A commentary on insurance coverage issues in Hawaii and beyond
One insurer's refusal to defend based upon its "other insurance" provision ultimately meant the insurer had to pay all of the insured's defense costs. Steadfast Ins. Co. v. Greenwich Ins. Co., 2018 Wis. App. LEXIS 51 (Wis. Ct. App. Jan. 17, 2018).
Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) was a government…
The Hawaii Supreme Court held that a health insurer did not have subrogation rights against third-party tortfeasors who caused injury to its insureds. Yukumoto v. Tawarahara, 2017 Haw. LEXIS 92 (Haw. May 26 2017).
Gregory Yukumoto was injured while driving his moped and struck by Ruth Tawarahara, driving her SUV.
Citing the Hawaii Supreme Court's decision in St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 135 Haw. 449, 353 P.3d 991 (2015), the California Court of Appeal determined that the excess carrier could pursue an equitable subrogation action alleging that the primary insurers' unreasonable failure to settle within policy limits…
The First Circuit reversed the District Court's holding that the insurer's subrogation rights were waived based on a clause in the condominium's bylaws. Pacific Indemnity Co. v. Deming, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 12374 (1st Cir. July 5, 2016).
Deming rented a unit in the condominium under a lease with the unit's owners. He fell…
The insurer's argument that a contractual indemnity provision in favor of the insured acted as an "other insurance" provision failed before the Fifth Circuit. Cameron Int'l Corp. v. Liberty Ins. Underwriters, Inc., 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 20115 (5th Cir. Nov. 19, 2015).
In an insurance dispute arising out of the Deepwater Horizon…
The court analyzed the impact of the policy exclusion barring coverage where one insured sued another. Gemini Ins. Co. v. Delos Ins. Co., 2012 Cal. App. LEXIS 1230 (Cal. Ct. App. Dec. 5, 2012).
Delos insured Bobby's, a restaurant, located in the Loch Lomond Marina, San Rafael, California. The landlord was Loch…
Addressing which of the two insurers' policies were responsible for the loss, the Indiana Court of Appeals found both policies were triggered because property damage occurred within each insurer's policy period. Grange Mut. Cas. Co. v. West Bend Mut. Ins. Co., 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 442 (Ind. Ct. App. March 15, 2011).
Cincinnati…
The issue before the New York Court of Appeals in Fasso v. Independent Health Assoc., No. 21 (N.Y. Feb. 24, 2009) [here] was whether the injured party and the tortfeasor could settle on terms that extinguished the insurer's subrogation rights?
Plaintiff was treated by Dr. Doerr and subsequently developed complications that…
