It may get tougher in Texas for insurance companies to use guidelines to manage the costs of defending a policyholder from litigation. In a ruling insurance-defense lawyers say is significant, 270th District Judge Brent Gamble granted a partial motion for summary judgment that says an insurance company can’t use litigation guidelines to avoid paying a client’s reasonable and necessary costs of defense.
The ruling came in a suit Houston’s WNS Inc., the franchisor of Wicks ‘n’ Sticks stores, filed against American Motorist Insurance Co. and a fee auditing company, Juris Prudent Inc., over nonpayment of $800,298 in legal costs. The defendants are units of Kemper National Insurance Companies. [See the judge's order and the plaintiff's first amended original petition.]
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
