Fred M. Valz, III and Jena G. Emory secured the dismissal of a lawsuit that included improper bad faith claims against a UM carrier.  Plaintiff’s counsel originally filed her complaint against a John Doe in state court and brought improper breach of contract and punitive damages claims against the UM carrier for failure to settle.  Valz and Emory requested that Plaintiff withdraw the direct claims against the UM carrier and dismiss the UM carrier as a party in the lawsuit.  Plaintiff withdrew the direct claims against the UM carrier but did not properly dismiss the UM carrier as a defendant.  Valz and Emory removed the case to federal court.  In federal court, Valz and Emory moved to dismiss the UM carrier as a named defendant, which the court granted.  The court then dismissed the entire lawsuit because it was pending against a John Doe only, which is not allowed in federal court.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Fred M. Valz, III and Jena G. Emory recently won a motion for judgment on the pleadings in a breach of contract claim against a UM carrier.  A new trend has begun among Georgia plaintiffs where, instead of waiting to bring a bad faith claim against a UM carrier, they attempt to bring a breach of contract claim against the UM carrier in the original tort suit.  In this case, Plaintiff did just that, and Valz and Emory filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings arguing that bad faith is Plaintiff’s exclusive remedy for the alleged failure to pay a UM claim and any breach of contract claim is not allowed by Georgia law.  The court granted the motion.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Fred Valz, III and Jena Emory defeated a plaintiff’s motion to add an insurance company to a lawsuit for a bad faith claim.  In this case, the plaintiff’s counsel sent a property damage demand to the insurance company in order to set up a bad faith property damage claim against the insurer.  The plaintiff then moved to add the insurance company to an existing lawsuit to bring a bad faith claim against it.  Valz and Emory opposed the motion.  The court denied the motion to add the insurance company, effectively extinguishing the bad faith claim.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Fred Valz, III and Jena Emory won summary judgment as petitioners in a declaratory judgment action.  The declaratory judgment action was filed to determine the rights and obligations of an insurer for a sexual assault and attempted rape.  The order granting the motion found that that the alleged sexual assault did not meet the definition of an “occurrence” under the policy.  It further found that the intentional or criminal acts exclusion applied because the injuries to the victim would have been reasonably expected by the perpetrator.  An appeal was not filed.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Melissa Bailey and Fred Valz recently won summary judgment in a declaratory judgment action related to a wrongful death action. Melissa and Fred argued that the insured made a material misrepresentation in failing to include her adult resident son on her insurance application, so the policy did not provide coverage to the son who purportedly caused the death of the claimant. The Superior Court of Chatham County agreed, granting summary judgment in favor of our insurer client.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Fred Valz and Melissa Bailey recently won a motion to dismiss for a client in a civil conspiracy case. The claimant alleged that our client assisted its insured in hiding assets that would have been subject to judgment. Finding that the claim against our client lacked legal or factual merit, the Superior Court of Ware County granted our client’s motion to dismiss.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Fred Valz and Melissa Bailey recently won summary judgment in a declaratory judgment action involving homeowner’s and CGL policies in the Northern District of Georgia.  The underlying case involved allegations of sexual assault by a fellow patient at a dentist’s office.  We argued on behalf of the insurer client that an abuse and molestation exclusion operated to bar coverage for the dentist and his practice.  The court agreed, finding that the carrier owed no duties of defense, coverage, or indemnification in the tort litigation.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Melissa Bailey and Fred Valz won summary judgment on behalf of their insurer client in a declaratory judgment action.  On behalf of the carrier, we argued that no coverage was afforded because the subject vehicle had been sold to the insured’s roommate at the time of the accident.  The opposing parties argued that a question of fact remained as to the timeline for the execution of the bill of sale.  Granting summary judgment in favor of our carrier client, the Gwinnett County Superior Court ruled that the new owner’s possession of the vehicle with no intention of returning it to the insured was dispositive of the issue that the sale had occurred prior to the accident.  For that reason, summary judgment was appropriate.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Fred Valz and Melissa Bailey were successful in upholding a defense verdict in the Georgia Court of Appeals.  The plaintiff-appellant argued that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence because the defendant admitted in her answer that she had violated a legal duty.  At trial, the defendant-appellee explained that she was turning in to a gas station exit lane at the time of the accident, but she denied having made an improper left turn in front of the plaintiff.  After the DeKalb County jury returned a defense verdict, the plaintiff appealed.  Affirming the trial court’s denial of the motion for new trial and upholding the verdict, the Court of Appeals determined that the defendant’s admission of playing a role in the collision did not foreclose the jury determining that the plaintiff’s contributory negligence prohibited her recovery.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Fred Valz obtained a ruling from the Middle District of Georgia granting summary judgment in favor of their insurer client in a declaratory judgement action.  