Insurers do not have to indemnify lawyer for overbilling claim (US)

By Patrick Bracher (ZA) on May 31, 2018 Posted in Insurance

A property foreclosure attorney was sued in a class action for overbilling a group of property owners. The lawyer sued his PI insurers to oblige them to defend him against the class action. He lost. The court found that the policy did not create a duty to defend because the allegations had arisen from billing … Continue reading

Failure of PI insured to report potential malpractice suit (US)

By Patrick Bracher (ZA) on March 22, 2017 Posted in Insurance

The question debated in a claim under a lawyers’ professional indemnity policy was whether the attorneys could have reasonably expected the underlying malpractice action and should have reported it to their insurers. The insurers argued that a claim should have been expected from an expressly unhappy client. The attorneys said the suit was not reasonably … Continue reading

Attorney’s malpractice cover limited because only one claim (US)

By Patrick Bracher (ZA) on February 5, 2017 Posted in Insurance

An attorney’s professional indemnity policy had a per-claim limit of $500 000 and an aggregate limit of $1 million. The attorney lost a $525 000 malpractice suit after a former client blamed the lawyer for being ousted from his company. A claim was defined as a ‘demand made upon any insured for loss in service of a suit’. … Continue reading