The Insurance Law Section invites you to get published!
The Section allows members to publish shorter articles (typically 500–750 words with no footnotes required) about a variety of insurance law issues:
- summarize a new court opinion;
- offer a practice tip;
- explore a new statute or proposed legislation;
- highlight an industry issue;
- provide insight into a niche topic; or
- anything of interest to Section members!
Please email Blair Dancy for more information!
*Publication is not an express or implied endorsement of content on the part of the Insurance Law Section. The Section reserves full discretion to accept or reject articles as it sees fit.
Article Archives
Stowers After Patterson: Same As It Ever Was?
by Matthew Steven Paradowski In April 2015 an opinion issued by the First District Court of Appeals in Houston caught the rapt attention of liability insurers and insurance law practitioners in the State of Texas, as it appeared to fundamentally…
Fifth Circuit Rules That Insured May Not Rely on Conclusory Expert Affidavit to Survive Summary Judgment
by Tae Andrews A recent Fifth Circuit decision has reaffirmed that an insured cannot withstand an insurer’s motion for summary judgment by presenting only an expert’s conclusory affidavit as evidence. In Stagliano v. Cincinnati Insurance Co., No. 15-10137 slip op.…
No Public Policy Against Insurer Funding Settlements of Claims Seeking Disgorgement
by Nancy Randolph Kornegay Casenote: Burks v. XL Specialty Insurance Co 2015 WL 6949610, —S.W.3d—(Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.], Nov. 10, 2015). There are not a lot of Texas appellate-court decisions on D&O coverage issues. This very recent decision could end up…
Fifth Circuit Certifies Vail Actual Damages Issue to Texas Supreme Court
by Linda M. Dedman Casenote: Cameron International Corporation v. Liberty Insurance Underwriters Co-author: Floyd Clardy, III The Fifth Circuit has acknowleged that it may have erred in denying claims under the Texas Insurance Code when there is evidence that an insurer failed…
Lynd Decision Upholds Longstanding Canons of Policy Construction Favoring Insureds
by Tae Andrews Casenote: RSUI Indem. Co. v. Lynd Co (Tex. May 8, 2015). A recent Supreme Court of Texas decision reemphasized well-established rules of insurance policy interpretation that benefit policyholders. In 2005, the Lynd Company purchased two layers of insurance to…
The Implications of the Deepwater Horizon Decision
by Veronica Martinsen Bates In a case worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the Texas Supreme Court definitively ruled that coverage to an additional insured, when acquired by contract, is limited not only by the policy terms but also by…
When is a Breach Not a Breach?
by Tarron L. Gartner Greene v. Farmers Ins. Exch. and the SCOT’s Continuing Debate over the Material Breach Rule Co-author: Whitney Warren Last summer, the Texas Supreme Court’s decision in Greene v. Farmers Ins. Exchange, probably left most of us scratching our…
Casenote: Farmers Group Ins., Inc. v. Poteet
by Shannon Elizabeth Loyd Farmers Group Ins., Inc. v. Poteet This is an appeal from a jury verdict in January 2011 ultimately arising from a claim in November 2002 for the discharge of black smoke and soot from an HVAC…
Why Personal Injury Attorneys, Both Plaintiff And Defense, Should Read The U.C.C.
by Judith Ann Kostura On May 16, 2014, the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion in McAllen Hosps., LP v. State Farm County Mut. Ins. Co., (Tex. 2014) No. 12-0983. The Court held that a release given to a liability insurer by an…
Patterson – Where No Court Interpreting Stowers Has Gone Before
by Jes Alexander Stowers has been around since 1929 during the days when the Commission of Appeals of Texas existed. Over the course of time, the Supreme Court of Texas has further defined the parameters of the Stowers duty: the…
Casenote: Central States v. Health Special Risk, Inc.
by Judith Ann Kostura Central States v Health Special Risk 5th Circuit, June 22, 2014 Central States, an ERISA plan, sued some non-ERISA plans alleging that the non-ERISA plans were primary, as defined by the Central States' ERISA plan's Coordination…