Should I Cash the Insurer’s Check?

In the midst of a coverage dispute, an insurer will often issue a check to the policyholder for less than the amount the policyholder contends is due. On these occasions, the policyholder will ask, “Should I cash the check?” The policyholder’s legitimate fear is that cashing the check will eliminate Read More

Not Giving Timely Notice to the Insurer of a Charge of Discrimination May Doom Coverage under an Employment Practices Liability Insurance Policy

Under most states’ laws, a policyholder’s failure to report a claim to the insurer within the time prescribed by a claims made liability insurance policy will compromise coverage. A late notice scenario that recurs all too often involves an employer that loses coverage for an employment discrimination lawsuit by failing Read More

Kansas Supreme Court Rules that Insurer’s Failure to Timely Reserve Rights may Expand Scope of Coverage

In October 2018, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that a liability insurer may be estopped (or in plain English, prevented) from denying coverage because of its failure to issue a timely reservation of rights letter, even if the estoppel results in the expansion of coverage beyond the scope provided under Read More

Policyholders Must Address Short Limitations Periods or Risk Losing Coverage

Many commercial property/business interruption insurance policies contain a contractual limitations period that prohibits a policyholder from suing the insurer more than 12  or 24 months after the insured loss occurred. Most states have longer statutes of limitations, but in some states, the statutory period may be only a year or Read More

What’s this “third-party discrimination” coverage I’ve purchased under our Employment Practices Liability Insurance Policy?

On August 27, 2018 the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the owner/operator of a retirement community, or under the terminology of the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”), the “landlord,” was liable under the FHA for failing to take appropriate remedial action in response to the Read More