The case sought a declaration as to whether the insurer was required to provide coverage, indemnity or a defense where the policyholder’s worker drove the policyholder’s vehicle without permission, subsequently causing an accident.  They argued on behalf of the insurer that the driver was not an insured under the policy because he did not have permission to operate the vehicle at the time of the accident.  The Middle District of Georgia agreed and granted summary judgment in favor of their client.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Fred Valz successfully defended plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment in a subrogation suit.  Fred argued on behalf of the insured driver that questions of fact remain as to liability of the underlying accident, including the contributory negligence of plaintiff’s insured driver.  They further argued that there was a question of material fact as to the correct amount of damages owed to plaintiff’s insured pursuant to the contracts.  The State Court of Fulton County agreed, denying summary judgment, which resulted in a voluntary dismissal of the suit.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Melissa Bailey and Fred Valz recently won summary judgment for a non-emergency transportation broker.  The complaint alleged that our client acted as a carrier rather than a broker, making our client vicariously liable for the motor vehicle accident that resulted in the loss of the plaintiff’s leg.  We argued that our client was a broker, not a carrier, and therefore had no legal liability for the alleged negligence of the driver.  The State Court of Clayton County agreed, holding that our client did not maintain the requisite level of control over the driver or her employer to impose vicarious liability, resulting in a full grant of summary judgment for our client.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Fred Valz and Melissa Bailey recently obtained a complete dismissal of bad faith and breach of contract claim alleging seven figures in damages.  Litigated in the Middle District of Georgia, the suit alleged the commercial insurer acted in bad faith and breached the policy in three distinct ways in handling a first-party claim for damage to a medical facility.  After successfully bifurcating the bad faith and breach of contract claims, Melissa and Fred argued that the three breach of contract claims failed on their merits.  The District Court agreed, granting summary judgment on all three breach of contract claims.  After disposing of the breach of contract claims, the Court ruled that the bad faith claim could not survive in the absence of a breach of a policy obligation by the carrier.  Given that, it also failed as a matter of law, resulting in the complete dismissal of the lawsuit.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Melissa Bailey and Fred Valz won summary judgment in a case alleging property damage as a result of a fallen tree.  We argued that the property owner was not liable for the damage caused by the fallen tree because there was insufficient evidence that the tree was patently diseased prior to it falling down.  The plaintiff argued that she had warned our business-owner client that she believed the tree was diseased several months prior.  Granting our motion for summary judgment, the trial court held that the plaintiff had failed to carry her burden of proving patent damage to the tree, and summary judgment was appropriate in favor of our landowner client.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Melissa Bailey and Fred Valz obtained summary judgment in a declaratory judgment action on the basis of the policy’s auto business exclusion.  The evidence showed that, at the time of the accident, it was being driven by a mechanic who was returning the vehicle to its owner after completing repairs.  Because the driver was in possession of the vehicle for the sole purpose of repairing it, we argued that coverage was afforded for the underlying tort action because the claims arose out of the use of a vehicle in furtherance of an auto business.  The Superior Court of Fulton County agreed, ruling that our client had no duty to provide a defense, coverage, or indemnity in the tort action.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Fred Valz and Melissa Bailey won summary judgment in the Northern District of Georgia on behalf of their insurance carrier client.  We argued on behalf of the carrier that no coverage was afforded under the commercial policy because the driver did not meet the policy definition of an insured person.  The Court agreed, holding that the driver’s use of a personal vehicle took him outside the policy definition of an insured person.  As a result, the insurer had no duty to provide a defense, coverage, or indemnity to the insured or his employer for the tort suit.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Carlock, Copeland & Stair hosted their annual Insurance Coverage & Bad Faith Seminar on August 24 at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Presentations and Presenters: Have Traditional Rules Gone Up in Smoke?  Impact of Growing Legalization of Medical Marijuana - Dave Root and Abby Grozine. Best Practices for Maintaining Your Claims File - Ryan Wilhelm, Jennifer Guerra, and Claire Sumner. Defending the Institutional Bad Faith Claim - Charlie McDaniel and Kathy Carlsten. New Technology, Old Policies:  Are Aging Policies Equipped to Handle the Consumer Technology Boom? - Fred Valz and Melissa Bailey. Apportionment:  Has It Gotten Insurers Where They Want To Go?  - Charlie McDaniel, Graham Thompson, and Kristen Thompson. Additional Insured Jeopardy - Alex Davis, Laura Paton, Sarah Wetmore, Sally Bright and Nick Stewart. Why the Involvement of a Tractor Trailer Escalates a Case - Gary Lovell. Risk-Averse Insurers and the New Juror:  Exploring Possible Links Between Fewer Trials, Millennial Jurors, and Seemingly Bigger Verdicts - Doug Smith and Lee Weatherly. Please contact Michelle Mattox at mmattox@csvl.law if you would like our attorneys to present in-house lunch & learn sessions or webinars.  

