San Antonio Duty to Defend Lawyer

Trusted Duty to Defend Attorney in San Antonio, TX

If legal action is taken against you, you usually should file an insurance claim immediately. With a valid insurance policy, your insurer has a legal duty to defend you if you’re sued. Yet, some insurance carriers refuse to defend policyholders. Or, sometimes they agree to defend you, but they state they reserve their right to later seek defense cost reimbursement or deny your coverage if they can prove your claim isn’t covered. Thankfully, a San Antonio duty to defend lawyer can help.

Under either scenario, contact Jon Michael Smith. I can help discuss your rights as a policyholder and know how to ensure your insurer defends your interests.

Reservation Of Rights Letter

Insurance policies usually address a carrier’s duty to defend, which means they have to provide you with a defense if someone takes legal action against you for a claim that’s covered by your policy. However, their duty to pay the damages is not always so broad.

A carrier may send a “reservation of rights” letter if they think your claim might not be covered. This letter is supposed to notify you that while your insurance company is providing you with a defense, they may still seek reimbursement for their costs of defending your claim or outright deny your coverage later based on later-obtained information.

This strategy allows an insurance company to gather additional information before they make their final determination of coverage. While they may not immediately deny your coverage, they simply want to ensure they can later deny coverage if they find sufficient grounds.

Your Possible Risks as an Insured

If your insurer later denies claim coverage, you may need to be prepared financially to bear the burden of defense costs for your case. You can retain your own attorney, and it’s recommended you do so if you think the defense attorney hired by your insurance company has a potential conflict of interest.

You might feel like you can’t possibly get unbiased assistance from an attorney hired by your insurance carrier. You could retain your own attorney to protect your specific interest, since your insurance company may want to minimize its financial payouts to protect its own corporate interests.

Duty to Defend Data

The duty to defend cases falls within civil case filing data and contract claims since they’re based on insurance policies. Across the United States, filings for civil cases dropped approximately 33 percent in 2022 in our U.S. district courts. That year, there were about 309,102 cases. For contract cases, there were about 22,274 in 2022, which dropped about 22 percent. By 2024, there were about 28,392 contract actions across all U.S. District Courts.

With so many civil cases within our court system, you may need a Central Texas attorney to help with a duty to defend the claim.

Duty to Defend vs. Duty to Indemnify

The duty to defend and duty to indemnify are separate contractual obligations. While the duty to defend requires an insurer to pay for a client’s legal representation, the duty to indemnify refers to the actual payment of the settlement or judgment. The duty to defend is broader than the duty to indemnify, which means that insurers may have to provide clients with a defense attorney even if they do not ultimately have to pay out damages related to the case.

There are three forms of indemnity:

• Broad form indemnity. Broad form indemnity provides full indemnification, regardless of fault.
• Intermediate form indemnity. Intermediate form indemnity provides full indemnification as long as a percentage of fault lies with the indemnitor.
• Limited form indemnity. Limited form indemnity provides indemnification only to the extent of the indemnitor’s fault in contributing to a loss.

Indemnity is typically limited, which can impact duty to defend cases as well. Most states prohibit broad and intermediate form indemnity entirely.

The Texas Anti-Indemnity Act impacts certain duty to defend and duty to indemnify cases. It states that only limited-form indemnity contracts are enforceable in the Lone Star State and applies to certain agreements to indemnify, hold harmless, or defend as covered under the law. If you are concerned about how this aspect of duty to defend laws might affect your duty to defend case, our office can answer any questions.

What Is the Eight-Corners Rule?

The Eight-Corners Rule is an essential aspect of insurance defense in Texas that has been subject to considerable debate in the courts. Despite ongoing debates surrounding the use of this common-law doctrine, the Eight Corners Rule is consistently used to determine whether insurers have a duty to defend their clients. The rule indicates that courts must determine whether there is a duty to defend based on just two documents:

• The insurance policy
• The plaintiff’s claim

The name refers to the four corners of the policy document and the four corners of the complaint. Information that falls within these “eight corners” is generally the only thing that the court can consider in assessing an insurance company’s duty to defend, but there are some exceptions.

