On April 5, 2018, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the operative event which triggers a notice of claim requirement in an underinsured motorist (UIM) policy is the tender of the tortfeasor’s underlying policy limit and not the accident itself. See Shugarts v. Mohr, 2018 WI 27. This holding overrules a published Wisconsin Court of…
Who covers what when an employee is involved in an accident while driving a personal vehicle for business purposes? It is a question as old as insurance itself. It should come as no surprise that the Holy Grail for trial lawyers is obtaining coverage for an employee’s personal vehicle through the employer’s commercial auto policy.…
A generation ago, subrogation professionals were almost unheard of. Over the years, however, as prudent businesses and insurance companies began to insist on their statutory and contractual rights of subrogation, the profession has grown. On February 8, 2018, the Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion that grants subrogation adjusters and claims handlers the ability to…
A long-standing controversy in Pennsylvania workers’ compensation subrogation has been resolved—and resolved in a manner most unfriendly to Pennsylvania small businesses and the entire workers’ compensation industry. On June 19, 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court hung their hat on a mistaken turn of a phrase found within § 319—the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation subrogation statute. Whitmoyer…
Aggressive subrogation practitioners always look for short cuts. Ours is an industry in which the “bottom line” means the difference between success and failure. If a workers’ compensation subrogation claim can be resolved quickly—even before the employee settles the third-party action filed by him—it improves the cost-effectiveness of the result. In many states, a workers’…