Carlock Copeland’s Annual Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith Seminar for claims professionals serving Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee was held at the Atlanta Botanical Garden on September 15. Melissa Bailey, Jack Daniel, Alex Davis, Charlie McDaniel, David Root, Fred Valz, Lee Weatherly, Sarah Wetmore and Ryan Wilhelm presented. Topics included: • Litigating Coverage Issues Through Appeal • Construction Defect Coverage Issues • Rescinding Policies • Effective Denials and Reservation of Rights Letters • Interplay of Underwriting and Claims • Coverage Issues Involving Additional Insureds • Litigation Coverage Issues In Trucking Policies • Coverage Issues in a Sharing Economy Please contact Michelle Mattox at mmattox@csvl.law for more information.

Fred Valz served as a panelist at the ABA TIPS 2016 Section Conference in Atlanta on May 11-13, 2016.  Fred’s panel addressed “Ethics in the Insurance Industry and the Triparte Relationship” on May 11.  John Rogers and Billy Newcomb attended.

Fred Valz presented "Litigating the Insurance Claim/Bad Faith Case – Insurer Perspective" at the Comprehensive Insurance Law Conference in Atlanta, March 24 & 25, 2016.

February 19, 2016 Carlock, Copeland & Stair, LLP is proud to announce our lawyers selected for inclusion on the Georgia Super Lawyers® and Rising Stars® lists for 2016. Thomas S. Carlock and Johannes S. Kingma have been selected for inclusion on the Top 100 Super Lawyers® in the State of Georgia. Only five percent of the lawyers in the state are named by Super Lawyers®. The selections for this esteemed list are made by the research team at Super Lawyers®, which is a service of Thomson Reuters. Each year, the research team at Super Lawyers® undertakes a rigorous multi-phase selection process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, independent evaluation of candidates by the attorney-led research staff, a peer review of candidates by practice area, and a good-standing and disciplinary check. Top 100 for the State of Georgia - Super Lawyers® Thomas S. Carlock - Top Rated Civil Litigation Attorney in Atlanta, Georgia Johannes S. Kingma - Top Rated Professional Liability Attorney in Atlanta, Georgia Super Lawyers® Thomas S. Carlock - Civil Litigation: Defense Wade K. Copeland - Civil Litigation: Defense Eric J. Frisch - Personal Injury Medical Malpractice: Defense Johannes S. Kingma - Professional Liability: Defense D. Gary Lovell, Jr. - Personal Injury Medical Malpractice: Defense David F. Root - General Litigation Douglas W. Smith - Personal Injury General: Defense Kent T. Stair - Professional Liability: Defense Frederick M. Valz, III - Insurance Coverage Rising Stars® is a listing of exceptional lawyers who are 40 years of age or under, or who have been practicing for 10 years or less, and have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Only 2.5 percent of the total lawyers in the state are honored on the Rising Stars® list. Rising Stars® Shannon M. Sprinkle - Professional Liability: Defense Peter Werdesheim - Professional Liability - Defense

