WASHINGTON COURT LIMITS DISCOVERY OF INSURER’S CLAIMS-HANDLING MANUALS AND GUIDELINES FOR UNRELATED LINES OF COVERAGE
Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2017 Insurers faced with a bad faith lawsuit are often asked in discovery to produce copies of claim handling manuals and guidelines. Oftentimes such discovery requests are broad and request any manuals or guidelines used by the insurer regardless of whether it specifically applies to the policy at issue. Courts in various...
WASHINGTON COURT OF APPEALS REFUSES TO ALLOW PRODUCTION OF POST-LITIGATION COMMUNICATION BETWEEN INSURER AND COVERAGE COUNSEL IN DEFENSE OF UIM CLAIM
Quarterly Newsletter Fall 2017 Ever since the Washington Supreme Court rendered its decision in Cedell v. Farmers Ins. Co. of Washington, 176 Wn.2d 686, 295 P.3d 239 (2013), state and federal courts in Washington have grappled with the fallout. One of key questions is when, and to what extent, policyholders are entitled to discovery of...
USLAW Spring / Summer 2017 – THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS
Parties to construction contracts have historically used indemnity clauses to shift the responsibility to pay damages from one party (the indemnitee) to another party (the indemnitor) without regard to who actually caused the damage. Over time, however, states enacted so-called “antiindemnity” statutes to limit the amount of liability that parties to construction contracts can allocate...
WASHINGTON APPELLATE COURT FINDS INSURER NOT COLLATERALLY ESTOPPED FROM CONTESTING LIABILITY ISSUES IN DECLARATORY JUDGMENT ACTION
Quarterly Newsletter Summer 2017 In Washington, insurers can be subject to collateral estoppel, which bars litigation of the same issue in a subsequent declaratory judgment action, when that issue was actually litigated in the underlying proceeding. The circumstances that allow collateral estoppel to apply vary on a case-by-case basis, but generally turn on whether the...
OREGON COURT OF APPEALS RENDERS IMPORTANT DECISION ON VARIOUS COVERAGE ISSUES ARISING OUT OF CONSTRUCTION DEFECT LAWSUIT
Quarterly Newsletter Summer 2017 In an effort to stem the flood of claims for coverage arising out of construction defect lawsuits, insurers have included various exclusions and endorsements to limit coverage for such claims in their commercial general liability policies issued to construction contractors and subcontractors. One such exclusion, titled the “Multi-Unit New Residential Construction”...
Eliot Harris Appointed to Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation Board of Directors
Williams Kastner proudly announces that Seattle member Eliot Harris has been elected to the Board of Directors for the Washington Chapter of the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation. The IICF is a public charity founded over thirty years ago that is funded and directed by insurance industry professionals representing a broad spectrum of the industry. It’s...
ALASKA SUPREME COURT FINDS DUTY OWED BY LIABILITY INSURER TO THIRD-PARTY CLAIMANT
Quarterly Newsletter Spring 2017 Over the years, policyholders and their attorneys have sought to assert tort claims directly against liability insurers for alleged mishandling of liability claims. While the general rule in many jurisdictions is that third party claimants have no independent cause of action against the policyholder’s liability insurer absent an assignment of rights...
Williams Kastner Announces 2017 New Members
December 1, 2016 ─ Williams Kastner is pleased to announce the new attorneys to be admitted to the firm’s membership, effective January 1, 2017. Earning a place in Williams Kastner’s 2017 member class are: Shawn Rediger, Eliot Harris, Malika Johnson, Nicole Mackenzie, & Markos Scheer. “We are pleased to be adding these talented individuals to the...
WASHINGTON FEDERAL COURT FINDS NO “OCCURRENCE” UNDER HOMEOWNERS’ POLICY BASED ON INSURED’S VIOLATION OF CONDOMINIUM BYLAWS
Quarterly Newsletter Fall 2016 Two of the most commonly disputed issues regarding coverage under the insuring clause of a homeowner’s liability policy are whether “property damage” took place, and whether such damage was caused by an “occurrence.” In a recent case in Washington, the Court adopted a broad interpretation of “property damage” under a homeowner’s...
IDAHO SUPREME COURT RULES ANTI-STACKING CLAUSE IN INSURANCE POLICY IS AMBIGUOUS
Quarterly Newsletter Fall 2016 Insurers seeking to limit their liability may include so-called “anti-stacking” language in their policies. Such policy language is designed to limit the total available coverage to one policy and prevent the insured from “stacking” multiple policies on top of each other to expand the limits of available coverage. However, despite its...
WASHINGTON COURT FINDS NO “COLLAPSE” COVERAGE DESPITE ENGINEER’S OPINION THAT BUILDING COULD NOT SUPPORT REQUIRED LOADS UNDER THE BUILDING CODE
Quarterly Newsletter Fall 2016 For decades, Washington insurers have faced building “collapse” claims despite the fact that no Washington Court had rendered a clear definition of what “collapse” meant. That changed last year when the Washington Supreme Court held in Queen Anne Park Homeowners Association v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, 352 P.3d 790...
WASHINGTON APPELLATE COURT EXPANDS APPLICATION OF IMPLIED WAIVER OF ATTORNEY-CLIENT COMMUNICATIONS DURING DISCOVERY FOR REASONABLENESS HEARING FOLLOWING A COVENANT JUDGMENT
Quarterly Newsletter Fall 2016 On July 26, 2016, the Washington Court of Appeals, Division II held that an implied waiver of attorney-client communications may occur when an insured enters into a covenant judgment with a claimant and an insurer challenges the reasonableness of the settlement. However, the Court held that, under the proper standards, the...