Until recently, Oregon courts did not allow policyholders to bring claims against their insurers under Oregon’s Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act and only allowed tort-based “bad faith” claims in narrow circumstances. This left Oregon policyholders seeking recovery from their insurers with only contract-based claims and remedies. But the Oregon Supreme Court’s decision in Moody v. Oregon Community Credit Union, 371…

The Washington Supreme Court’s March 14, 2024 decision in Gardens Condominium v. Farmers Insurance Exchange1 held that an all-risk policy’s resulting loss clause preserves coverage for non-excluded losses that are the natural consequences of an excluded peril. The Court underscored that its holdings in two prior resulting loss decisions, Vision One2 and Sprague3, do not require an “independent” or intervening…

An insurer gets schooled on the consequences of violating its duty to defend in bad faith. Washington State goes to great lengths to protect policyholders from insurance company misconduct and overreach. This is especially true when it comes to an insurer’s duty to defend its policyholder against third-party claims.

I recently had the pleasure of presenting at a seminar on cutting-edge insurance coverage issues in the Pacific Northwest. Among the topics I addressed was “social inflation,” a term that has been the subject of much discussion recently. What is social inflation?

Join us on February 28 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific for this complimentary program, hosted by our friends at Propel Insurance. The presenters will educate attendees on their rights and responsibilities when it comes to the lien process.

For some time now, merger-objection and acquisition-objection litigation against buyers of companies have been on the rise. In years past, these cases often settled for not much more than additional-disclosure agreements and reimbursement of plaintiffs’ attorney fees. Some settlements, however, have involved substantial financial payments to the acquisition- and/or merger-objecting plaintiffs to resolve their inadequate-consideration, also known as “bump up,”…

Insurance applications are emerging as the first place insurers look to deny coverage. These often-contentious coverage fights are avoidable and, given their increasing frequency, emphasize the need for risk managers and brokers to put renewed focus on the application process. We hope you will join us on Tuesday May 23 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific.Our program will address emerging trends, practical advice, and key…