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In United Farm Workers of America v. Hudson Insurance Company, (E.D. Cal.) 2019 WL 1517568, the United Farm Workers of America union (UFW) sued Hudson Insurance Company for breach of contract and bad faith arising out of a former employee’s wrongful termination and wage and hour lawsuit.Hudson provided UFW with Labor Professional Liability Insurance that included employment practices liability coverage. Hudson reserved its rights and agreed to pay an allocated share of the defense costs, citing

In a game-changing decision, the Georgia Supreme Court eliminated bad-faith failure to settle cases absent a "valid offer" from the injured party. In First Acceptance, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled as follows:"We also asked the parties to address whether an insurer's duty to settle arises only when the injured party presents a valid offer to settle within the insured's policy limits or whether, even absent such an offer, a duty arises when the insurer knows or reasonably should know that settl

March 1, 2019Lawyers for the Profession®Arch Ins. Co. v. Kubicki Draper, LLP, 2019 Fla. App. LEXIS 886 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. Jan. 23, 2019)Brief SummaryThe Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal held that an insurer does not have standing to sue defense counsel for legal malpractice in connection with representation of an insured in an underlying matter, because defense counsel and the insurer are not in privity. Specifically, the Court concluded that the insurer is not an intended third-party b

In Meleski v. Estate of Hotlen (No. C080023, filed 11/29/18), a California appeals court held that an insurer is subject to the penalties for failure to accept a statutory offer to compromise under Code of Civil Procedure 998, even though the estate of its deceased insured is the named defendant in an action that the insurer defends under Probate Code sections 550, et seq.In Meleski, the insured was at fault in an accident, but died before suit was filed. The complaint named his estate, although

December 4, 2018In Travelers Property Casualty Co. of Amer. v. Engel Insulation, Inc. (No. C085753, filed 11/30/18), a California appeals court held that an insurer may not file its own action to assert claims solely as a subrogee of a suspended corporation, where the corporation could not otherwise assert the claims on its own behalf.In Engel, a homeowners association filed a construction defect action against the developer, Westlake. Travelers defended Westlake as an additional insured on the