Brandon McWherter

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My learned friend Parks Chastain recently posted here that Tennessee law provides for a reverse bad faith penalty of not more than 25% of the amount claimed when a policyholder does not bring an action in good faith.  Parks’ use of the adage "what’s good for the goose is good for the gander" is right…

 As a result of the numerous tornados that have passed through Tennessee over the past decade, I have become acutely aware of the fact that insurance companies use the same engineering firms over and over again in their investigation of whether a claim constitutes a covered loss.  The obvious problem with insurance companies’ repeated use…

 I ran across a good article (pdf) this evening by Robins H. Ledyard entitled Treatment of Insurance Claims under Tennessee Consumer Protection Act.  Published in the Federation of Regulatory Counsel Journal in the Fall of 2008, the article gives a short synopsis of our Supreme Court’s analysis of TCPA claims in the…

On the topic of whether independent adjusters should be held liable under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act (see my prior post here and Parks’ rebuttal here), a case commonly cited by defendant insurance companies and adjusters is Crossley Const. Corp. v. National Fire Ins. Co. of Hartford, 237 S.W.2d 652 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2007). …

Magistrate Ed Bryant (W.D. Tenn.) recently issued a Report and Recommendation in one of my cases in which he held that Tennessee law allows an independent adjuster to be held liable under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act.  The defendant independent adjuster argued that my client failed to state a claim under the TCPA because the…

You may have noticed I haven’t posted any entries for a few days, but I’ve got a good excuse – – sunny, beautiful Florida. 

While I was out basking in the sun, banging a golf ball from sand-trap to sand-trap, and watching my little girls explore the ocean, John Day made reference to our new blog at…

The Tennessee legislature has listed certain certain practices which constitute unfair acts or practices in the business of insurance.  See T.C.A. § 56-8-105.  The statute, known as the Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act, creates standards and rules by which insurance companies must abide when settling claims.  For example, the Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act…

On April 30, 2009, the Tennessee Court of Appeals issued yet another opinion on the topic of misrepresentations on insurance applications.  The case is Tennessee Farmers Mut. Ins. Co. v. Farrar (view slip opinion here). 

First, it should be noted that T.C.A. 56-7-103 provides that a misrepresentation on an application voids the policy if…