by Soha Lang | Feb 6, 2019 | Blog News, Publications
Soha & Lang, P.S. Shareholder Geoffrey Bedell has been selected to be the President of the Seattle Chapter of the Claims and Litigation Management (CLM) Alliance for 2019. CLM is a national organization created to meet the needs of professionals in the claims and litigation management industries. The CLM sponsors educational programs, provides resources, and fosters communication among all in the industry. Please feel free to contact Geoff if you have questions about the CLM or visit www.theclm.org
by Soha Lang | Sep 8, 2017 | Blog News, Publications
Soha & Lang, P.S. Shareholder Paul Rosner is one of more than 50 speakers who will be participating in the 2017 CPCU Annual Meeting in Orlando this month.
On Sunday September 17th, Paul, Ulises Castellon of Fire Cause Analysis, and Denise Brown of InterWest Insource Services will be presenting “Bad Faith Nightmares: Recent Trends and Themes.” This interactive course discusses real-life case scenarios and explores errors and issues that have led to some of the industry’s most troubling bad faith losses, as well as several of the themes and increasingly common attacks being utilized by plaintiffs.
On Monday September 18th, Paul will join a panel of experts including Professor Harold Weston of Georgia State University, Phillip Bryant of Snodgrass, P.C. and Michael Gay of Volvo Financial Services to present: “Vacation Calamity 2: Adventures on the Trip to Orlando” a tale of a fictional group traveling to Orlando for the CPCU Society Annual Meeting. The group encounters misfortunes and accidents along the way, including at an amusement park, on an aerial gondola ride, and from an Airbnb stay gone bad. The panel will discuss the legal issues and apply policy provisions.
by Soha Lang | Jan 9, 2017 | Blog News, Publications, Uncategorized
Soha & Lang, P.S. Shareholder Paul Rosner, J.D., CPCU has been selected to Chair the Coverage, Litigators, Educators & Witnesses Interest Group (the “CLEW IG”) of the Institutes CPCU Society for a three year term beginning on January 1, 2017.
The CLEW IG was founded in the 1990s as a home and resource for a diverse segment of CPCU Society members whose professional paths tended toward independence: attorneys representing or counseling insurers or insureds in claims and coverage matters and industry professionals putting their experience and expertise to work as consultants or as witnesses in contested insurance-related matters. When the group formed, the CLEW acronym stood for Consultants, Litigators & Expert Witnesses. Today, those initials stand for Coverage, Litigators, Educators & Witnesses, and CLEW’s members include CPCUs whose emphasis is on technical research and on the development and spread of insurance knowledge in universities and through continuing professional education. CLEW activities include presenting one or more educational programs at the CPCU Society Annual Meeting, which commonly include a “Mock Trial”; publication of articles in CPCU Society publications and other industry journals; and a growing number of webinars through the Society. Participation in these activities provides CLEW members the opportunity to interact with, and to share their technical expertise with, fellow industry professionals.
Paul’s practice focuses on representing insurance companies and risk pools in insurance coverage matters and bad faith litigation in Washington and Oregon. Paul is also a claims handling and bad faith expert with over 15 years of industry experience as a claims professional.
Please feel free to contact Paul if you have questions about the CPCU designation, the CPCU Society, the local PNW (Seattle) Chapter, the CLEW IG, or about insurance coverage issues.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Soha and Lang, P.S. or its clients.
by Soha Lang | Oct 7, 2016 | Blog News, Publications
On October 6, 2016, the Washington Supreme Court issued an important 5-4 decision holding that a wrongful death action is extinguished if the statute of limitations has run on the decedent’s own cause of action by the time of his death. Deggs v. Asbestos Corp., et al., Wash. Sup. Ct. No. 91969-1 (October 6, 2016). The majority rejected plaintiff’s claim that—regardless whether the statute had run on decedent’s own claims prior to death—the heirs’ cause of action for wrongful death cannot arise until after the decedent’s death.
The decedent in Deggs had filed a lawsuit in 1999 against nearly 40 defendants claiming asbestos-related injury. He settled with some defendants, and won a judgment at trial of $1,511,900 against the last remaining defendant. He died nine years later, and within three years of death, the personal representative of his estate filed a wrongful death action based on the alleged asbestos-related injury, naming one defendant who was named in decedent’s prior action, and a host of new defendants who were not. The trial court granted a motion to dismiss on the grounds that decedent’s cause of action for asbestos-related injuries had lapsed by the time of his death, precluding the heirs from bringing a wrongful death action. The Washington Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal.
Justice Stephens wrote a vigorous dissent to the majority opinion by the Washington Supreme Court, joined by three other justices. The dissent maintained that the wrongful death action is a “free-standing cause of action for family members that cannot arise before the death of their loved one.” It further complained that despite acknowledging its decision was based on incorrect precedent, the majority “sees no harm in perpetuating its topsy-turvy illogic.”
This decision should prevent the practice by some plaintiffs’ firms of recycling old claims by filing new wrongful death actions against the same or different defendants years after the decedent filed his own lawsuit or allowed his cause of action to lapse.
(October 6, 2016)
Soha and Lang attorneys are available to assist insurer clients in understanding and addressing the impact of this decision both during the claims handling process and after an allegation of bad faith claims handling has been made.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Soha and Lang, P.S. or its clients.
by Soha Lang | Sep 14, 2016 | Blog News, Publications
On September 13, 2016, Soha & Lang, P.S. attorney Jennifer Dinning took and passed her first CPCU exam, CPCU 500 Foundations of Risk Management and Insurance. Jennifer is one of three Soha & Lang, P.S. attorneys on the path to obtaining the CPCU designation. In addition, one of our shareholders, Paul Rosner, J.D., CPCU, is active in the Pacific Northwest Chapter and nationally. Soha & Lang, P.S. attorneys are also frequent speakers at chapter meetings and All-Industry Days of the Pacific Northwest (Western Washington), Spokane and Oregon chapters of the CPCU Society.
