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Policyholders Must Be “Made Whole” Before Insurers Recover Payments From Third Parties
The Washington Supreme Court recently issued a decision strongly reiterating the “made whole” doctrine under Washington law, which provides that an insurer cannot exercise its right of reimbursement from a third party who injured its insured, until...
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Does the Causation-Trigger Wording of an Additional Insured Endorsement Matter?
When two companies agree to work together, they will try to allocate the risk of something going wrong to the company that's in the best position to prevent that from happening. For example, in the construction industry a general contractor will usua...
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Allocation-Process Information Shielded by Mediation Privilege, not Available to Insurer: Wash. Fed. Court
In a decision with important implications for "long-tail" environmental contamination coverage claims in the Northwest, a federal court in Washington state has held that information from a confidential "allocation" proceeding in a Superfund site does...
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Washington Court Limits Coverage by Estoppel When Insured's Assets Are Not at Risk
Many tort lawsuits are resolved by an insured defendant’s stipulating to a judgment in favor of the plaintiff, and the plaintiff’s agreeing not to execute on the judgment against any of the defendant's assets except for its insurance. Simulta...
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Washington Supreme Court Narrows Scope of the Insurance Fair Conduct Act
In a decision issued last week, the Washington Supreme Court narrowed the possible relief available to policyholders who are harmed by insurer misconduct, holding that a claim cannot be brought under the Insurance Fair Conduct Act based on claims han...
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Washington Federal Court Confirms That EPA General Notice Letters Trigger the Duty to Defend
The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington recently held that several insurers breached their insurance contracts when they refused to defend their insureds against letters from the EPA and the Washington State Department...
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