Road to Recovery News

If A Tree Falls In The Forest, Does The Subrogation Department Hear It?

During my first decade of practicing law in Texas, I enjoyed a good professional relationship with Texas Governor Greg Abbott. In those days, Abbott, who is my age and earned his law degree one year after me, was a young …

Commentary: The Failure of No-Fault Insurance

The Future Of Auto Insurance In No-Fault States In its widest sense, “no-fault insurance” is a term used to describe any auto insurance coverage under which policyholders are paid for personal injuries and property damage they sustain in accidents through …

Driverless Car Litigation: The World of George Jetson Has Arrived

Imagine beginning your day with a cup of coffee in the car on the way to work, watching the morning news from a holographic projection on the windshield while making notes in preparation for a 9:00 a.m. meeting. All this …

Subrogating Snowmageddon And Winter Roof Collapses

As someone whose childhood winter chores included shoveling the roof, I have an intimate familiarity with the concept of the potential for roof collapse from the weight of excessive snow and ice. Winter storms this season have produced all-time record …

The Parable of the Crippled Mare: Loss-Of-Use Now Recoverable in Texas Total Loss Auto Cases

Many years ago, a lawyer argued that the long-standing Texas rule prohibiting recovery of damages for loss of use of personal property, unless the property was a total loss or destroyed, was unfair. City of Canadian v. Guthrie, 87 S.W.2d …

Making Subrogation While the Hay Shines

Every year in North America insurers pay out tens of millions of claim dollars resulting from fires and feed damage caused by the spontaneous combustion and heating of hay mow – a pile of hay stored in or near a …

Where’s my Deductible?

A Survey of Laws Regarding Reimbursement of an Insured’s Deductible in all 50 States Most automobile insurance policies require their insured to pay a deductible when a claim is made. If the auto carrier is successful in subrogating a particular …

If It Seems too Good to Be True: The Problem With Cut-Rate Subrogation Vendors

Litigation is rarely cheap, but it is often necessary. Nowhere is this truer than in the area of insurance subrogation, where those who resist paying subrogation claims assume that insurance companies are loath to pull the trigger and file suit …

I Sue Dead People: When a Tortfeasor Dies, Your Subrogation Claim Doesn’t Need to Die too

The author, Franz Kafka, known for his dark situations which many people relate to, once wrote a very short story about omnipotent power floating just beyond our reach. You go to the city to see the law. Upon arrival outside …

Sudden Medical Emergencies While Driving

When Driving Through Somebody’s Living Room Is Not Negligence Every day in America vehicles leave the roadway, travel across well-manicured lawns, smash through garden sheds, patio furniture, swing sets and plow through the walls of a home, coming to rest …