Legal insights on insurance litigation in the State of Tennessee
An Oklahoma insurance lawyer, Steven Buckman, recently started a new blog called Oklahoma Insurance Law. Its well written with a bit of comedy, including frequent accounts with "Bubba" (the redneck policyholder) and the "tall building lawyer" (the insurer’s counsel).
In the latest post, the topic was whether deleting photographs from a cell phone …
In the past two weeks, I have mediated three first party property cases. None of them was alike, and I wanted to share some thoughts on approaching such mediations from the carrier’s perspective, and some comments on the way the insureds have approached the mediation – making it better or worse for fruitful negotiations.
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If you’re a reader of insurance blogs, I’m certain you’ve read the recent warfare between Parks Chastain and Chip Merlin. They both make good points on the issue of advance payments (see their posts here and here). The truth is that there really is very little law in Tennessee concerning advance payments. Even so…
William F. "Chip" Merlin, Jr., of the Merlin Law Group, wrote a blog in which he derided (a nice word) the blog I posted on August 18, entitled “Advances-Common Misconception.” Mr. Merlin is a Plaintiff’s/Policyholder’s Attorney. (www.merlinlawgroup.com). His website describes him as “The Policyholder’s Advocate.” His advocacy is evident as his …
I want to address some misconceptions about advances under first party policies. By this, I mean a request for money made by an insured before the investigation is complete. While the circumstances of an insured’s loss often place the insured in a difficult financial situation, that situation does not alter the insurance contract. Therefore, let’s debunk some…
Tennessee’s valued policy law(T.C.A. 56-7-803) provides that an insurer is liable to the policyholder for the full policy limits if a total loss occurs. As a result, the big "fight" is often over the issue of whether a loss is "total" or "partial" in nature. Back in May, Parks Chastain commented here that the identity…
I commend to your reading the recent case of Spears v. Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Company, No. M2008-00842-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Middle Section), filed July 17, 2009. For a PDF copy of this case, download here (pdf). In this case, the Court was presented with the question of whether the failure of an insured to …
Parks Chastain recently wrote here about trigger happy policyholders prematurely filing lawsuits against insurance companies before a denial ever occurs. The reason for this is the provision in insurance policies that shortens the applicable statute of limitations to a period of usually one or two years from the date of the loss. As Parks mentioned…
This is one of those topics that comes up regularly. Does an insurer have to pay general contractors’ overhead and profit charges? The short answer is "Yes" but there are some exceptions. According to a 2005 Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals case (interpreting Tennessee law), the costs of a contractor (overhead and profit) are…
What a simple question, you might think. It’s a contract and, therefore, it’s a six year statute of limitations in Tennessee, right?
Wrong, in most cases of first party coverage or payment disputes. Most policies contain a clause which limits, and reduces, the time for filing a suit over a dispute in coverage or payment …
