Usage-Based Insurance analytics solution from LexisNexis will help consumers and insurers gauge driving behavior to create safer drivers via mobile app ATLANTA–March 24, 2016–LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, a leading provider of data, analytics and technology, announced that Nationwide, one of the largest insurance and financial services companies in the United States, has selected the company to deliver...

By Dennis Cusack and David Smith Self-driving cars are coming. In fact, Tesla Model S owners woke up on the morning of October 15, 2015 to discover that a software download to the cars has made them capable of steering and changing lanes at high speed, slowing and stopping, and self-parking, in “Autopilot” mode. The future is now, and self-driving cars bring with them a host of unanswered questions relating...

In its recent decision in Nat’l Liab. & Fire Ins. Co. v. Itzkowitz , 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 16763, [subscribers can access an enhanced version of this opinion: lexis.com | Lexis Advance ] the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, applying New York law, had occasion to revisit the “unfortunate events” test for the purpose of determining number of occurrences or accidents. Itzkowitz...

Insurance policy limits of liability can cause disputes between insurers and their insureds so that if there is one accident rather than three (even though the result from a single continuous and repeated exposure to the same general conditions) can limit the exposure faced by the insurer. In National Liability & Fire Ins. Co. v. Itzkowitz , — Fed.Appx. —-, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 16387 (C.A.2 (N.Y.) 9...

Since insurance is nothing more than a contract between an insurer and those the insurer is willing to insure, the insurer has the unquestioned right to decide who, for what, and in what limits it is willing to insure. If the insurer and insured agree on the amount of insurance and the type of coverage no court will change reasonable, clear and unambiguous coverage. Of course, buyers remorse often sets in when a loss...

Shawn Halvorson (Halvorson) challenged the summary-judgment dismissal of his declaratory-judgment action involving a dispute over insurance coverage. In Halvorson v. From, 2015 Minn. App. Unpub. LEXIS 809 (Minn.App.), [subscribers can access an enhanced version of this opinion: lexis.com | Lexis Advance ], the Minnesota Court of Appeal resolved the dispute applying common sense and precedential law. FACTS Halvorson...

As Mr. Ed once said, cogently, “a horse is a horse, of course,” and it is nothing more. Although insurance terms and conditions can be interpreted to cover a multiple of sins, it cannot change the obvious. FACTS In the fall of 2006, a taxi insured by the petitioner was involved in a collision with a horse. The rider of the horse was seriously injured, and the petitioner paid him nearly $60,000 in no...

Insurance, as I have said often, only insures against fortuitous events. If the event is either contingent or unknown it can be insured against. In Smith v. Patton , Slip Copy, 2015 Wisc. App. LEXIS 547 (Wis.App., July 2015), [subscribers can access an enhanced version of this opinion: lexis.com | Lexis Advance ], Badger Mutual Insurance Company appealed from a nonfinal order denying its motion for summary judgment...

Insurance is a contract of personal indemnity. It does not insure cars or property of any kind but insures people against the risk of loss of their property. People who know nothing about insurance do not understand this essential insurance concept and think that the insurance policy insures the vehicle or house and that misconception can be expensive. That became clear when in Hoskins v. Miller , Not Reported in N.W...

By Frederick J. Pomerantz and Aaron J. Aisen Introduction Data collection is the new normal in the 21st century. This extends from search engines to social media to consumer shopping habits. This also includes monitoring driving behavior and auto performance. Insurance companies can use vehicle driving data1 gathered by telematics sensors attached to vehicles to rate automobile insurance policies, while auto dealers...

Cases involving whether injury arises out of the “use of an auto” – for purposes of triggering an Auto or UM/UIM policy or the applicability of a CGL or homeowner’s policy’s auto exclusion -- have a way of involving strange facts. See Roque v. Allstate Ins. Co., Colorado Court of Appeals, Jan. 19, 2012, [ enhanced version available to lexis.com subscribers ], (exiting your car and hitting...

Coverage Opinions Gets A Mention In The Wall Street Journal Law Blog Cases involving coverage under automobile policies do not usually get a lot of play in Coverage Opinions (what is “use of an auto” cases are sometimes an exception; see infra). But the Supreme Court of Virginia’s decision in Bartolomucci v. Federal Insurance Co., Nos. 140275, 140297 (Va. April 16, 2015), [ enhanced version available...

