Auto Insurance Policy

Montana Supreme Court Suggests That Insurer May Have Pre-Suit Duty To Reveal Liability Policy Limits

Wilkie v. Hartford Underwriters Ins. Co., 494 P.3d 892 (Mont. 2021). A brand-new Montana Supreme Court decision has sounded off—sort of—in the nationwide debate over whether a liability insurer has a duty to provide liability policy limits to a third-party claimant when liability is reasonably clear. In particular, the new decision says that a pre-suit failure…

Arbitration Litigation

Enforcing Unpaid Arbitration Awards

According to Arbitration Forums, Inc.’s website, the 5,200 members who subscribe to Arbitration Forums file over 949,000 disputes and nearly 1.7 million subrogation demands worth more than $13.9 billion in claims annually. Most of the insurance companies in the U.S. are members of Arbitration Forums under one or more of the programs offered by Arbitration…

Natural Disasters Collage

The Ten Worst Natural Disasters In U.S. History

Ranking natural disasters tends to be somewhat arbitrary. Whether or not a storm which kills three people is worse than one which causes $1 billion in damages is perhaps something that should be left to philosophers and theologians. Ranking the “deadliest” natural disasters would undoubtedly result in a slightly different list. However, in the context…

Earthquake Richter Scale

Earth-Shaking Subrogation Recoveries

Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer (MWL) takes pride in our efforts to constantly innovate and use creative legal theories to facilitate recoveries for our clients. Our firm has been actively involved in the pursuit of investigation and litigation of claims against oil/gas fracking companies related to their causing earthquake related damages which have historically gone unrecognized…