On Thursday, October 23rd, the 6th Annual Goodwill Industries of Upstate/Midlands South Carolina Champions Tribute dinner will be held in Greenville, SC to honor those whose lives have changed as a result of Goodwill’s education and training initiatives. Once again, Collins & Lacy is a proud sponsor of the dinner and supporter of the company’s… Continue Reading
About Ross Plyler
Goodwill: Good for jobs, good for business and good for Joy!
Joy Boitnott Tonight, Collins & Lacy will be a sponsor for the 5th Annual Goodwill Industries of Upstate/Midlands South Carolina Champions Tribute dinner. This is an organization that I am very passionate about. Goodwill is a company everyone can get behind because it supports employment, businesses and, yes, even fashion (just check out its Facebook… Continue Reading
Number of Occurrences addressed in Surgical Tools Snafu
If you are going into surgery, you probably have some concerns, but you may not have thought to worry about whether the surgical instruments had been washed in elevator hydraulic fluid rather than proper surgical detergents and lubricants. An interesting case from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company of America… Continue Reading
Pollution Exclusion Drives Homeowners Batty
Homeowners in Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin walked in to their house one day to find an “offensive odor emanating from the home.” The cause of the odor was bat guano that had accumulated between the home’s siding and walls, making “the drapes, carpets, fabrics and fabric furnishings of the home unusable as a result of the… Continue Reading
Beware of Things that Go Bump in the Night
It is almost Halloween, and chances are your neighborhood will be full of trick-or-treaters going door-to-door filling up their bags with treats of all kinds. Unfortunately, Halloween also is the night for tricks. One particular trick made it all the way to the West Virginia Supreme Court this year in Richard E. Lemaster vs. GEICO… Continue Reading
Is Your Golf Cart an Uninsured Motor Vehicle?
With the growing use of golf carts outside the boundaries of golf courses, it is worth some discussion about whether a golf cart is a motor vehicle. If it is, could it be an “uninsured motor vehicle” under an automobile insurance policy such that an insured would have uninsured motorist (UM) coverage for property damage caused by… Continue Reading
A Burning Need: Pay Attention to Insurance Coverage Policy Terms
Post by Ross Plyler I read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, “No Fire Fee? Let Your House Burn!” about a fire department in South Fulton, Tennessee that watched a house burn because the owners had not paid a $75.00 annual fire protection subscription fee. It should be noted that the… Continue Reading
PART II: Courts struggle with Whether Global Warming is “Natural and Probable”
Post by Ross Plyer Last time, we discussed The AES Corporation v. Steadfast Insurance Company, a recent Virginia case where the growing trend of climate change nuisance cases intersected with the world of insurance coverage law. Critical to the coverage analysis was whether the Plaintiffs in the underlying action, the tiny island village of Kivalina,… Continue Reading
Courts struggle with Whether Global Warming is “Natural and Probable” – Part 1
Hello! My name is Ross Plyler, and I am based in the Collins & Lacy Greenville office. I’m excited to contribute to our Insurance Practice Group’s blog, and I wanted to take the opportunity to share an interesting case with you. An environmental case that started in an Alaskan fishing village of less than two square miles and… Continue Reading