Insurance Litigation

When disputes or claims arise against corporate officers, questions immediately surface about the use of liability insurance. In Maryland, companies sometimes rely on policies like directors and officers or errors and omissions insurance to shield management-level...

Major world events and changes in the economy over the past few years have had profound effects on many industries, including the maritime industry. While it is difficult to predict exactly what will happen in the future, the following are some potential trends in...

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company v. Margaret Shilling, an April 20, 2020 Court of Appeals opinion, answered the question: when does the three-year statute of limitations (SOL) begin to run for insureds to bring an underinsured motorist (UIM) claim against their own insurance company for breach of contract? The dispute over when the SOL ran for Ms. Schilling’s UIM claim for…

“Dashcams” are video cameras mounted inside vehicles that begin recording when the engine is turned on or when they sense movement. A portmanteau of the words “dashboard” and “camera,” dashcams start at around $40 and go up in price from there. They come in a variety of form factors and can be mounted on the dashboard, the windshield, and on…

The Court of Appeals issued a recent important opinion addressing the issue of non-compliance with the consent to settle provisions of Maryland’s uninsured motorist statute, Md. Code Ann., Ins., §19-511. The consolidated opinion was issued in the cases of Woznicki v. GEICO and Morse v. Erie. In summary, an insurer may, in certain cases, disclaim UM coverage for failure of…

Weighing the Decision to Maintain Grandfathered Status Versus Adopting Short-Term Measures to Control Costs Employer premiums have risen by about six percent annually for the past five years.1 A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that premiums for family plans rose nine percent in 2011.2 Small employers with fewer than 500 employees that offer fully-insured plans may be…

The Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) held that an insurance company did not act with an absence of good faith in adjusting a first party, under-insured motorist claim filed as a result of a motor vehicle accident. Plaintiff’s claim consisted of alleged injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident in September 2005 involving plaintiff and an underinsured driver as the tortfeasor.  Maryland law requires Maryland…

The following is an excerpt from legal memoranda filed in a survival action and wrongful death suit arising out of a commercial motor vehicle accident recently defended by Gorman & Williams. On brief were Francis J. Gorman, P.C. and Charles L. Simmons, Jr. I. The “Survival Action” A “survival action” is a creation of statute permitting an action at law…

Maryland, like most other states, has enacted a statutory scheme designed to protect the drivers on its roads from drivers who lack insurance.  The law requires that all Maryland drivers have automobile insurance coverage, but, nevertheless, many drivers do not.  Thus, Maryland requires a particular type of coverage known as Uninsured Motorist (“UM”) Coverage. In Maryland, UM coverage applies to…