Elliott v. Geico Indem. Co. , 231 Cal. App. 4th 789 (2014), [ enhanced version available to lexis.com subscribers ]. In Elliott , the California Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s ruling that a carrier’s underinsured motorist coverage must be reduced not only by payments by the at-fault driver’s automobile carrier, but also by payments from a carrier that issued a general liability policy...

By Peter J. Gallagher ( @pjsgallagher ) One of the most ridiculously entertaining movies of the late-1970’s/early-1980’s was “ The Warriors .” You need to watch it to fully appreciate how ridiculous and entertaining it was but it involves a running battle between street gangs through a post-apocalyptic-looking New York City. (To give just a glimpse of how ridiculous it was, the members of...

There has been a lot of talk lately about driverless cars. It has included when various manufacturers plan to introduce models with some driverless features (soon) and, more generally, longer-term predictions of when we’ll all be skootin’ around in KITT. However, while automobile manufacturers long-ago conquered cruise control, I’m dubious that the day will come when I can play backgammon while driving...

Employers Ins. Co. of Wausau v. Lexington Ins. Co. , 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115747 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 19, 2014), [ enhanced version available to lexis.com subscribers ] In Employers , the Central District of California found that a CGL Policy was excess to an automobile policy with regard to an accident involving a cement truck at a construction site, because the language of the “other insurance” provision...

Mercury Cas. Co. v. Chu , 229 Cal. App. 4th 1432 (2014), [ enhanced version available to lexis.com subscribers ]. In Mercury , the California Court of Appeal held that an exclusion in an automobile policy for “bodily injury to an insured” was contrary to California Insurance Code Section 11580.1, [ enhanced version available to lexis.com subscribers ], and California public policy when applied to insureds...

This case arises from a collision between a vehicle driven by Barry Hunt and a snow plow owned by Dane County. Wisconsin and operated by a county employee. Barry Hunt and his wife, Ashley Hunt, had a motor vehicle liability policy with State Farm Mutual Insurance Co. at the time of the collision. The damages recoverable from the county and its employee are capped by statute at $250,000 and the Hunts claimed damages greater...

I love dog bite coverage cases. And there are a lot of them. So that’s a good thing. But that also means that there are a lot of dog bites. And since I also love dogs -- that’s not such a good thing. It’s a real double-edge sword. [As mentioned in Lauren Kelly’s article in the last issue of Coverage Opinions , the Insurance Information Institute reported earlier this summer that, in 2013, dog bites...

Coverage Opinions hardly ever addresses automobile or subrogation cases. Here I address both. But wait, stay with me. This is an interesting one. It also speaks to an overarching issue concerning how insurers treat policyholders in a certain claim setting. The issue before the Indiana Court of Appeals in Geico Insurance Co. v. Graham, No. 49A02-1310 (Ind. Ct. App. August 8, 2014), [ enhanced version available to lexis...

On October 10, 2010, Levina Rice suffered significant injuries as a passenger in a one-vehicle automobile accident in Bates County, Missouri. Rice’s son-in-law, Howard Wiebe, drove the vehicle, which was owned by Rice’s daughter and son-in-law, Sherry and Timothy Underwood. Both Wiebe and the Underwoods were covered by auto liability policies in effect at the time of the accident. The insurers for each of...

Insurance is, by definition, a contract whereby the insurer, for consideration, agrees to defend or indemnify another against a contingent or unknown risk. For an insurance policy to exist, therefore, the person insured must pay the premium (the consideration) charged by the insurer. States, like Florida, to protect the consumer have enacted laws that require insurers to give adequate notice to the insured before cancelling...

Travelers Prop. Cas. Co. of America v. LK Transportation, Inc. , 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33660 (E.D. Cal. Mar. 13, 2014), [ enhanced version available to lexis.com subscribers ]. In LK Transportation , the district court found that “hired” or “borrowed” automobiles, as those terms were used in an automobile policy, did not include vehicles owned and driven by the insured’s agents and...

Uninsured and Underinsured motorist coverage protects against injuries arising out of the use of an automobile. Missouri, in Walden v. Smith and American Family Mutual Insurance , Court of Appeals of Missouri Western District, (April 15, 2014) [ enhanced version available to lexis.com subscribers ], was faced with an issue of first impression whether an injury occurs from a dog poking its head out of a parked truck and...

Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar should bear the insurance burden when they encourage non-professional drivers to use their personal vehicles to transport passengers for a profit. The recommendation stems from a recent California Department of Insurance investigative hearing. “While smart phone technology is bringing new business opportunities to the marketplace and new transportation...