Fred Valz, Charlie McDaniel, and Gary Lovell attended the DRI Insurance Coverage and Practice Symposium held December 3-4 in New York. DRI Annual Conference Brochure - December, 2015 For more information, please click here.

Copeland Stair Valz & Lovell, LLP is pleased to announce our Attorneys named to 2021 Best Lawyers_® lists in multiple categories and office locations.

• Gary Lovell, Jr., 2021 Best Lawyers_® recognition for Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants and Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants in Atlanta, GA and Charleston, SC
• Rolfe M. Martin, 2021 Best Lawyers_® recognition for Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants in Atlanta, GA
• Kent T. Stair, 2021 Best Lawyers_® recognition for Construction Law and Legal Malpractice Law – Defense and Litigation - Construction in Atlanta, GA and Charleston, SC
• Fred M. Valz, III, 2021 Best Lawyers_® recognition for Insurance Law in Atlanta, GA

Copeland, Stair, Valz & Lovell, LLP is proud to announce that several of our lawyers have been selected for inclusion on the Georgia Super Lawyers® and Rising Stars® lists for 2020. Super Lawyers® recognizes attorneys who have distinguished themselves in their legal practice. Attorneys are chosen for this honor through a nomination process, peer review by practice area and independent research on candidates. The lengthy process identifies lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.  Meet our Super Lawyers® and Rising Stars®! Only five percent of attorneys in the state of Georgia are selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers® list. Our Super Lawyers® are: Wade K. Copeland Eric J. Frisch D. Gary Lovell, Jr. Rolfe M. Martin Charles M. McDaniel, Jr. William D.  Newcomb David F. Root Douglas W. Smith Kent T. Stair Fred M. Valz, III Rising Stars® list recognizes the top up-and-coming attorneys in the state – those who are 40 years old or younger, or those who have been practicing for 10 years or less. No more than 2.5 percent of eligible attorneys are named to the Rising Stars® list, here are ours in Atlanta: Melissa L. Bailey Stephen J. Cohen  

Copeland Stair Valz & Lovell, LLP is proud to announce that several of our lawyers have been selected for inclusion on the Georgia Super Lawyers® and Rising Stars® lists for 2019. Super Lawyers recognizes attorneys who have distinguished themselves in their legal practice. Attorneys are chosen for this honor through a nomination process, peer review by practice area and independent research on candidates. The lengthy process identifies lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.  Meet our Super Lawyers® and Rising Stars®! Super Lawyers®, only five percent of attorneys in the state of Georgia are selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers list. Our Super Lawyers are: Wade K. Copeland Eric J. Frisch D. Gary Lovell, Jr. Rolfe M. Martin Jay M. O'Brien David F. Root Douglas W. Smith Kent T. Stair Fred M. Valz Rising Stars® list recognizes the top up-and-coming attorneys in the state – those who are 40 years old or younger, or those who have been practicing for 10 years or less. No more than 2.5 percent of eligible attorneys are named to the Rising Stars® list, here is ours in Atlanta: Melissa L. Bailey Please click here to read about our South Carolina Super Lawyers®  and Rising Stars®!