Category Archives: Uncategorized

Relion Battery Recalls Relion Insight Series Lithium Batteries


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In subrogation cases where the insured’s damages were caused by a defective product, the fact that the product at issue is or was subject to a recall announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) may help to establish that the product was defective when it left the manufacturer’s possession and control.  On March 2, 2023, the CPSC announced the following recall related to a product that presents a fire hazard:

Relion Battery Recalls Relion Insight Series Lithium Batteries Due to Thermal Burn and Fire Hazards.

According to the CPSC’s website, “[t]he batteries can overheat, posing thermal burn and fire hazards.”

Product images from the CPSC website are set forth below:

This entry was posted in CPSC Recalls, Products Liability, Uncategorized and tagged .
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Michigan Court Waives Goodbye to Subrogation Claims, Except as to Gross Negligence


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In Ace American Insurance Company, et. al. v. Toledo Engineering Co., Inc., et. al., No. 18-11503, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15222 (Ace American), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan determined whether insurers could pursue their subrogation claims against the defendants despite a waiver of subrogation in each of the contracts the insured had with the respective defendants. Based on the language of the contracts and the circumstances leading up to the loss, the court held that the insurers could not pursue their subrogation claims – other than their claims for gross negligence – due to waivers of subrogation in the applicable contracts.

In Ace American, the insured, Guardian Industries, LLC (Guardian), retained Toledo Engineer Co., Inc. (TECO) and Dreicor, Inc. (Dreicor) to renovate a glass furnace in the insured’s glass manufacturing plant. Guardian and TECO entered into a contract on December 6, 2016. Guardian and Dreicor entered into a contract on September 29, 2013, that the parties later updated on June 3, 2016. Both defendants began work on the project in the spring of 2017 and were finished with the portion of the work known as the “Cold Tank Repair” prior to the loss.

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This entry was posted in Michigan, Subrogation, Uncategorized, Waiver of Subrogation and tagged , , .

Help Me Help You – How Working With Claimant’s Counsel Can Maximize Your Lien Recovery; “Part One: We Are the Necessary Evil”


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In the most recent episode of the Subro Sessions Podcast, Brett Tishler and Michael Abed of the Subrogation Department discuss workers’ compensation subrogation, what it is and why helping the injured worker’s counsel pursue a third party claim can maximize your lien recovery.

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Samsung Recalls Top-Load Washing Machines Due to Fire Hazard


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In subrogation cases where the insured’s damages were caused by a defective product, the fact that the product at issue is or was subject to a recall announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) may help to establish that the product was defective when it left the manufacturer’s possession and control.  On December 22, 2022, the CPSC announced the following recall related to a product that presents a fire hazard:

Samsung Recalls Top-Load Washing Machines Due to Fire Hazard; Software Repair Available.

According to the CPSC’s website, “[t]he washing machines can short-circuit and overheat, posing a fire hazard.”

Product images from the CPSC website are set forth below:

This entry was posted in CPSC Recalls, Products Liability, Uncategorized and tagged .
Signing Agreement

Family Matters: United States District Court Extends Sutton Rule to Undefined “Family”


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In Am. Reliable Ins. Co. v. Addington., No. 3:21-CV-00848, __ F.Supp.3d __, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 218436, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (the District Court) considered whether a tenant’s live-in partner and the partner’s adult son constituted a “family” in the underlying lease and, thus, were implied co-insureds under the Sutton Rule. The District Court determined that the arrangement did constitute a “family” and that the Sutton Rule barred subrogation.

