Playing Catch-Up with Technology: A series on the digital economy and insurance – E-Scooters
Despite what we may think about ourselves, as a species humans aren’t very good at preparing for what we can’t imagine. And while that sounds like a Captain Obvious award winner, it is especially true when it comes to technology. With all the benefits they...
Be on Guard: Fourth Circuit opinion could affect coverage DJs
A new published case from the Fourth Circuit may make it harder to convince federal courts to keep and resolve insurance disputes. At the least, it sows confusion by conflicting with established case law. Specifically, the new case discusses Article III jurisdiction...
Avoid new attempt at workers’ comp set-off against UM claims
Auto insurers in Virginia have added a new play to their book of defenses against paying what they should on uninsured-underinsured motorist coverage. Be ready for it when they try it with your client. Carriers might raise this new defense when your client with a UM...
Emoji? In Court?
It’s safe to say that even the millennials among us never took “Interpreting Emoji” as part of course work in Evidence. So we were intrigued when we noticed a slew of articles written recently about emoji in court cases. What could the seemingly endless array of,...
Virginia Supreme Court Case Addresses Three Coverage Issues
The Supreme Court of Virginia recently issued an opinion that addresses at least three core points: (1) when can a contract outside the policy itself affect which insurance applies if an accident happens? (2) how does an auto exclusion common to Commercial General...
What Insurance Companies Don’t Want You to Understand About Auto Insurance
If you do nothing other than buy your policy, you will get the best amount of uninsured motorist coverage you can get given your other policy limits. Virginia requires all auto policies pay for harm done to you and your family by drivers with little or no insurance of...
Removal – A Reminder
A recent federal case from Virginia's Western District serves as a useful guide for remanding case from federal court back to state court. In Purayr, LLC, v. Phocatox Technologies, LLC, 5:16cv47, the judge remanded a case for missing the thirty-day removal deadline,...
Compound Prepositions – The Compost of Legal Writing
Do you know what a compound preposition is? They appear often in legal writing, and for no good reason. Read the list below. On the left—compound prepositions. After each dash—replacements for them. The examples will teach you to recognize compound prepositions,...
How to Use Fonts in Legal Writing
How you write affects how you are understood. Fonts provide one key to easier understanding by your audience, whether it is a judge, law clerk, or mediator. The number one rule: use fonts with serifs for the main text. Serifs are the horizontal lines at the top and...
Firm wins victory for insured in federal court on nonsuit tolling
Judge Robert E. Payne of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, denied a motion to dismiss based on the statute of limitations filed by property carrier First Liberty against its insured. John Rasmussen of the Insurance Recovery Law Group, PLC, defended the insured against that motion, which addressed an issue of first impression under Virginia insurance and procedural law.
A two-year statute applies to property insurance claims in Virginia. The insured filed a lawsuit seeking money damages and declaratory relief for a fire, but more than two years after it happened. The insured, however, had earlier filed and nonsuited an action to appoint an appraisal umpire in Hanover Circuit Court. And she refiled the damages claim within six months of that nonsuit.
This issue has received significant attention recently, after a Virginia Circuit Court judge did not apply the tolling statute to a second suit because it sought a different amount of damages. As noted above, this decision rejected that approach.
Firm secures federal judgment finding $100,000 in additional UM coverage for client
As recently reported in the Virginia Lawyers' Weekly, the Insurance Recovery Law Group, PLC (along with co-counsel CantorArkema) prevailed on summary judgment argument in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, securing a ruling in...
New Virginia Supreme Court case potentially expands coverage for auto accidents
The Virginia Supreme Court’s opinion in Virginia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. v. Williams (Record 81900), issued June 4, 2009, brings sweeping change to uninsured motorist coverage law in Virginia. It does so by potentially increasing the amount of UM coverage available for an injured insured if more than one auto is on the same policy. Beyond that more obvious issue, which has already been reported in Virginia Lawyer’s Weekly, the Williams opinion also addresses two other points that help insureds in coverage disputes with their carriers.
Insurance Recovery Law Group wins Virginia Supreme Court appeal
In a unanimous decision, the Virginia Supreme Court agreed with the firm, reversed a trial court's ruling, and found $500,000 in insurance coverage for a client hit and hurt by another driver who crossed the median on Interstate 295.In its April 17, 2009 opinion, the...
Insurance Recovery Law Group argues Virginia Supreme Court appeal
The Insurance Recovery Law Group has briefed an appeal to be heard before the Virginia Supreme Court on February 24, 2009.The case addresses two core issues: (1) whether a statute that excludes auto dealers from Virginia's liability insurance requirements also...