COVID


Talking about Covid-19 and the car wash: Agent was improperly joined and virus exclusion applied to bar business interruption coverage.

January 31st, 2021 By Sheila Tan

The joinder of an insurance adjuster or agent as a defendant, in a case against an insurance carrier, is a commonly used strategy to defeat diversity. Many attorneys for insurance practitioners have found that challenging joinders of insurance agents and adjusters can be an exercise in futility given the broad reach of the Texas Insurance Code. But a district court in the Western District of Texas recently affirmed the importance of challenging a plaintiff’s failure to allege specific, affirmative misrepresentations
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Western District’s New Emergency COVID-19 Order Cancels Trials Through November 30th with One Big Exception

October 16th, 2020 By David L. Plaut

Chief Judge Orlando Garcia has issued a new emergency COVID-19 Order, dated October 14, 2020.  The new Order continues all civil and criminal trials through November 30, 2020.  Order at ¶1.  The Order indicates these trials are being continued, at least in part, because of a “reduced ability to obtain an adequate spectrum of jurors” and “due to reduced availability of attorneys and court staff to be present in the courtrooms” because of COVID-19 and “public health considerations.”  Id. at
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COVID-19 Case Note: Government mandated shutdown did not cause direct physical loss required to trigger business interruption coverage.

September 13th, 2020 By Sheila Tan

For many businesses in Texas that have been shut-down or restricted by state and local government orders due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, one of the most pressing questions raised is: is there business interruption coverage? And for at least some barber shops in Bexar County, the Western District has answered with a definitive no. In Diesel Barbershop et al. v. State Farm Lloyds, No. 5-20-CV-461-DAE, Plaintiffs run barbershop businesses that were classified as “non-essential businesses” and forced to cease
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