On October 22, 2019, the Oklahoma Supreme Court issued its opinion in Loven v. Church Mutual Insurance Company. This case addressed a claim for “intentional interference with a prospective economic business advantage.” The justices held, for the first time, that such claims require a “showing of bad faith.” Lisa Gaye Loven worked as a general […]
All insurance companies have a “duty of good faith” under Oklahoma law. An insurer faces tort liability if they fail to investigate, negotiate, defend, or settle a claim in bad faith. At the same time, judges will not assume an insurer acted in bad faith absent compelling evidence to the contrary. On September 27, 2019, […]
Recently, a jury based in Tarrant County, Texas awarded a fracking company more than $5 million in damages in a bad faith insurance claim. In Compass Well Services, LLC v. Great American Insurance Company of New York, the jury determined that the insurance company engaged in unfair settlement practices when handling an equipment damage claim. […]
On August 28, 2019, a federal judge in Oklahoma ruled a bad faith lawsuit against CSAA General Insurance Company (CSAA) could proceed to a jury trial. The plaintiff in this case, Daniels v. CSAA General Insurance Company, accused the insurer of failing to properly settle her claim for benefits following a December 2017 auto accident. […]
On May 30th, 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States denied certiorari in the case of Comanche Nation of Oklahoma v. Ryan Zinke. The underlying dispute in this lawsuit involves the Department of the Interior’s decision to approve a casino property in Terral, Oklahoma; in fact, a small town in the southern part of […]
On April 5th, 2019, MacKenzie Bezos took to Twitter to announce that she had reached a divorce settlement with her husband Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. According to reporting from the BBC, the value of the divorce settlement was at least $35 billion. All but certainly making this the most expensive divorce in United States history. […]
In recent weeks, fresh attention is being paid to one of the most important financial issues affecting single parents in the United States: unpaid child support. As noted in a recent report from CBS News, it’s estimated that more than $10 billion in child support is currently going uncollected. The report draws its conclusions from […]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released its latest data on marriage and divorce in the United States. According to the CDC, fewer couples filed for divorce in 2017 than in other recent years. This is consistent with a long-term trend: the national divorce rate has declined by approximately eighteen percent in the […]
While divorce has increased across the US in recent decades, Oklahoma has the dubious honor of being among the Top Three states when it comes to the highest divorce rate. Statistics indicate that couples in the Sooner State call it quits at a rate of 13.2 percent. Meanwhile, the rest of the country is around […]
When certain sections within the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act take effect January 1, 2019; three tax regulations will have a significant impact on couples involved in or considering divorce in the new year. The rules affect all Oklahoma divorce cases and settlement agreements that are not finalized by December 31, 2018. The first tax […]
The Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, law office of Brown & Gould, PLLC, serves the nearby cities of Moore, Norman, Edmond, Nichols Hills, Midwest City, Del City, Yukon, Mustang, El Reno, Shawnee, Tulsa and other areas, including Oklahoma County, Cleveland County, Canadian County, McClain County, Pottawatomie County, Tulsa County, Logan County and throughout the state of Texas in the cities of Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso and Austin.
