A Fort Worth life insurance attorney will want to know the best way to handle a situation where death benefits are denied a beneficiary. The Texas Tribune ran an article that shows how bad some situations can be. Here is what the article says.
Crystal Davis was headed to the grocery store when the text message popped up on her phone. It was from her next-door neighbor.
“Can you come home?” it said. “Something has happened.”
Fort Worth insurance lawyers will see some pretty tragic situations where a person is ill treated by an insurance carrier. The Texas Tribune ran a story talking about tragic situations in July 2014. The title of the story is, “After Catastrophic Fall, The Fight Of One Worker’s Life.” Here is what it tells us.
Along a street lined with warehouses on the east side of Houston, nine Mexican laborers working about 20 feet off the ground are tearing up a concrete roof with hand-made pick axes.
They are chiseling it out, one mattress-sized panel at a time, then shoving the debris onto the floor below. There’s a giant pile of rubble down there, a jumble of dirty insulation, tar-covered roof decking and fire-suppression water pipes ripped from the building’s interior.
Dallas life insurance attorneys will run across tragic situations in their legal practice. The Texas Tribune has published an article describing some of these situations. It is titled, “Behind Texas Miracle, A Broken System For Workers.” Here is what it tells us.
Drive almost anywhere in the vast Lone Star State and you will see evidence of the “Texas miracle” economy that policymakers like Gov. Rick Perry can’t quit talking about.
From the largest U.S. refinery in Port Arthur to the storied Permian Basin in West Texas, Big Oil is back. In formerly depressed South Texas, gas flares from the fracking boom can be seen from outer space.
Attorneys handling insurance cases will run into situations dealing with “loss of use” claims. The Waco Court of Appeals issued an opinion in June of 2014, that is worth reading. The style of the case is, American Alternative Insurance Corporation v. Robert Davis and J & D Towing, LLC. Here is relevant information from that case.
The crux of this case involves whether a chattel owner should be compensated for measurable loss-of-use damages suffered when the owner’s chattel is totally destroyed and the owner is unable to replace the chattel or obtain a substitute immediately. The dispute arises from an automobile accident between Robert Davis and Cassandra Brueland that occurred in Huntsville, Texas on December 29, 2011. At the time of the accident, Davis was driving a wrecker owned by his business, J & D. It is undisputed that Brueland was at fault for the accident and that the wrecker was rendered a total loss and unusable as a result of the accident. The only issue submitted to the jury pertained to J & D’s damages for the loss of use of its wrecker.
At trial, Davis testified that the wrecker in question was a 2002 Dodge 3500 with an 806 Vulcan wheel-lift unit on the rear. Davis stated that this was J & D’s only wrecker. Davis did not replace the wrecker until the second week of March 2012 because he claimed that he was financially unable to purchase a replacement wrecker.
Insurance law attorneys will one day see a claim wherein the insurance company is denying a fire loss by asserting that the fire was the result of arson by the homeowner. The Houston Court of Appeals [14th Dist.] issued an opinion in a case wherein that denial occurred. The style of the case is, American Risk Insurance Company, Inc. v. Ahmad Abousway and Ibrahim Abousway. Here is the relevant information from that case.
Ahmad and Ibrahim Abousway had a homeowner insurance policy with American Risk Insurance Company, Inc., insuring a home the two brothers bought together in early 2008. The policy included coverage for fire loss. Following a 2010 fire that rendered the home uninhabitable, the Abousways submitted a claim for losses under the policy. American Risk hired a fire expert to investigate the fire. Based on his findings, American Risk refused payment of the claim until further investigation had concluded.
The Abousways sued American Risk, asserting claims for breach of contract and violations of chapters 541 and 542 of the Texas Insurance Code. American Risk answered the suit, asserting that the fire was an act of arson, thereby voiding the policy. The case was tried to the bench.
Texas insurance law lawyers need to be able to calculate how the Prompt Payment Act when calculating damages. A 2008, Fort Worth Court of Appeals case is good to read for guidance. The style of the case is, GuideOne Lloyds Insurance Company v. First Baptist Church of Bedford. Here is some of the relevant information.
First Baptist brought suit against GuideOne for hail damage to the roof of its church building. GuideOne’s engineer concluded the roof had to be replaced and could not be repaired. GuideOne solicited an estimate to repair the roof anyway, and the church obtained an estimate for the replacement cost, including a statutorily required insulation upgrade. GuideOne agreed to pay only its repair estimate and did not include any cost for the required insulation upgrade. The jury awarded the church approximately $286,000 for the covered losses, $60,000 in damages on the church’s bad faith claim, and $30,000 in compensatory and $55,000 in exemplary damages for a knowing violation, along with $100,000 in attorneys’ fees, and $188,000 based on the 18% interest penalty under the Prompt Pay Act for untimely payment of claims. The jury found that GuideOne had made an unconditional tender of $155,000 to the church after the church had filed suit. GuideOne argued that the trial court erred in disregarding the jury’s finding regarding its unconditional offer and that the interest penalty should not have been calculated without subtracting the $155,000 that the jury found it had unconditionally offered after the suit was filed. GuideOne also challenged certain questions on the jury charge as erroneous.
