Supreme Court of Texas Archives - The Insurance & Reinsurance Report

November 10, 2016 Bad Faith and Extra-Contractual Liability

Supreme Court of Texas Puts a Dent in Policyholders’ Demand for Discovery of Other Claims in Hail Storm MDL

On October 28, 2016, the Supreme Court of Texas squelched a trial court order granting a policyholders’ motion to compel that reached its bench by mandamus petition. The dispute arose out of multidistrict litigation (MDL) involving claims for property damage caused by the 2012 hail storms that tormented Hidalgo County, Texas. The policyholders sought compensatory and extra-contractual damages against several insurers for underpayment of insurance claims.

A pretrial court appointed by the MDL panel granted the policyholders’ motion to compel the insurer to produce all …

December 22, 2015 Uncategorized

Supreme Court of Texas Declines to Adopt Incorporation Theory: But Destructive Repairs are Covered

Ruling on certified questions from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of Texas has positioned the state as another jurisdiction to refuse to characterize mere incorporation of a defective component into a product or system as “physical injury” to property that would trigger coverage under a standard form CGL policy. The court also refused to narrowly apply the “impaired property” exclusion by rejecting the insured’s argument that the exclusion should be limited to those situations where the property is restored to use …