Richard Audley, of the Law Offices of Audley and Audley, gave his annual Case Law Update at the January 11, 2006 EBCA luncheon meeting.

Debbie Ginestar, of Custom Commercial, filled in the secretarial duties at the January meeting, as 2006 EBCA Secretary, Carol Valenzuela, was called away on family business.

A smile from Karla Hall, of RHA, Inc. fire Investigators.

Focusing primarily on his own area of expertise of property claims case law, attorney Dick Audley, of the Law Offices of Audley & Audley, covered a wide variety of legal decisions from 2005 at the January 11, 2006 EBCA luncheon meeting.

Following closely along the outline he provided all in attendance, Audley outlined significant cases from the past year, dealing with subjects from Bad Faith, Concealment, and Misrepresentation, to Pollution cases, Subrogation, Vandalism and Weather Conditions Exclusions.

With regard to Subrogation, he stated that the Power Stands Lab case not only clarified where Federal Law supersedes States’ Law with regard to bad faith language, but also clearly stated that Punitive Damages are never allowed in Breach of Contract cases.

The Garamendi v. Golden Eagle Ins. Co. 2005 DJDAR 2915 decision that pollution “need not be widespread” more clearly defined the “Truck” case from last year.

“The California Supreme Court upheld summary judgment for Hartford in a case in which it relied upon the weather conditions exclusion in a homeowner’s policy,” he stated in reference to Julian v. Hartford Underwriters Ins. Co. (2005 35 Cal. 4th 747. A mud slide caused by rain was denied coverage. The Court ruled that the weather exclusion as worded is fine.

“It was a pretty good year for the insurance industry,” Mr. Audley stated flatly.

His talk was complete with the rather adult and somewhat X-rated non-insurance case, Irons v. Phillips. Case not otherwise sited, but you can probably find it online.

Ben Alexander, of ServiceMaster, celebrates his Dietz raffle prize. Word is Ben is leaving us.

Steve Tilghman, of Southwest Claims Services, Inc., had questions answered, as Debbie Walling, of Allied Insurance, looks on.

Thank You to All Our January Door Prize Contributors
Dietz Associates, Inc.
Coast Construction
Har-Bro Construction, Inc.
Crawford and Company
TempHome Services
Pipe Pros
Vanderbuilt Construction

EBCA 2006 President, Bob Tucknott (right), thanks January guest speaker Dick Audley.

Mona Stolte, of CSAA, with EBCA VP Karen Cowan, of Restoration Management Co., and Ray Depa, of Crawford and Company.

Lauren Hoyt and Sharmaine Nunes, of Dietz Associates, Inc., join Kevin Morgan, of Coast Construction, Mark Sturgess, of McLarens Young, and Karla Hall, of Ron Hall and Associates, Inc. at the January luncheon.

Nela Cunningham, near right, of
TempHome, with Chris Kapels, of AIG, and Lisa Winn, of Vanderbuilt Construction.