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Hawaii Supreme Court Finds Excess Can Sue Primary for Equitable Subrogation

July 30, 2015 — Tred R. Eyerly – Insurance Law Hawaii
In responding to a certified question from the U.S. Distric Court, the Hawaii Supreme Court determined that an excess carrier can sue the primary carrier for failure to settle a claim in bad faith within primary limits. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Libery Mut. Ins. Co., 2015 Haw. LEXIS 142 (Haw. June 29, 2015). St. Paul, the excess carrier, and Liberty Mutual, the primary carrier, issued polices to Pleasant Travel Service, Inc. The primary policy covered up to $1 million. Pleasant Travel was sued for damages resulting from an accidental death. St. Paul alleged that Liberty Mutual rejected multiple pretrial settlement offers within the $1 million primary policy limit. A trial resulted in a verdict of $4.1 million against Pleasant Travel. The action settled for a confidential amount in excess of the Liberty Mutual policy limit. St. Paul paid the amount in excess. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Insurance Law Hawaii
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

Real Case, Real Lessons: Understanding Builders’ Risk Insurance Limits

August 12, 2024 — David McLain - Higgins, Hopkins, McLain & Roswell, LLC
In the recent case of 5333 Mattress King LLC v. Hanover Insurance Company, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado provided significant insights into the limits of builders’ risk insurance policies. Mattress King LLC, a warehouse owner, faced a substantial loss when a subcontractor drove a crane over and damaged the warehouse’s concrete floor slab during construction. Despite having a builders’ risk insurance policy with Hanover Insurance Company, coverage was denied, leading to litigation. Applicable Policy Provisions The policy in question was a Commercial Marine/Commercial Lines Builders’ Risk insurance policy. Builders’ risk insurance is designed to cover direct physical loss to covered property during construction unless the loss is excluded or limited by the policy. Key exclusions of the policy at issue included losses caused by faulty, inadequate, or defective:

Planning, zoning, surveying, or development
Design, specifications, workmanship, repair, construction, renovation, remodeling, grading, or compaction
Materials used in construction or renovation
Maintenance of the covered property

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Reprinted courtesy of David McLain, Higgins, Hopkins, McLain & Roswell, LLC
Mr. McLain may be contacted at mclain@hhmrlaw.com

Eighth Circuit Affirms Judgment for Bad Faith after Insured's Home Destroyed by Fire

January 21, 2019 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment that the insurer acted in bad faith when it denied the insured's claim based upon misrepresentations in the application after destruction of his house by fire. Hayes v. Metropolitan Pro. and Cas. Ins. Co., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 31813 (8th Cir. Nov. 9, 2018). Hayes' home was insured by Met under a homeowner's policy. Hayes used the detached garage as part of a home base for his plumbing business. He also rented out the second and third levels of the residence to a tenant and her two children. When Hayes applied for the policy in 2007, Met argues he indicated on the application that the premises were not used to conduct business, and were not used as rental property. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

COVID-19 Impacts on Subcontractor Default Insurance and Ripple Effects

April 20, 2020 — Smith Currie
Subcontractor default insurance (“SDI”) may be described as an alternative to bonding subcontractors. SDI is first-party insurance that compensates the general contractor insured in the event a covered subcontractor fails to fulfill its contractual obligations. Under SDI policies, general contractor insureds are obligated to develop and implement rigorous subcontractor prequalification procedures. Basic questions and answers about how SDI might come into play and impact the construction industry in response to COVID-19 follow: Who may make a claim on an SDI policy? The general contractor may make a claim. An Owner may make a claim if the general contractor becomes insolvent in many cases. Subcontractors may not make claims on SDI policies. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Smith Currie
The Smith Currie firm may be contacted at info@smithcurrie.com

Apartment Investors Turn to Suburbs After Crowding Cities

March 12, 2015 — Nadja Brandt and Oshrat Carmiel – Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) -- Real estate investor Robert Hart pulled into the lot of a 400-unit apartment community in a San Diego suburb last month, prepared to pay up for the recently completed project on a quiet residential street. A competitor from a publicly traded landlord was already there, he said. “It was on the one hand reassuring to know that we were both chasing the same opportunity,” said Hart, president and chief executive officer of closely held TruAmerica Multifamily. “On the other hand, it reinforced my opinion that large institutional real estate investors will be chasing yield far beyond the urban core.” Reprinted courtesy of Nadja Brandt, Bloomberg and Oshrat Carmiel, Bloomberg Ms. Brandt may be contacted at nbrandt@bloomberg.net Ms. Carmiel may be contacted at ocarmiel1@bloomberg.net Read the court decision
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Avoid Drowning in Data: Keep Afloat with ESI in Construction Litigation

May 15, 2023 — Steve Swart - The Dispute Resolver
Maybe it is another lawyer on your team, a client, the Court. Maybe it is you. Almost every lawyer has heard (or thought, felt, or anguished over) the following: Wait — What? Discovery is going to cost how much? The concern is real. Per a 2019 Southern District of New York opinion:

The average case can involve collection, review and production of 100 gigabytes of data (or 6.5 million pages of Word documents).
At a typical rate of review of 40-60 documents per hour, assuming 100,000 documents are collected, that is about 2,000 hours of attorney review time.
Adding in fees for forensic collection, storage, and processing to maintain metadata can result in a bill totaling $500,000.

Brown v. Barnes & Noble, Inc., 474 F. Supp. 3d 637, 645 & n.3 (S.D.N.Y. 2019). What's counsel to do? The following four points can help counsel streamline and reduce costs in discovery: (1) know your case, (2) know your data — understand it and document collection, (3) cooperate with counsel, and (4) implement a protocol for electronically-stored information ("ESI"). Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Steve Swart, Williams Mullen
Mr. Swart may be contacted at sswart@williamsmullen.com

TARP Funds Demolish Homes in Detroit to Lift Prices: Mortgages

March 07, 2014 — Brian Louis and Jeff Green - Bloomberg
In Flint, once a thriving auto-industry hub, excavators with long metal arms and shovels have begun tearing down 1,500 dilapidated homes in an attempt to lift the housing market. The demolitions in this Michigan city of about 100,000 people are part of the stepped up efforts by officials in several Midwestern states to rid their blighted neighborhoods of decayed housing that’s depressing prices. The funding for the excavator work comes from a surprising source -- the Hardest Hit Fund of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, created in 2008 to stabilize to the financial system. The $7.6 billion Hardest Hit Fund was intended to help troubled property owners avoid foreclosure and keep their homes. As foreclosures fall in most parts of the country, the fund is using the unspent $3.2 billion to remedy the crisis of abandoned homes. In Detroit alone, 70,000 dwellings, or about 19 percent of the total, may need to be torn down, according to the city. Mr. Louis may be contacted at blouis1@bloomberg.net. Mr. Green may be contacted at jgreen16@bloomberg.net. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Brian Louis and Jeff Green, Bloomberg

Haight Ranked in 2018 U.S. News - Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms" List

November 02, 2017 — Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP
Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP is listed in the 2018 U.S. News – Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms" list with five metro rankings in the following areas: Los Angeles

Tier 1 in Insurance Law
Tier 1 in Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants
Tier 1 in Product Liability Litigation - Defendants
Tier 2 in Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs
Tier 2 in Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs

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