Latest Articles
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August 23, 2017
On July 18, 2017, a Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed a $38.5 million punitive damages award in a fatal workplace shooting case. See Wilson v. U.S. Sec. Assocs., 2017 PA Super 226. A three-judge panel held that the claim for punitive damages was improperly allowed because it was introduced outside the statute of limitations.
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July 13, 2017
Texas Supreme Court Holds an Insurance Company’s Attorney Billing is not Discoverable on the Reasona
Following two hail storms which struck Hidalgo County in 2012, insured homeowners sued various insurers and claims adjustors, alleging underpayment of property damage claims and asserting statutory, contractual, and extra-contractual claims.
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July 11, 2017
Indemnity? Insurance? Neither? Both? Fifth Circuit Denies Indemnity Claim but Remands for Determinat
A towing vessel damaged a Shell mooring line attached to a Shell a mobile offshore drilling unit in the Gulf of Mexico. After paying Shell’s damages, the towing vessel owner sued the owner of the assist towboat, claiming indemnity under the Master Service Agreement (“MSA”) between them.
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July 11, 2017
Atlanta Partner Seth Friedman and Associate Christopher Meeks obtained a ruling from the Georgia Court of Appeals that, absent very limited circumstances, third-party claimants do not have standing to bring a declaratory judgment action against an insurance company prior to obtaining a judgment against the insured.
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July 11, 2017
Louisiana Appellate Court Holds Exchange of Emails Between Attorneys Insufficient to Bind Settlement
On May 11, 2017, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s denial of a Joint Motion to Enforce Settlement filed by Plaintiffs and Defendants/Appellants/JR Logging Inc., Jerry Avants, Jr. and Indemnity Insurance Company of North America.
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July 11, 2017
Louisiana Court Allows Recovery of Economic Loss in Admiralty Case, Refusing to Apply East River Doc
A helicopter ditched in the Gulf of Mexico due to engine failure. The pilot escaped unharmed, but the helicopter did not fare as well – it sank to the bottom.
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July 11, 2017
Texas Legislature Aims to Curb First-Party Property Insurance Abuses Occasioned by Weather Related e
It is no secret the state of Texas has experienced its fair share of foul weather and property damage claims within the last five years. In 2016, the state experienced one of, if not its most expensive hail and storm season in recent memory with an estimated half-a-million hail-damage claims alone.
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July 11, 2017
Fifth Circuit Upholds Order Requiring Seafood Company to Repay $1 Million Fraudulent Deepwater Horiz
Appellant, Crystal Seafood Company, Inc. appealed an order of the lower holding the seafood processing company and two of its officers jointly and severally liable for a $1,034,228.42 payment received pursuant to a settlement of the company’s claim arising out of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010.
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