Thomas Fuller once said, “All doors open to courtesy.” It appears that this may now include the courthouse door. Heavy traffic is moving along smoothly in all lanes of a four-lane boulevard when suddenly a vehicle in the right lane…
New Jersey is a confusing state when it comes to automobile insurance and PIP benefits. Every owner or registered owner of an automobile registered or principally garaged in New Jersey must have automobile liability insurance coverage insuring against loss resulting…
When an automobile is damaged in an accident and then repaired, the resale value may be less than a comparable automobile that has not been damaged. In other words, the damage results in a reduction or “diminution” in the resale…
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…
Imagine beginning your day with a cup of coffee in the car on the way to work, watching the morning news from a holographic projection on the windshield while making notes in preparation for a 9:00 a.m. meeting. All this…
The Washington Court of Appeals decision in Kosovan v. Omni Insurance Company, 2021 WL 4530640 (Wash. App. 2021), holds that a bad faith claim and a claim for violation of the Consumer Protection Act are both warranted when the PIP…
There are 12 states in America which have no-fault insurance laws: Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota and Utah. Florida’s status as a no-fault state was about to come to a ceremonial end…
Successful Subrogation of Small Auto Claims Auto insurance subrogation is a game of numbers. How much was paid on the claim? How much can be recovered? How much will it cost to recover it? How much of the insured’s deductible…
When one insurance company subrogates against another insurance company and both are members of intercompany arbitration, arbitration is mandatory. It is the type of damages sought that determines whether arbitration is compulsory, not the type of coverage afforded by the…
Understanding the Difference Between Total Loss and Salvage Vehicles Nowhere is the difference between “knowing” something and “understanding” something more evident than when it comes to the relationship between “totaling a vehicle” for insurance purposes and the concept of salvage…