This appeals court held the trial court erred in disregarding the jury’s finding that GuideOne had unconditionally offered $155,000 to settle the claim because there was some evidence to support the jury’s finding. In applying the offer to arrive at a new interest calculation, the court applied the $155,000 tender first to the accrued prejudgment interest on the amount of the coverage with the balance applied the principle coverage amount owed, and then use the adjusted principle to calculate the 18% interest penalty for untimely payment. The court rejected GuideOne’s argument that First Baptist had not received a finding on the accrual date for its Prompt Pay claim because the accrual date was undisputed and need not be submitted to the jury.
Texas insurance law attorneys need to keep up with what is happening in the world of insurance. The Washington Examiner ran an article in June 2014 that is interesting. The article is titled “US Weighs Lawsuits On Alleged Insurance Kickbacks.” Here is what the article tells us.
The government is considering suing banks and other mortgage servicers over alleged insurance kickbacks that may have cost government-controlled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hundreds of millions, according to an internal federal report.
The agency responsible for guarding the mortgage giants’ finances told its inspector general’s office that it will decide over the next year whether to sue.
A Texas insurance law lawyers needs to know the proper way to sue on bad faith insurance cases. The proper way will differ depending on the type of case. When the claim arises out of an uninsured motorist claim it is different than other types of bad faith claims. The Houston Court of Appeals [1st Dist.] recently addressed this issue. The style of the case in In re Progressive County Mutual Insurance Company. This is a mandamus proceeding. Here is some of the relevant information from that case.
Following an automobile collision with an uninsured motorist’s vehicle, Guia sued her insurer, Progressive. While investigation into the claim was ongoing, Guia sued Progressive for breach of the uninsured motorist provisions in her policy, violations of Chapter 542 of the Texas Insurance Code, violations of the Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing. Guia served Progressive with a number of discovery requests, some of which would not be relevant to the breach-of-contract claim. Progressive filed a motion to sever the breach of contract claim for uninsured motorist coverage from the extra-contractual claims. The trial court judge signed an order abating the motion to sever, allowing discovery to move forward on all claims, and deferring the other issues covered by the motion until the pretrial hearing. Progressive filed a writ seeking to compel severance and abatement.
Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 41 governs severance of claims. The rule provides, in part, that “actions which have been improperly joined may be severed . . . on such terms as are just. Any claim against a party may be severed and proceeded with separately.” Id. The predominant reasons for a severance are to do justice, avoid prejudice, and promote convenience. Claims are properly severable if: (1) the controversy involves more than one cause of action; (2) the severed claim is one that would be the proper subject of a lawsuit if independently asserted; and (3) the severed claim is not so interwoven with the remaining action that it involves the same facts and issues. Only the third element is in dispute here.
Attorneys handling life insurance claims in Texas might one day run across a situation where a company is attempting to collect life insurance benefits due to the death of an employee. An article in the New York Times discusses this issue. Here is what the article tells us.
Employees at The Orange County Register received an unsettling email from corporate headquarters this year. The owner of the newspaper, Freedom Communications, was writing to request workers’ consent to take out life insurance policies on them.
But the beneficiary of each policy would not be the survivors or estate of the insured employee, but the Freedom Communications pension plan. Reporters and editors resisted, uncomfortable with the notion that the company might profit from their deaths.
Dallas insurance attorneys need to understand the 8 corners rule as it relates to insurance policies and lawsuits. A U.S. District Court, N.D. Texas, Fort Worth Division case helps understand this rule. The style of the case is, Acadia Insurance Company v. Jacob and Martin, Ltd. Here is some of the relevant information.
This is an insurance coverage dispute in which Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment as to their duties to defend and indemnify Defendants in an underlying state court action. Accordingly, the following facts are drawn from the live pleading in the underlying action. Plaintiffs issued general liability and umbrella policies to Jacob and Martin, Ltd. Jacob and Martin contracted with the city of Gordon, Texas, to design and install a new sewer system. Turner was the lead engineer on the project, and Lovelady was a project engineer. Martin is the general partner of Jacob and Martin.
The City of Gordon also contracted with Granbury Contracting & Utilities, Inc. to install sewer lines. While working on the project, Lovelady directed Eliseo Alberto Ramirez Rodriguez (“Ramirez”), an employee of Granbury, to open a manhole, climb inside it, and remove a plug from the sewer line. When Ramirez removed the plug, “toxic fumes were released and Ramirez died from asphyxia due to methane gas inhalation.” Ramirez’s parents filed suit against Jacob and Martin, Lovelady, Turner, and Martin under the Texas Wrongful Death and Survival statutes.
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