Texas Supreme Court grants a mandamus petition and denies Plaintiff’s attempted counteraffidavit “gotcha.”

May 7th, 2023 By Erin Holmes

Confirming and applying its previous opinion in In re Allstate Indemnity Insurance Co., 622 S.W.3d 870 (Tex. 2021), the Texas Supreme Court granted a Petition for Mandamus in In re Chefs’ Produce of Hous., Inc., ___ S.W.3d ___, 2023 WL ___ (Tex. Apr. 21, 2023) (per curiam) [22-0286], holding that the trial court abused its discretion by striking the counteraffidavits and testimony of Chefs’ Produce’s retained expert because the opinions expressed in a counteraffidavit need not be admissible to provide
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San Antonio Court of Appeals upholds big win for UIM claimant although trial court allowed insurance and undesignated expert testimony in at trial.

August 19th, 2022 By Erin Holmes

In a case with some disturbing implications for insurance carriers, the San Antonio Court of Appeals recently affirmed a $1,000,000 judgment against a UIM carrier in The Cincinnati Insurance Company v. Villanueva, No. 04-20-00389-CV, filed March 2, 2022. The Court rejected Cincinnati’s arguments that (1) the trial court erred by allowing Villanueva to call the claims adjuster to testify at trial; (2) the trial court erred by permitting Villanueva’s experts to testify and striking Cincinnati’s experts; (3) the evidence is
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Texas Supreme Court Refuses to Apply a Counteraffidavit Death Penalty Trap

June 20th, 2021 By Erin Holmes

On May 7, 2021, the Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion in In re Allstate Indemnity Co., ruling that a party’s failure to comply with the requirements of Section 18.001 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code for counteraffidavits does NOT preclude the party from offering evidence or argument regarding the reasonableness and necessity of past medical expenses at trial. Following a motor vehicle collision, Plaintiff Alaniz filed suit seeking underinsured motorist benefits under her policy with Allstate.  She
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Fifth Circuit Affirms No Duty To Defend Against Criminal Charges Under Pollution Liability Policy

September 27th, 2020 By Erin Holmes

On September 4, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a district court’s decision that AIG Specialty Insurance Company (“ASIC”) was not liable for more than $12 million dollars in legal expenses incurred by Waste Management, Inc. (“Waste”) for defending criminal charges that were brought against the company for environmental contamination, agreeing with the lower court that there was no duty to defend the criminal case under the insurer’s pollution liability policy.  See Waste Management
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