Dallas Fort Worth Insurance Lawyer Blog

Where Will An Insurance Company Lawsuit Be Fought?

February 18, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

Most insurance company’s have their main offices located outside of Texas. If you live in Weatherford, Texas, Arlington, Grand Prairie, or the Dallas – Fort Worth area, and you sue an insurance company, how do you know you won’t have to travel to Delaware or some other state to fight the lawsuit?

The United State District Court, Southern District, Houston Division, recently had a case dealing with this issue. The case decision was handed down on January 26, 2010, and was styled, Houston Baptist University, v. Ace American Insurance Company and York Claims Service, Inc.

Houston Baptist University (HBU) had a policy of insurance with Ace American Insurance Company (Ace). HBU suffered losses as the result of Hurricane Ike hitting the Houston area and made a claim against Ace. Ace assigned York Claims Service, Inc. (York) to adjust and inspect the claim. HBU and Ace could not reach an agreement on the value of the claim and HBU filed a lawsuit against Ace and York. The insurance policy had a policy provision that read: Any dispute arising under this policy shall be exclusively subject to the jurisdiction of the federal and state courts located in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Insurance Policy Language “Arising Out Of”

February 17, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

A decision in a Dallas, Texas, case was handed down on January 22, 2010. The results should have been the same in Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Arlington, or Weatherford. This case was decided by the United States District Court, Northern District, Dallas Division.

The style of the case is Gemini Insurance Company v. Trident Roofing Company, L.L.C. The lawsuit arises from an incident where the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas and Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church hired Trident Roofing Company, L.L.C., to perform roofing work on a Church building. In doing the roof work, Trident performed “torch down roofing”. “Torch down roofing” is defined in the insurance policy as “the use of any roofing system that requires the applying of a direct flame (torch) to asphalt/modified bitumen or in the application of any other roofing material.” The Church sued Trident after a fire started while Trident was using this roofing method.

Trident looked to their insurance policy with Gemini Insurance Company and demanded that Geminin protect them in the lawsuit including paying for defense costs and indemnity costs. Gemini denied coverage citing an exclusion in the insurance contract for work performed using “torch down roofing”. The specific language in the policy states: “It is agreed no coverage is afforded for any liability or claim that arise(s) out of, is related to, or connected with the following: TORCH DOWN ROOFING.”

Title Insurance In Texas

February 15, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

If a Grand Prairie resident buys a new home, 95% of the time he is also going to be required to purchase a title insurance policy. This would be the same for a resident of Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth, or Weatherford.

The Texas Supreme Court decided a case in 1994 that is relavent to home buyers and purchasers of title insurance policies. The case is styled, Chicago Title Insurance Company v. Jerry E. McDaniel and Christina W. McDaniel.

This case involves a claim against Chicago Title Insurance Company for violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA). The McDaniels purchased a title insurance policy issued by Chicago Title. The policy guaranteed the McDaniels had good and indefeasible title to the estate or interest in land described in the policy, which was the home they had purchased. This was in 1983.

Intentional Acts Not Covered In Insurance Policy

February 14, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

Insurance policies have different forms of coverage depending on what it is that the policyholder purchases. In Texas, a homeowners policy purchased in Grand Praire, Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth, or Weatherford, is going to have the same basic coverage. Parts of this coverage is for losses such as water damage, hail, fire, wind, and others. But most homeowners insurance policies also have liability coverage.

Liability coverage is coverage that protects and pays on behalf of the policyholder for injuries to others caused by the negligent acts of the policyholder. The normal homeowners policy is not going to pay or protect from acts that are voluntary or committed on purpose.

A lawsuit litigating this issue was decided by a Texas Appeals Court in Houston. The name on the case is State Farm Lloyds v. Henderson, et al. In this case, the underlying facts were that Henderson, after drinking a large amount of alcohol, punched a guy named Burnley in the face causing severe bruises and cuts and the loss of one of Burnley’s teeth. Henderson was sued by Burnley. State Farm Lloyds was obligated to defend if the injuries sustained by Burnley were the result of an accident. If the injuries to Burnley were intentionally or voluntarily caused by Henderson, then State Farm did not have an obligation to defend Henderson, or to pay for any of the damages suffered by Burnley.

Life Insurance Policy Lapse In Texas

February 13, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

Most people think that the idea of life insurance is good. It shows you are thinking of the people in your life who are left behind. Sometimes, life insurance is purchased for business reasons. People who live in Arlington, Grand Prairie, Weatherford, or a big metropolitan area such as Dallas and Fort Worth are all going to consider life insurance at some point in their lives.

What happens when the idea of purchasing life insurance becomes a reality and after having bought the coverage, payments are missed? The Texas Court of Civil Appeals in San Antonio, decided this issue in 1962, and their decision is still good law for this question.

