It seems strange to suggest that one of history’s greatest military battles would have anything in common with modern insurance subrogation. In 490 B.C., the Athenian army defeated the invading Persian army in a battle in the plain of Marathon, located roughly 26 miles north of Athens. According to legend, after winning the battle of…
Florida’s tug-of-war between its courts and its legislature regarding the appropriate standard for a judge to use to assess the admissibility of an expert’s opinion testimony has finally been settled. On October 14, 2018, the Florida Supreme Court announced that the Frye standard is the governing standard when determining the admissibility of expert testimony. This…
The Connecticut Supreme Court just made it easier for a landlord’s property insurer to subrogate against a tenant whose negligence causes damage to the landlord’s building. For years, Connecticut had followed the so-called “Sutton Rule” which holds that tenants are considered co-insureds under a landlord’s fire insurance policy and may not be sued by the…
The Illinois Supreme Court has somewhat clarified an injured employee’s rights to pursue a third-party case by intervening into a third-party subrogation suit filed by the workers’ compensation carrier, even after the personal injury Statute of Limitations (“SOL”) runs. In A & R Janitorial v. Pepper Construction Company, 2018 WL 123220 (Ill. 2018), an employee…
A recent New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division decision has ostensibly settled a long-standing subrogation question with regard to whether a worker’s compensation carrier is entitled to subrogation and/or reimbursement from a third-party tortfeasor who is covered by New Jersey no-fault insurance, even though the employee does not otherwise meet the verbal threshold allowing him…
On Friday, November 30th, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Alaska, approximately 10 miles northeast of Anchorage. Thankfully, the damage appears to be limited mainly to property loss, and a lot of that can be attributed to Alaska’s stringent building codes and standards. Alaska has more earthquakes than any other region of North America and is…
Subrogation professionals are duty-bound to maximize a workers’ compensation subrogation recovery for a workers’ compensation carrier and its insured employer, who is eager to maintain a favorable experience rating. They dream about claims in which they demand 100% of a policy limits third-party recovery, not because they wish the employee ill-will, but because they have…
Fire-ravaged California is no stranger to the devastating loss of life and property at the hands of wildfires. This summer, a series of large wildfires erupted across California, mostly in the northern part of the state, including the destructive Carr Fire and the Mendocino Complex Fire. On August 4, 2018, a national disaster was declared.…
Oh, that it wasn’t so, but today’s world of insurance claims adjusting, subrogation, and civil litigation rewards the ability of one party to take advantage of what the other party doesn’t know. A civil trial is known as an “adversary proceeding” because it pits two or more opponents against one another with regard to a…
The MCS-90 Endorsement is an endorsement that is found in insurance policies issued to trucking companies operating interstate. This endorsement allows the trucking company to comply with certain government mandated public financial responsibility regulations. Specifically, the federal government mandates that trucking companies operating interstate comply with their financial responsibility obligations by having an insurance policy…