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This entry was posted in Landlord-Tenant, Sutton Doctrine, Tennessee, Uncategorized and tagged , .
Recall Alert

Consumer Product Safety Commission Recalls


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In subrogation cases where the insured’s damages were caused by a defective product, the fact that the product at issue is or was subject to a recall announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) may help to establish that the product was defective when it left the manufacturer’s possession and control.  On December 15, 2022, the CPSC announced the following recalls related to products that present fire hazards:

  1. E-Bikes Recalled Due to Fire and Burn Hazards; Distributed by Gyroor (Recall Alert). According to the CPSC’s website, “[t]he e-bike’s battery pack can ignite, posing fire and burn hazards.”
  2. Advantage Sales & Marketing Recalls Good Matters Three-Wick Candles Due to Fire and Laceration Hazards. According to the CPSC’s website, “[t]he candles can burn at higher than usual temperatures causing the jars to break, posing fire and laceration injury hazards.”
  3. ESS Universal USA Recalls Mattresses Due to Violation of Federal Flammability Standard for Mattresses; Fire Hazard (Recall Alert). According to the CPSC’s website, “[t]he mattresses fail to meet the mandatory federal flammability standard for mattresses, posing a fire hazard.”
This entry was posted in CPSC Recalls, Products Liability, Uncategorized and tagged .
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Supreme Court of Illinois Clarifies Who Qualifies as a Co-Insured


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The Supreme Court of Illinois (Supreme Court) reversed a 2021 appellate court decision which held that an insurer had to duty to defend the property owner’s tenant following a fire at the property.  In Sheckler v. Auto-Owners Insurance Co., 2022 IL 128012, the state’s highest court ruled that the appellate court’s reliance on Dix Mutual Insurance Co. v. LaFramboise, 597 N.E. 2d 622 (Ill. 1992) was misplaced as the ruling in Dix was limited to a specific set of facts, which did not apply to the current case.

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This entry was posted in Anti-Subrogation Rule, Illinois, Implied-Co-Insured, Landlord-Tenant, Sutton Doctrine, Uncategorized and tagged , , .
Product Recall

Spirit Halloween Recalls Black Light Fixtures


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In subrogation cases where the insured’s damages were caused by a defective product, the fact that the product at issue is or was subject to a recall announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) may help to establish that the product was defective when it left the manufacturer’s possession and control. On June 9, 2022, the CPSC announced the following recall related to a product that presents a fire hazard:

Spirit Halloween Recalls Black Light Fixtures Due to Fire and Burn Hazards.

According to the CPSC’s website, “[t]he bulb in the fixture can pop, flash and overheat, posing fire and burn hazards.”

Product images from the CPSC website are set forth below:

This entry was posted in CPSC Recalls, Products Liability, Uncategorized and tagged .
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Personal Jurisdiction: SCOTUS to Decide if Registration by Out-of-State Corporations Confers General Jurisdiction


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On April 25, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari of a case in which the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that an out-of-state corporation’s mere registration to conduct business within the Commonwealth did not subject the foreign company to general personal jurisdiction in Pennsylvania. In Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Company, 266 A.3d 542 (Pa., December 22, 2021), the unanimous, bipartisan Pennsylvania Supreme Court exhaustively analyzed the history, nature and extent of general personal jurisdiction. In light of the past decade’s U.S. Supreme Court rulings on personal jurisdiction, the Pennsylvania Court believed that the legislative “scheme of conditioning the privilege of doing business in the Commonwealth on the submission of the foreign corporation to general jurisdiction in Pennsylvania courts strips foreign corporations of the due process safeguards guaranteed” by the U.S. Constitution. In so holding, Pennsylvania joined the wide majority of courts in sister states which had ruled similarly.

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Recall Alert

SOUNDBOKS Recalls Bluetooth Speakers with Lithium-Ion Batteries


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In subrogation cases where the insured’s damages were caused by a defective product, the fact that the product at issue is or was subject to a recall announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) may help to establish that the product was defective when it left the manufacturer’s possession and control. On March 31, 2022, the CPSC announced the following recall related to a product that presents a fire hazard:

SOUNDBOKS Recalls Bluetooth Speakers with Lithium-Ion Batteries Due to Fire Hazard (Recall Alert).

According to the CPSC’s website, “[t]he lithium-ion battery can overheat, posing a fire hazard.”

This entry was posted in CPSC Recalls, Products Liability, Uncategorized and tagged .