As most auto insurance policies do, the defendant-insurer’s policy required its insured to promptly notify it of claims; nevertheless, the insured tortfeasor did not notify the insurer until more than 18 months after a default judgment was entered against the ...
Read More »Insurance Auto – Notice Provision – Above-Minimum Coverage – Prejudice
Insurance Auto – Stolen Rental Car – Innocent Passenger – Tort/Negligence – Bad Faith – Breach of Contract 
Although a self-insurer is required to provide uninsured motorist coverage pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. § 38-77-150, there appears to be no basis in South Carolina law for a plaintiff to pursue a bad-faith insurance action against a self-insurer when ...
Read More »Insurance Auto – Stolen Rental Car – Innocent Passenger – Tort/Negligence – Bad Faith – Breach of Contract 
Although a self-insurer is required to provide uninsured motorist coverage pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. § 38-77-150, there appears to be no basis in South Carolina law for a plaintiff to pursue a bad-faith insurance action against a self-insurer when ...
Read More »Insurance Tort/Negligence – Bad Faith – First Impression – Attorney-Client Privilege – Waiver – Certified Question 
In response to a certified question from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, we hold that, in an insurance bad faith action, a denial of bad faith and/or the assertion of good faith in the insurer’s answer does not, standing ...
Read More »Insurance Auto – Fleeing Law Enforcement – Policy Exclusion – Minimum Coverage 
An exclusion within an automobile liability insurance policy reduced the policy’s $300,000 coverage to the statutory minimum if the accident occurred in the course of the commission of a felony or while fleeing law enforcement. Because the exclusion discourages certain ...
Read More »Insurance Life – Bad Faith Claim – Claim Denial – Failure to Disclose COPD – Application Question – Expert Witness 
Six weeks before plaintiffs’ decedent applied for life insurance, his doctor noted that he had COPD; consequently, it was reasonable for the defendant-insurer to assume that the decedent knew he had COPD. However, given the wording of the application question ...
Read More »Insurance – Municipal – Personal Injury – SCTCA – ‘Political Subdivision’ – ‘Occurrence’ 
A self-insurance pool created by municipalities under the authorization of the state constitution and the South Carolina Tort Claims Act (SCTCA) is a “political subdivision” covered by the SCTCA. We reverse the circuit court’s finding that plaintiff was entitled to ...
Read More »Insurance – Commercial – Additional Insured – Policy & Underlying Contract – Duty to Defend & Indemnify – Collateral & Judicial Estoppel 
A jury in an underlying case determined that plaintiff herein had breached its contract with a truck-maintenance company and that the maintenance company had not breached its duty to defend and indemnify plaintiff. However, the jury did not decide whether ...
Read More »Insurance – Commercial – Construction Defects – Tyger River – SCUTPA – Reformation 
Under the Tyger River doctrine, an insured can be entitled to recover excess judgment beyond the policy limits from its insurer if the excess judgment was caused by the insurer’s bad faith refusal to settle or defend a case. Although ...
Read More »Insurance – Sexual Abuse Claim – Negligence – Intentional Acts Exclusion – Extension of Policy Exclusion 
In a sexual abuse case an intentional acts exclusion in an insurance policy could be extended to a negligence claim against a non-abusing party named in the same policy as the abuser. We find no general proposition that a negligence ...
Read More »