Broad Form Liability Insurance Coverage Claims in Texas– Fort Worth, Texas Insurance Defense Litigation Attorneys

BROAD FORM LIABILITY POLICY CLAIM CAN COME WITHIN BOTH CPPL AND CGL COVERAGE

In this case, before the Dallas Court of Appeals, two insurance companies  insured a nursing home owner and operator as primary and excess carriers, respectively. Several lawsuits were brought against the insured and the two insurance carriers, US Fire and Scottsdale disagreed as to the amount of insurance available. Agreeing to litigate their disagreements later, the insurers defended and settled the suits. Scottsdale then filed a subrogation law suit against US Fire for amounts it expended in settling as well as defending the law suits. Scottsdale won a judgment for 1,647,766.27 from the Dallas trial court on cross motions for summary judgment. On appeal in US Fire Ins. Co. v. Scottsdale Ins. Co., 20008 WL 62561 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2008), the Dallas Court of Appeals reduced the award to $744,410.82, reversing in part and affirming in part. The Court upheld the trial court’s determination that US Fire’s CGL’s $2 million per location aggregate limit, not the CPPL’s $1 million per location aggregate limit, applied to the underlying claims. The court concluded that the liability policy permitted a claim to fall under both the CGL form and the CPPL form. The court further determined that when that occurred, as was the case here, that the higher limit would apply to the claim. The Dallas Court determined that US Fire’s breach of contract and wrongful denial did not waive the applicable self-insured retention limits.The court reversed the trial court’s ruling that the self-insured retention limits did not apply to the claims, thereby reducing Scottsdale’s recovery.

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

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