Merced Cantu et ux., v. Southern Life & Health Insurance Company, is a case that says, “It is not necessary for the insurance company to advise policy holders that their policy has lapsed”. In this case, the Cantu’s had a life insurance policy on their son. The son died and the Cantu’s made a claim for benefits from Southern Life & Heath Insurance Company. Southern denied the claim stating that the policy had lapsed for non-payment of premiums.

Understand The Insurance You Are Buying

February 12, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

Good words of advice for any person buying insurance anywhere is: Know what you are buying. At the least, get it explained to you when purchasing some sort of insurance or warranty. This applies to the good people in the Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Grand Prairie, and Weatherford areas of Texas.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette recently published a news story where-in people were buying a pipe warranty. The title of the story is “Lawsuit Filed Over Opt-Out Waterline Insurance”. The charge for this warranty was only five dollars a month, but it was worthless to the people to whom it was being sold.

The pipe warranty was sold by the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority. The warranty provider is Utility Line Security, or ULS, a new, Wilkinsburg-based business that shares most of their officers with Resource Development and Management. RDM is a politically connected firm that worked closely with the water authority Executive Director.

Diminished Value Claims In Texas

February 10, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

Diminished value claims have to be looked at from two different standing points. In Texas, whether you are in Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Grand Prairie, or out in Weatherford, the same rules to go by are going to apply.

Diminished value would be the difference in the value of your car after a wreck, even though it has been repaired, and the value your car would have had, if the wreck had not occurred. A good example of this is as follows: You bought a new car 3 months ago for $30,000. Let’s say the car is now worth $28,000. Your have a wreck. The car is repaired. Now, because the car has been in a wreck, the car is only worth $23,500. The reason it is worth less is because anyone buying the car will not pay as much for it, knowing it has been wrecked, than they would pay if it had not been wrecked. In our example, the car should be worth $28,000. This $4,500 difference is the “diminished value”.

The first standing point, when making a diminished value claim, is when you are going to make a claim against another driver / insurance company. In making the claim against someone else who caused the damage to your car, they are responsible for the diminished value of your vehicle that was harmed in an accident. There are companies whose business purpose is to help people with these claims.

What is Personal Injury Protection (PIP) In Texas

February 9, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

Anytime a person buys insurance coverage for their automobile in Texas, they are given many options. These options include choices related to collision coverage, coverage for towing, rental cars, and even life insurance, to mention a few. No matter where you buy automobile coverage in Texas, whether it is Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Grand Prairie, or in Weatherford , you are also given the option to buy uninsured / underinsured beneits and personal injury protection benefits also known as PIP.

In discussing PIP coverage, one should know that this coverage is regulated in the Texas Insurance Code, Sections 1952.151 thru 1952.161.

Section 1952.151 says that PIP provides payment of all reasonable expenses that arise from an accident for: A) necessary medical care, B) lost income for a wage earner, and C) reinbursement for reasonable expenses for essential services ordinarily performed by the injured person. An example of this last one would be reinbursing an injured person for having to pay someone to mow his yard because his injuries prevented him from doing it himself.

2 Texas Auto Policies – One Accident

February 8, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

Here is a situaton where a Dallas resident had a wreck in Mesquite, but it could have been Fort Worth, Arlington, Grand Prairie, or out in Weatherford. The injured persons had two insurance policies with the same insurance company.

This happened in a 1984 case, The Travelers Indemnity Company of Rhode Island, v. Lenny and Terri Lucas. Mr. Lucas was accompanied by his wife, Ms. Lucas, in an ambulance. A drunk driver ran head-on into the ambulance causing injuries to the Lucas’. They had two separate insurance policies with Travelers Indemnity, for Personal Injury Protection benefits and underinsured motorists benefits. Travelers paid the full amount under one policy to each of the Lucas’ but refused to pay under the second policy. The damages to the Lucas’ exceeded the limit of both the policies combined.

The ambulance also had underinsured benefits with a policy through Aetna. Travelers tried to limit what it had to pay by citing an “Other Insurance” clause within the Travelers policy.

Health Insurance Lawsuit – Big One

February 7, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

It does not matter whether you live in little ole Weatherford, Texas, or some of the bigger communities like Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, or Grand Prairie. Health insurance is a concern of everybody.

A recent lawsuit in Colorado illustrates the anger that can be taken out against an insurance company that does one of its insureds wrong. The article is in the Denver Post. The title of the article is “Canceled Insurance Leads To $37 Million Verdict For Woman.”

A jury in the city and county of Boulder returned a verdict of $37 million to a woman whose health insurance policy was canceled after she was seriously injured in a car accident.