HOUSTON – From 2015 to 2019, the Southern District of Texas saw the most insurance filings, according an insurance litigation report released by Lex Machina.
More than half of the insurance cases storming the Southern District during that time frame were homeowner insurance cases, and about one-third of the cases were hurricane related, most likely due to Hurricane Harvey.
In all, a total of 3,466 insurance cases were filed in the Southern District, of which 1,120 were hurricane related, according to the report.
Nearly always representing defendants, Thompson Coe Cousins & Irons filed the most insurance cases (1,143). The firm appeared mainly in the Southern District and 74 percent of the firm’s cases were homeowner insurance cases.
Pandit Law Firm was second with 1,119 cases, appearing for plaintiffs in all but two cases. Filing cases mainly in the Middle District of Louisiana, 26 percent of Pandit’s cases were hurricane-related.
State Farm saw the most cases (2,318) during the four-year time period, appearing as the defendant 94 percent of the time.
“Overall, insurers tend to be defendants more often than plaintiffs,” the report states. “However, sometimes insurers appear as plaintiffs when litigating against each other to allocate responsibility for a loss.”
Lex Machina’s report also includes a special section on the impact of COVID-19 on court activity, including both procedural aspects of court closures and new filings due to the pandemic.
“We wanted to give a special update, given the changing landscape of insurance litigation due to the pandemic,” said Ron Porter, Lex Machina’s insurance legal data expert. “Many businesses filed lawsuits after insurers denied their claims for business interruption coverage due to losses suffered during the shutdown. We specifically developed a case tag for business interruption coverage cases, so that we can track trends and provide insights as these cases make their way through the courts."
Between March and June 2020, insurance cases were up 14 percent from the same months in 2019, as an influx of business interruption claims caused a surge in filings.
The report shows that out of more than 4,000 Insurance cases filed in March through June, roughly 400 were caused by the COVID-19 crisis.
While the Southern District of Florida saw the most insurance cases overall, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania saw the most filings caused by the COVID-19 pandemic – due to the filing of business interruption claims in that district.
Lex Machina provides strategic insights on judges, lawyers, law firms, parties, and other critical information across 16 federal practice areas and select state courts.