Insurance Law

Recent Posts

High Fire Season Followed by El Niño Sets California Policyholders On Collision Course With Property Insurers
Posted on 12 Nov 2015 by Richard Robinson

Regular readers of the SFGate website saw two familiar headlines on September 10, 2015. The first – “Northern California wildfire explodes in size” – would not have been unusual on any summer day in California, particularly in... Read More

When Is a Landslide a Fire? Ninth Circuit Finds Fire To Be Direct Cause of Landslide that Destroyed House
Posted on 11 Jun 2015 by Barry Zalma

Those of us who live in the western United States see wildfires on a regular basis. Fire is a named peril and is covered by a simple fire policy and by a homeowners or commercial property policy. Landslides and mudslides that follow wildfires because... Read More

Ninth Circuit Holds Property Damage Directly Caused By Fire
Posted on 23 Jun 2015 by Brian Margolies

In Stankova v. Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Company , 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 8935 (9th Cir. May 29, 2015), [ enhanced version available to lexis.com subscribers ], the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, applying Arizona law, had the opportunity... Read More

How to Defeat an Arson for Profit Attempt – Suspected Arsonist’s Bad Faith Suit Fails
Posted on 17 Aug 2015 by Barry Zalma

Arson-for-profit is the most dangerous of all methods of attempting insurance fraud. When an insurer has sufficient evidence to suspect an arson for profit attempt and denies the claim it will expect that the insured will sue the insurer for fraud and... Read More

Arson-for-Profit Fails Because of Lack of Insurable Interest and Misrepresentation: Insurance Competence Needed to Commit Insurance Fraud
Posted on 31 Mar 2015 by Barry Zalma

Arson is relatively easy. Pour some gasoline and light a match and a fire will burn. Successfully turning an arson fire into profit is more difficult and requires some knowledge of insurance and insurance claims. In Ross v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co... Read More

Going to Pot: How to Lose Fire Insurance Coverage
Posted on 7 Apr 2015 by Barry Zalma

Members of the public think that the covenant of good faith and fair dealing only applies to the insurer and the insured can do whatever they want and hide important information from the insurer to avoid increased premium or loss of coverage. In Michigan... Read More

Oregon Court of Appeals Rejects Insured Conditioning His Duty to Cooperate after Loss
Posted on 11 Aug 2014 by Bullivant Houser Bailey PC

By Andrew E. Passmore , Associate, Bullivant Houser Bailey PC On the Rolling Stones' album Let It Bleed, Mick Jagger sang "You can't always get what you want." On July 2, 2014, the Oregon Court of Appeals sang a similar tune when... Read More