Last week, the Georgia Supreme Court confirmed that an insurance carrier’s duty to settle a claim against its policyholder arises only after an injured claimant presents a “valid offer” to settle within policy limits. In First Acceptance Insurance Company of Georgia v. Hughes,[1] the Court found that, because the letter presented to First Acceptance by the injured parties’ counsel was not a time-limited settlement demand, First Acceptance’s failure to respond before the injured parties withdrew their offer did not constitute negligence or a bad faith failure to settle the claim within policy limits. In 2008, First Acceptance’s policyholder caused a multi-car crash killing the policyholder and injuring five others, including Julie An and her 2-year-old daughter. The policy had the…
Monthly Archives: March 2019
Georgia Supreme Court Spares Insurance Company from a $5.3 Million Bad-Faith Verdict
Posted in Bad Faith
The Supreme Court of Texas Clarifies That a Party Can Testify as an Expert Witness without Waiving the Attorney-Client Privilege
Litigation usually involves complex issues related to technology, products, or business processes. In many cases, clients are the best subject-matter experts of their craft. Nevertheless, attorneys are sometimes hesitant to designate a client or a client’s employee as an expert witness for fear of waiving attorney-client privilege. In a recent decision, the Supreme Court of Texas addressed this very issue and held that the attorney-client privilege remains unscathed when a party (or its corporate representative) is designated as a testifying expert witness. See In re City of Dickinson, — S.W.3d —, No. 7-0020, 2019 WL 638555 (Tex. Feb. 15, 2019). Background City of Dickinson concerned whether a property insurer underpaid insurance benefits related to a Hurricane Ike claim made by…
Posted in Bad Faith
QUITE THE SPLIT: LOUISIANA THIRD CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEAL APPLIES TEN-YEAR PRESCRIPTIVE PERIOD TO CONTRACT-BASED BAD FAITH CLAIMS
In a surprising decision on rehearing, on February 4, 2019, a panel of the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal reversed itself and held that bad faith claims arising out of an insurance contract are subject to a ten-year prescriptive period rather than a one-year prescriptive period.[1] Fils v. Starr Indemnity & Liability Company, — so. 3d — (La. App. 3rd Cir. 5/9/2018)(on r’hrg), centered on the timeliness of the plaintiff’s bad faith claims against his uninsured motorist carrier. Dissatisfied with the $45,000 that his UM carrier had tendered following a motor vehicle accident on August 28, 2013, the policyholder filed suit against the insurer for additional benefits the day before the expiration of the two-year prescriptive period applicable to…
