Has your business sought to avoid litigation over its insured business activities by negotiating an out of court settlement? Louisiana business Meyers Warehouse, Inc. (“Meyers) pursued this route assuming its insurer, Canal Indemnity Company (“Canal”), would join Meyers in settlement negotiations. However, to its surprise, Canal refused to participate in…
Insurance companies are coming under increasing pressure due to the recent proliferation of natural disasters in the United States. For an insurance company, navigating the boundary between legitimate and bad faith denial of claims can be a very risky business. However, courts are providing more and more guidance for insurers of companies who…
In order to file an insurance claim you first must have insurance coverage. It’s important that you stay aware of the renewal dates for the continuation of coverage so that you do not end up losing out on critical insurance payments in times of crisis. In certain situations it’s your…
Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on Louisiana in 2005. As a result of the storm insurance claim litigation continued on for years thereafter. In Louisiana there are short deadlines for filing a lawsuit if you believe you were treated unfairly by your insurance company. If you do not file your lawsuit on…
Insurance policies can be difficult to understand. Litigating disputes arising from insurance policies can be even more difficult because the court must look not only at the policy itself to decide the case but must also consider which state’s law to apply to the case. The complexity of insurance cases…
A rear-end collision in Opelousas has led to a demonstration on how complex lawsuits concerning insurance companies can be. The Third Circuit Court of Appeal reversed a trial court’s decision regarding damages suffered in the accident, focusing on the amount owed to the plaintiffs by two different insurance companies. The…
When seeking legal relief, plaintiffs will face procedural hurdles during litigation. Defendants can and will often use procedural mechanisms to avoid liability for claims brought against them. This is the nature of the game, and skilled attorneys are masters of the rules governing the conduct of civil trials. Procedural law…
In Louisiana the owners of motor vehicles are required by law to maintain a minimum amount of insurance in case of a collision. That’s the law and there is no getting around it. The rational behind it is simple, if you crash your car into someone else there needs to…
Louisiana is a “Direct Action State” which means that an injured party has the option to sue an insurer for coverage under someone else’s policy. See La. Rev. Stat. 22:1269. Therefore it’s permissible in Louisiana to name the insurance company of the tortfeasor when filing a lawsuit. An example: John…
In bringing or defending against a lawsuit, an important question is which court should hear the merits of the dispute, a state court or a federal court. Any court hearing the lawsuit must have “jurisdiction”; the power to hear a particular dispute. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, titled “diversity jurisdiction”,…