Independent “Cumis” Counsel Now Face Direct Claims for Reimbursement From Insurers

On April 30, 2015, we blogged about Hartford Casualty Insurance Company v. J.R. Marketing, LLC, Case No. S211645, then set for oral argument in the California Supreme Court. [see the prior post: California’s “Independent” Cumis Counsel Regime Faces a Novel Challenge] The Court decided the case on August 10, 2015, ruling that Hartford could seek reimbursement of unreasonable or excessive fees directly from Cumis counsel. We’ll outline here the implications of the ruling and suggestions for how policyholders and Cumis counsel might respond.

On the one hand, the Court took pains to describe its ruling as very narrow. Hartford had denied coverage and resisted paying the defense invoices even after the trial court found it owed a duty to defend. Squire Sanders, representing J.R. Marketing, then obtained an enforcement order requiring Hartford to pay its invoices within thirty days, but giving Hartford the right to seek reimbursement of uncovered fees and costs, including unreasonable or excessive fees, once the case was over. By the end of the case, Squire had been paid $15 million. The Court repeated that its decision was grounded in the enforcement order, which Squire had drafted and gave Hartford an express right to reimbursement. In that context, the Court held that allowing Hartford to recover from Squire in the first instance was consistent with the law of unjust enrichment and would not interfere in the attorney-client relationship. Running through the decision, including Justice Liu’s concurring opinion, is an undercurrent of suspicion that Squire, with an unsophisticated client and an enforcement order in hand, felt it had carte blanche to bill to its heart’s content.

Read the full blog post: Independent “Cumis” Counsel Now Face Direct Claims for Reimbursement From Insurers