuries. This is found in at Section 55.002(a),(b). These liens must be filed prior to settlement in order to be valid, and hospital liens are limited to “reasonable and regular” charges within the first 100 days following the injury. Even the attorney representing the injured party may have to wrestle with the hospital for first priority, according to the 1985, Texas Supreme Court case styled, Bashara v. Baptist Memorial Hospital System.

The intent of the Hospital Lien statute was to save lives, by “…inducing hospitals to receive a patient, injured by the negligence of others, by giving the hospital a lien on the claims, suit or settlement of the patient.” This is cited in the 1979, Dallas Court of Appeals opinion styled, Baylor University Medical Center v. Travelers.

Insurance lawyers in Texas might find this article interesting. It was published by the Insurance Journal in April 2016. The title of the story is “Carmakers Want Insurers To Help Boost Compliance With Recalls.” It might not be a bad idea.

Major carmakers want U.S. auto insurance companies to help persuade millions of American car owners to get recalled vehicles fixed.

The new push comes as a U.S. House panel will hold a hearing Thursday on efforts by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to reduce the number of uncompleted vehicle recalls.

Insurance attorneys rarely see an insurance company apologize. What might happen if they did?

In a society that highly values a genuine apology, it is shocking that most in-house counsel and most trial lawyers never even consider whether an apology might be appropriate to resolve a claim or lawsuit. We teach our children to apologize at a very young age. As adults, we are well-versed in giving and receiving apologies with our spouses, coworkers, friends, and families. It seems one week cannot pass without a high-profile celebrity, sports figure, or politician issuing a public apology for some transgression. It seems, however, that the concept of even considering an apology rarely enters the thought process of claim professionals and trial lawyers when evaluating strategic options for dealing with the claims and lawsuits that cross their desks. The absence of any academic discussions within the field of insurance is certainly not because of the lack of psychological and legal work regarding the science of apology. Apology research is as old as the study of rhetoric and it has gained widespread popularity in other disciplines in the last two decades.

Regardless of the relationship or magnitude of the transgression, the first step towards evaluating whether an apology is owed is always self-assessment. As for apologies within a personal relationship, for some people this seems to be very easy and for others very hard. In businesses, it seems to be exceptionally hard.Initially, the group-think of some organizations seems to create a presumption of righteous perfection. It’s exceptionally rare for group assessment to conclude that some kind of wrongdoing occurred and that an apology may be owed. While among some individuals this eemingly arrogant group-think is the result of pride, the greater driving force seems to be fear. Most business leaders fear the implications of an apology. Fundamentally, however, those who both lead companies and the trial bar must be challenged to have a more candid, transparent, and accurate assessment of the shortcomings of any organization, its claim handling, and its litigation decision making. An organization can’t accurately contemplate whether an apology is owed unless it can accurately assess whether something went wrong for which an apology might be owed. As simplistic as this sounds, it is mind boggling how hard it is for many business organizations to make an accurate self-assessment. Needless to say, far more work is needed in our industry to accurately assess when and how to apologize.

Insurance lawyers know that some cases they see involve fraud. The trick for them is to distinguish good cases from bad cases. The Insurance Journal published an article that some would find surprising. The title of the article is, Former Iowa Firefighter Again Pleads Guilty To Insurance Fraud.

A former Iowa firefighter pleaded guilty to insurance fraud related to a string of cases spanning Buchanan, Clayton and Delaware counties, the Iowa Department of Insurance reported.

Terry Russell Groth, a former Strawberry Point firefighter, entered the plea on Feb. 16, 2016. It’s third conviction for Groth related to these cases.

Insurance attorneys need to understand what can be done when an insurance company files for bankruptcy. To start with, when an insurance company becomes insolvent they do not file for bankruptcy, they become “insolvent.”

Companies that write insurance policies in Texas are heavily regulated, and the Texas Legislature has provided numerous safeguards to protect the public against an insurance company becoming insolvent. These regulations can be found in Title 4 of the Texas Insurance Code and Section 642.105 of the Texas Transportation Code. In connection with these statutory safeguards, there are additional safeguards there are further protections Section 1952 of the Texas Insurance Code. As an adjunct to this requirement, the Texas Property and Casualty Insurance Act provides further protection for the public against failure of licensed insurance companies as a result of insolvency.

The Act creates a Guaranty Association for the purpose of paying unpaid claims, including those of third-party liability claimants that arise out of and are within the insured’s coverage, but not in excess of the insured’s applicable policy limits. Covered claims are limted to $300,000.00 in value.