The VLW Blog

A Norfolk federal judge has ruled a Virginia Beach resident has no coverage under his homeowner’s policy for Chinese drywall damage that forced him out of his home.
The decision is among the first few insurance coverage rulings related to the sulfur-emitting wallboard imported for use in homes in Virginia, Florida and Louisiana.
In a 37-page opinion, [...]

[Read more →]

In what may be the first insurance coverage decision arising from the wave of Chinese drywall lawsuits, a Norfolk federal judge held Wednesday that a home builder who voluntarily fixed drywall-related problems in customers’ homes is not entitled to reimbursement from its insurer because the builder was not faced with a “legal obligation” to pay [...]

[Read more →]

Simplifying the concept appears to have worked in the initial wrangling over House Bill 93, the effort by personal injury attorneys to streamline cases in which the primary insurer pays its policy limits and additional underinsurance coverage is available for the plaintiff.
The attorneys long have complained that settlement of such cases gets dragged out needlessly [...]

[Read more →]

In other Virginia cases decided this week by the 4th Circuit in unpublished opinions:
In a case arising from a fatal workplace assault at a Harrisonburg home medical services company, the 4th Circuit, in Admiral Ins. Co. v. Ace American Ins. Co., upheld a federal district court decision that a CGL carrier who participated in a [...]

[Read more →]

A Spotsylvania County couple is weighing their legal options after finding out the driveway they thought they owned belongs to their next-door neighbor.
Maggie and Thomas Smith discovered the original surveyor’s mistake when they rehired the surveying company to mark the corners of their property for a fence line, reports The Free Lance-Star. Their neighbor has [...]

[Read more →]

The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled yesterday that a girl badly injured in a car wreck can “stack” the uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage in her father’s auto policy, increasing the potential amount of money available for her injury.
In the case, the girl’s lawyer was able to distinguish the language in the father’s policy from the wording [...]

[Read more →]

The Supreme Court of Virginia will not decide the validity of an “illegal act” exclusion in a medical insurance policy.
The case of Bailey v. Anthem Health Plans of Virginia Inc., Record No. 082014, had been scheduled for argument before the court on Monday, but the parties settled.
“It was resolved to both parties’ satisfaction,” said Daniel R. Bieger, [...]

[Read more →]

The spread of mold in a townhouse project is an “occurrence” that triggers coverage by a Northern Virginia builder’s CGL policy, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says in a decision reversing a denial of relief to the builder.
In its unpublished decision Feb. 12 in Stanley Martin Companies Inc. v. Ohio Cas. Group, a [...]

[Read more →]

The Virginia State Bar is seeking comments to the proposal that all active VSB members engaged in the private practice of law representing clients (either individuals or entities) drawn from the general public be covered under a professional liability (malpractice) insurance policy.  The linked page includes a link to the text of the proposal.
By Peter [...]

[Read more →]

The Virginia State Bar Council has agreed to conduct a thorough discussion at its Oct. 19 meeting on whether the VSB should require that all lawyers who represent the public carry malpractice insurance.
Darrel Tillar Mason, the chairman of a subcommittee studying the issue, came to council Thursday with a more modest proposal: requiring submission of [...]

[Read more →]