Professional Liability Matters

Last week Lindsay Lohan provided a valuable lesson for the professional liability community.  It’s true.  The lesson arises from Lohan’s recently dismissed lawsuit against rapper Pitbull.  Adding insult to injury, the court tossed the suit and sanctioned Lohan’s lawyer for improperly submitting a brief that contained plagiarized, “cut-and-paste” content.  

In the underlying lawsuit, Lohan alleged that Pitbull violated her right of publicity and caused emotional distress via the following lyric: “So, I’m tiptoe-in’, to keep flowin’, I got it locked up, like Lindsay …

A recent decision confirms that failure to read the fine print is not a valid defense. The Mississippi Supreme Court recently ruled that the owner of two nursing homes was required to pay a $1.25 million deductible despite claiming it was unaware of the high deductible. The insurance policy issued by Lloyd’s of London contained a $250,000 per-claim deductible.  Since the nursing homes were named in five separate professional liability suits, and each of which was considered a separate “claim,” the policyholder was forced …

A recent South Dakota Supreme Court decision serves as a reminder of some of the ethical issues and pitfalls when representing an elderly client.  Unlike some of our posts which apply to a particular specialty, the potential for hiccups arising from representing the elderly impacts all professionals: accountants and attorneys, real estate professionals, brokers of all sorts, to name a few.  The lesson is often the same: be particularly wary when representing an elderly client to avoid a potential malpractice suit or ethical problem.

Bailey …

A recent decision before the Nevada Supreme Court highlights the importance of timely reporting all claims.  The issue: is a carrier’s “constructive notice” of a potential claim sufficient to trigger coverage?  Lesson: all professionals must have a firm grasp of the reporting requirements under their professional malpractice policy or risk denial of coverage.  The Nevada Supreme Court’s decision in Physicians Insurance Co. v. Williams raises the all-important question: must all professionals, even pill-poppers and cocaine abusers, provide their insurance representative with timely notice …