Courts sometimes allow the consideration of facts that lie outside of the eight corners. They are known as extrinsic evidence. Extrinsic evidence is typically only allowed under certain circumstances:

• The evidence is concerned with the issue of coverage and does not pertain to matters of liability.
• The evidence does not contradict previously alleged facts.
• The evidence conclusively establishes the fact to be proved.

Courts typically allow extrinsic evidence when it pertains to insured parties fraudulently securing coverage. In most other cases, this evidence remains excluded under the eight-corners rule.

If you are concerned about whether your insurance policy creates a duty to defend for the insurer, you can schedule a consultation with our team. Be sure to bring your policy document, information pertaining to the claim, and any other relevant documentation to the meeting so that we can evaluate the facts as they are stated within the claim and the policy to determine whether the court is likely to enforce a duty to defend.

Why Hire a Duty to Defend Lawyer?

If you are having difficulty getting your insurance company to pay for your legal counsel when they are contractually obligated to do so, you can hire a duty to defend lawyer to help you resolve the situation. Your San Antonio duty to defend attorney can:

• Protect your rights
• Help you avoid conflicts of interest
• Monitor the insurance company to make sure they place your rights and interests first
• Help you understand key legal documents like reservation of rights letters

In Texas, you have the right to independent counsel if a conflict of interest exists. If you believe that to be the case, you may be able to hire an independent attorney now and get the insurance company to reimburse you. Just keep in mind that this only applies if a true conflict of interest exists.

FAQs

What Does “Duty to Defend” Mean?

“Duty to defend” refers to an insurance company’s obligation to provide legal counsel to insured people and businesses when claims are filed against them. This duty exists even if there is a chance that the claim is not covered by the person or entity’s insurance policy, and the duty to defend is broader than the duty to indemnify. The insurance company may have to pay for your defense even if no damages are ultimately awarded.

Can There Be a Duty to Indemnify Without a Duty to Defend?

There can be a duty to indemnify without a duty to defend under certain circumstances. The duty to defend relies on the allegations in the complaint, while indemnification relies on the final liability established in the case. For example, the claim might fall under a policy exclusion, with no initial duty to defend, but later developments during the trial could reveal that the loss should have been covered, which could trigger a duty to indemnify.

What Are the Three Types of Indemnity?

The three types of indemnity are broad, intermediate, and limited form indemnity. Broad form indemnity covers all losses, even when the indemnitee is completely at fault. Intermediate form indemnity covers all losses except when the indemnitee is solely at fault. Limited form indemnity covers losses tied to the indemnitor’s negligence. The indemnitor pays only for the percentage of damage they caused.

How Do Courts Determine if an Insurer Has a Duty to Defend?

Courts determine if an insurer has a duty to defend by comparing the factual allegations of the claim to the terms and provisions of the insurance policy. In Texas, courts follow the Eight-Corners Rule. They can only turn to the contract between the insurer and the insured and the plaintiff’s legal complaint to determine whether the insurer has a duty to defend. Judges do not consider prior oral discussions, emails, or unwritten guarantees.

What Triggers a Duty to Defend?

A duty to defend is triggered when a formal claim against an insured party alleges facts that could fall within the insurance policy’s scope of coverage. Any single plausible covered claim can trigger a duty to defend for the whole case, and false or fraudulent claims still require a defense as long as coverage applies. The duty to defend begins immediately when the qualifying demand arrives.

Contact an Attorney

If your insurer has been delinquent in their duty to defend against a suit pursuant to your insurance policy, contact attorney Jon Michael Smith. I am a Board-Certified Lawyer in the state of Texas with over three decades of experience.

I speak directly to my clients, and I look forward to discussing your duty-to-defend concerns. My office is right near the Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360) and US 183.

Contact my office for an initial consultation with a San Antonio duty-to-defend lawyer.