Articles Posted in Insurance Law

One of the perennial annoyances in personal injury law practice is the need to deal with the Medicare bureaucracy regarding the claims for reimbursement out of personal injury recoveries of a portion of funds paid by Medicare for medical expense.  It’s bad enough to have to send them money, but it’s worse to have to…

In a landmark decision released August 31, 2006, the Georgia Court of Appeals has resolved in one case two crucial issues on Uninsured Motorist (UM) insurance coverage: Read the full decision below. RUFFIN, Chief Judge. Richard Abrohams and his minor son were injured in a motor vehicle collision with an underinsured motorist. After the collision,…

Last month there was a news story about the New Jersey Committee on Attorney Advertising, a panel appointed by the Supreme Court of New Jersey ruling that attorney advertisements that tout listings such as the “Super Lawyers” listings violate professional responsibility rules against ads that compare lawyers’ services or create an “unjustified expectation about results.” …

Last month the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision that initially appeared to be catastrophic for injury victims whose employee health benefit plans had paid medical expenses.  In Sereboff v. Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Inc., 126 S.Ct. 1869 (U.S.,2006), Chief Justice Roberts wrote for  the court that an ERISA benefit plan could sue in…

Today we received the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Giddens v. Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, Docket No. 05-10816. See A win for the home team in dentist’s disability insurance case and A day at the 11th Circuit. The court affirmed the summary judgment we had won in District…

Thanks to Frank Pasternak at Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyers Blog for the following: Insurance companies want: ~ Premiums not claims ~ To deter valid lawsuits ~ People to hate lawyers so they never get one ~ You to feel guilt for making legitimate claims ~ You to think you’re “not the kind of person who…

Sometimes it seems like half the job in catastrophic trucking litigation is analysis of insurance coverages. Recently I was consulted by a lawyer in my hometown about a situation in which an owner-operator’s insurer had tendered policy limits of $1,000,000. There was also a Lloyd’s “contingent liability endorsement” for an additional $1,000,00 issued to a…

TV lawyer shows never portray the tedious work of reviewing documents, researching law, and analyzing the effect of contracts and insurance policies. The recent decision of the Georgia Court of Appeals in Ryder Integrated Logistics, Inc. v. Bellsouth Tecomms. Inc. illustrates the sometimes mind-numbing work involved in figuring out who pays what after a catastrophic…

A friend whose two children both have heart defects recently passed along to me waht he has learned about a couple of obscure options for somewhat affordable health care coveage. First, the Insurance Commissioner’s Office has an Assigned Risk program. My friend pays $440 per month for family coverage; the plan pays 70% of charges…

It is well-established Georgia law that insurance contracts are construed to protect the reasonable expectations of the insured. See, e.g., Western Pacific Mut. Ins. Co. v. Davies, 267 Ga.App. 675, 601 S.E.2d 363(2004); Georgia Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co. v. Meyers, 249 Ga.App. 322, 324, 548 S.E.2d 67, 69 (2001); Georgia Farm Bureau Mut. Ins.…