Bob SiemsMay 19, 20151 minMediation Actually Works (Statistically Speaking, at least for DOJ)I like mediation. I mediate for a couple of the Maryland Circuit Courts and have done a few private mediations. I think it works. That's...
Bob SiemsMay 12, 20151 minGEICO's anti-Uber Insurance WarningSorry for being late. Busy week. My associate, Yosef, is buying an auto insurance policy from GEICO. At the end of the process, the GEICO...
Bob SiemsMay 5, 20152 minDe ja vu: Business Interruption Litigation in D.C. after the Martin Luther King RiotsBaltimore is not the first place afflicted by riots that caused coverage disputes. After the Martin Luther King riots in 1968, D.C. had a...
Bob SiemsMay 4, 20152 minBusiness Interruption Coverage, Riots, Curfews, Wars and Military Action, and the Ordinance or Law EThe Baltimore Sun ran an article over the weekend that discussed business interruption insurance coverage because of the riots. That...
Bob SiemsApr 30, 20151 minMIA wants Insurers to not insist on police reports for the recent riot damage claimsThe MIA just sent out an email asking insurers to not insist on police reports in light of the widespread damage making reports not a...
Bob SiemsApr 28, 20152 minWill Insurance Pay For All That Rioting?The short answer is mostly yes. Standard Homeowners coverage (ISO HO-02: Broad Form), Renters (ISO HO-04: Contents Broad Form) both cover...
Bob SiemsApr 27, 20153 minMaryland Casualty Company v. Blackstone International Ltd. (Md. 2015): Advertising injury does not iMaryland just handed down a duty-to-defend advertising-injury case, Maryland Casualty Company v. Blackstone International Ltd. (Md....
Bob SiemsApr 20, 20153 minConnors v. GEICO: The Meaning of "Subject To"The Court of Appeals just handed down Connors v. GEICO. I had been waiting for Connors because I have clients similarly situated to...
Bob SiemsApr 13, 20153 minSpecial Relationships and Insurance Duty-To-AdviseMaryland does not have a lot of law about special relationships, but I just saw an out of state case go by with some useful elaboration...
Bob SiemsApr 6, 20152 minWhiting Turner v. Liberty Mutual: 27-1001 applies to all claims between insured and insurer, not jusSince it's back in the news, I thought I should finally get around to writing about Whiting Turner v. Liberty Mutual, 912 F.Supp.2d 321...
Bob SiemsMar 30, 20151 minCharter Oak v. American Capital: among other things, a pending 27-1001 actionI keep an eye on potential 27-1001 opinions since the Maryland Courts do not produce that many. And there's another one, Charter Oak v....
Bob SiemsMar 23, 20151 minMaryland contemplates forbidding Insurers from looking at credit historyMaryland is planning to put a slight modification into its mandatory insurance scheme. Insurers have apparently based their underwriting...
Bob SiemsMar 16, 20151 minMore on People's Insurance Counsel v. State FarmI'm not the only person who thinks the cert improvidently granted was a bad way to dispose of People's Insurance Counsel v. State Farm....
Bob SiemsMar 9, 20151 min27-303 Unfair Claim Settlement Practices seem really redundant (at least for Property and Casualty IPeople should not bother bringing 27-303 actions because 27-1001 actions are better. (Assuming you can bring a 27-1001 of course. 27-1001...
Bob SiemsMar 3, 20151 minPeople's Ins. Counsel Div. v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Ins. Co., 214 Md.App. 438, 76 A.3d 517 The Court of Appeals recently didn't decide whether Maryland should become a "reasonable expectations" state. It instead denied the...
Bob SiemsFeb 24, 20151 minWould data on 27-303 claims help flesh out the data on 27-1001 claims?One of the strange things about 27-1001 data is that so few people complain about their insurance companies. I've wondered about this...
Bob SiemsFeb 10, 20151 minAdministrative Bad Faith: Unfair Claim Settlement Practices claimsMaryland really has two bad faith regimes. We have the 27-1001 First Party Tort and the Administrative 27-303 Unfair Claim Settlement...
Bob SiemsFeb 3, 20151 minThe Maryland Insurance Administration is apparently going recruiting for more Insurershttp://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2015/01/26/insurance-commissioner-redmer-maryland-needs-more.html According to the Baltimore...
Bob SiemsJan 26, 20153 minA.M. v. Encompass Home & Auto Insurance Company (MIA #14-00007)Encompass low-balled its insured by misusing Colossus The Maryland Insurance Administration held that Encompass acted in bad faith by...
Bob SiemsJan 20, 20152 minD.C. v. Nationwide (MIA #27-1001-13-00017) (2013)Nationwide lowballed its insured by offering $125,000 when they valued the case at $235,410 without being able to explain why their offer...