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On September 20th, the Supreme Court of Nevada issued an order answering certified questions posed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit directed at the vitality and application of its recent ruling in Century Surety Co. v. Andrew, 134 Nev., Adv. Op. 100, 432 P.3d 180 (2018). In Century Surety, the Court...

New Mexico remains firmly in the column of states where the tort of bad faith may be “untethered” from coverage. Haygood was shot by Cordova in, or near, Cordova’s parked car. The car was uninsured and Haywood presented an uninsured motorist claim to his insurer, USAA. The adjuster recommended paying the claim as related to...

CDS shareholder Gena Sluga has been selected as chair of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel (FDCC) Insurance Coverage Section for 2019-2020. Ms. Sluga’s FDCC involvement has also included serving as program chair of the 2017 Insurance Industry Institute, co-chair of the Professional Women’s Forum, vice chair of the Extra-Contractual Liability Section, and program chair of...

Rhonda Cerny shot Craig Cerny in the chest with a .22 caliber revolver from a distance of five to ten feet. Rhonda pleaded guilty to Aggravated Assault. The factual basis for her plea agreement was that “she recklessly caused serious physical injury to C. Cerny by use of a deadly weapon, a gun.”

A New Mexico Federal Magistrate Judge ruled on June 25 that a spouse’s loss of consortium claim alleged “bodily injury” separate from that sustained by her husband, who had been killed by USAA’s insured in an auto accident. As a result, the policy’s $200,000 per accident limit—rather than the $100,000 per person limit—was applicable to the claims....

On April 5, Division One of the Arizona Court of Appeals decided an issue of first impression relating to whether an insurer’s medical payment benefits are subject to Arizona’s health care provider lien statute. They are. In summary, the Court stated, “The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether payments under optional medical payments coverage...

Christian Dichter & Sluga shareholder Gena Sluga (left) was one of six honorees at the ASU Barrett Honors College Distinguished Alumni Awards event on April 4. Gena graduated from Barrett in 1994 before earning her law degree at the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

A Nevada federal district judge ruled on March 31 that notice to an insured of his right to independent counsel, where a conflict of interest existed between him and his insurer, did not satisfy the insurer’s contractual duty to defend. Rather, the insurer was required to obtain from the insured an express waiver of independent...

The United States District Court for the District of Nevada certified the following question to the Nevada Supreme Court: ‘[w]hether, under Nevada law, the liability of an insurer that has breached its duty to defend, but has not acted in bad faith, is capped at the policy limit plus any costs incurred by the insured...