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Valuing Plaintiff's Recoverable Damages
When an insurer partially compensates its policyholder for a loss caused by a responsible party, it may assert a subrogation claim against the responsible party to recover the amount of the insurance benefits paid. The responsible party then is faced with two actions against it: a tort action and a subrogation action by the plaintiff's insurer. The party may find it in its interests to settle the subrogation action before or during the pendency of the tort action. If the defendant's settlement reimburses the insurer for all the benefits paid to the plaintiff (its policyholder), then any damages award will be reduced to account for the benefits paid.
But what happens when the responsible party settles the subrogation claim for less than the amount of benefits paid by the insurer? Can the party then offset a damages award by the full amount of the subrogation claim, and in so doing, potentially pay less than the full amount of the damages it caused? Only a few courts around the country have addressed this question, and they are split on the issue. This article examines the most recent decision, a particularly lucid, albeit unpublished, decision by the California Court of Appeal in De Anza Interiors, et al. v. Hsu, et al., 2011 WL 6402146, No. CV-08-2550 (Cal. Ct. App. Dec. 21, 2011), which answers the question in the affirmative.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.