Strategies, Challenges, and Answers

When Is A UM/UIM Provider Bound By A Judgment Against The Tortfeasor?

Lucky for John Pietrosh, his parents bought UM/UIM coverage as part of their Allstate auto insurance policy.  Not so lucky for John, one day in July 1966, he was riding his bike when an uninsured driver hit and injured him.His parents reported the accident to their Allstate agent.  The agent responded that the family was “fully covered” and that it would “take care of the whole thing”.The Pietrosh family sued the uninsured driver and sent notice of the suit to Allstate.  Allstate did not … [Read more...]

Nevada Supreme Court Enforces Choice Of Law Provision In Mississippi Auto Insurance Policy

Randall and Toni Faehnrich lived with their two sons in Mississippi.  The Faehnrich’s owned a Jeep.  Mr. and Mrs. Faehnrich divorced and Mrs. Faehnrich decided to move to Las Vegas.  After moving to Nevada but before changing the plates, registration and insurance, Toni Faehnrich crashed the Jeep.  The Faehnrich boys were hurt in the accident.Randall brought suit against his wife Toni in behalf of their injured sons.  In Nevada, it had been against public policy for a Nevada Auto Insurance … [Read more...]

Nevada Court Enforces Clear and Unambiguous Contractual Limitation of Action

Evelyn Collins and her daughter Angela lived in the same house.  They each had their own car and their own auto insurance policy from Farmers Insurance.One day Evelyn was a passenger in her daughter’s car.  The daughter Angela negligently caused an accident.  Evelyn was seriously hurt.  Evelyn made a claim against her daughter and collected the $100,000.00 auto bodily injury liability limit from the daughter’s policy.  Evelyn also made a claim against her own policy for med pay.  She … [Read more...]

An Activist Supreme Court Prohibits Enforcement Of Binding Arbitration Provision That Prevents Nevada Consumers From Joining Class Action Suit

Auto insurance is not the only industry in which Nevada law provides protections to consumers.  In a previous POST, we pointed out that the legislature precluded the enforcement of compulsory arbitration provisions in auto insurance policies.Now the Nevada Supreme Court is getting into the act of refusing to enforce similar provisions in consumer sales contracts.  In the recent case of Picardi v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court, 127 Nev. Adv. Op. 9, 251 P.3d 723 (Nev. 2011), the Court found that … [Read more...]

Underlying Policy Need Not Be Exhausted For Insured To Claim UIM Benefits

Almost universally, Underinsured Motorist policies require that the insured exhaust the underlying liability policy before he or she can make claim for the Underinsured Motorist benefits.  In the cases of Mann v. Farmers Ins. Exchange, 108 Nev. 648, 836 P.2d 620 (1992) and Shaw v. Continental Ins. Co., 108 Nev. 928, 840 P.2d 592 (1992) the Nevada Supreme Court considered the question of whether such provisions were enforceable.In the Mann case, the Plaintiff was injured in an accident … [Read more...]