Articles Posted in Insurance Law

While over half my practice involves truck accident litigation in Georgia, I have also done some disability insurance bad faith litigation and participated in one long products liability trial in Las Vegas. Therefore, this story of a disability insurance bad faith verdict in Las Vegas caught my eye. Last week in federal court in Las…

A new Alabama law increases the minimum automobile liability insurance coverage to equal what has long been required in Georgia — to $25,000 in coverage for a single injury or death, $50,000 for multiple injuries or deaths, and $25,000 for property damage.  Alabama motorists will be required to comply with the new limits when they…

I just got word of a new example of deceptive claims practices in the insurance industry. A major insurance company is now  referring to its claims adjusters as “counselors.”  When one calls the claims department, the recording says,  “All of our COUNSELORS are busy but someone will be with you shortly.”  It appears the company…

In an illustration of legislative sausage making at its finest, the legislature passed and yesterday the Governor signed into law, a bill that gives the insurance industry and the trial lawyers pieces of what they wanted this year, over the opposition of the State Insurance Commissioner. Senate Bill 276 does two things. First, it relieves…

As an attorney in Atlanta handling catastrophic injury cases, I often see problems with the “sticker price” on medical and hospital bills significantly exceeding the “reasonable and customary” amounts paid by medical insurers, and occasionally huge gaps between the bills and the available coverage. There are no easy solutions, so we just work it out…

State Senator Cecil Staton (R-Macon) is sponsoring Senate Bill 276 which would allow Georgia drivers to add 100 percent of an under/uninsured motorist (UM) insurance policy on top of the at-fault driver’s liability policy. UM insurance is additional coverage that protects individuals who are hit by drivers with a low level of insurance, or none…

Several weeks ago, the story broke that Progressive Insurance sent private investigators to join its own policyholders’ church and joined their home Bible study group under false presenses, hoping to uncover evidence inconsistent with the insureds’ injury claim. When the company was caught in that ruse, the CEO said what they had done “appalling.”  Now…

It takes a lot for Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine — who is normally considered to be in the pocket of the insurance industry — to launch an apparently aggressive investigation of a major insurance company.  Now, however, even Oxendine has ordered a market conduct examination into recent allegations of invasion of privacy, fraud and…

Thanks to alert reader Shannon Duffy at American Lawyer Media for calling to my attention a recent federal district court ruling in Philadelphia. In Mills v. London Grove Township, a toddler had a serious serious head injury resulting in cerebral palsy.  Liability carriers agreed to pay their grossly inadequate policy limits. After fees and expenses…

Kudos to State Rep. Robert Mumford (R-Conyers) who on Tuesday introduced the Medical Malpractice Insurance Reform Act  . The bill wouldrequire the Insurance Commissioner to hold medical malpractice insurers tothe same rate-filing standards that auto and homeowner insurers have to meet. “We need to do everything we can to make sure people are able to…