Happy New Year to all of our fellow subrogation friends! Many of us use the start of the New Year to create personal New Year’s Resolutions. These resolutions are not limited to our personal lives. In this episode of Subro on the Go, regular co-hosts David Brisco and Joe Rich are joined by subrogation attorneys...
It should seem fundamental to attorneys and subrogation professionals that when a subrogation lawsuit is brought, the insured cannot be named as a defendant in the action. However, there are instances where the uninitiated defendant seeks to name the carrier’s insured as a third-party defendant to force the insured to become a party to the...
Litigants in New York now face new requirements for the production of liability insurance information at the onset of a civil action. The “Comprehensive Insurance Disclosure Act” (the “Act”) was signed into law by New York Governor Kathy Hochul on December 31, 2021. This legislation alters C.P.L.R. § 3101(f) with new requirements for defendants, third-party...
Evidence of a defendant’s liability insurance is typically precluded from trial to prevent a jury’s decision being prejudiced by the source of potential funds. However, whether this same principle should apply to evidence of first party property insurance when a carrier pursues a subrogation claim has been somewhat murkier. The Massachusetts Court of Appeals recently...
A recent opinion from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama highlights how the failure to identify the seller of a defective product can lead to dismissal. In Jackson v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 2:17-cv-00634-AKK (N.D. Ala.) the court was faced with a plaintiff who was severely burned when a gasoline container...
In a recent opinion from the United States District Court for Kansas, the Court held that privileged communications given by an expert to opposing party’s counsel will remain protected under the work product privilege. The defendant’s expert in Lloyds of London Syndicate 2003 v. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co. of Ohio accidentally included in his expert...
The Sixth Circuit recently held that it would not apply Kentucky’s economic loss doctrine to consumer purchases, and consumers are free to pursue tort claims against manufacturers even when damage occurs only to a product itself. The Sixth Circuit was sitting in diversity and ruled in State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Norcold, Inc.,...
In today’s economy, it is no surprise to find that the product at the heart of a product liability suit was manufactured by a company outside of the United States. But properly serving that foreign manufacturer appears to cause some confusion. If strategy dictates the need for a claim against a foreign entity, especially in...
The United States District Court of Maryland recently held that a waiver of subrogation clause found in an AIA agreement can be superseded by subsequent contract language between the contractors. In Turner Construction Co. v. BFPE Int’l, 2016 WL 1169938 (D. Md. Mar. 25, 2016), a general contractor brought suit against its subcontractor for property...
