Colorado, Kentucky,Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and WestVirginia www.steptoe(johnson.com Susan S. Brewer,CEO
Volume 10 • Issue 32 • Spring 2012
Revisiting the Stowers Doctrine Page 2
Policy Benefits for Statutory Violations Page 4
Incorporating Service Contracts Page 7
This ne wsletter is a p eriodic pu blication o f Steptoe & Joh nson PLLC’s
Insur ance Comp any Team and sho uld not be con strued as l egal advi ce
or lega l opini on on any s pecif ic fact s or circ umsta nces. T he cont ents
are int ended f or gene ral inf ormat ion pur poses o nly, and yo u are
urged t o consu lt your o wn lawy er conc ernin g your ow n situa tion an d
any spe cific l egal qu estio ns you ma y have. F or furt her inf ormat ion,
pleas e contact a mem ber of the Insu rance Compa ny Team. Thi s is an
adver tisem ent.
This past year, the Insurance Company Team
recently welcomed six new team members from The
Woodlands, Texas office of Steptoe & Johnson PLLC.
The combined experience of the new members brings
decades of Texas focused experience to the Team in the
areas of insurance coverage, claim investigation, claim
handling, and bad faith defense.
This edition of First Look focuses on three hot button
insurance topics currently trending in the State of
Texas. Any carrier writing coverage in the State of
Texas or adjusting claims under Texas law should be
familiar with these evolving issues and potential traps
for bad faith exposure.
The first article revisits the Stowers Doctrine and
provides practical instruction concerning under
what circumstances a carrier’s failure to settle a third
party liability claim within policy limits may expose
the carrier to liability for an excess judgment. The
next article discusses the evolving body of case law
addressing statutory bad faith claims, and specifically,
whether an insured may recover policy benefits as actual
damages caused by a carrier’s statutory violations,
absent a breach of the insurance policy. The last
article instructs carriers on the impact of recent Texas
case law regarding additional insured coverage when
dealing with an underlying service contract.
We hope our readers enjoy this Texas focused edition
of First Look, and encourage you to contact any of our
Texas Team members with additional questions.
INSIDE THIS EDITION:
“Not our First Rodeo:
Navigating Insurance Law in Texas”
Letter from the Insurance Company Team
