Mid-Valley Claims meeting highlights

Thayer Delivers Legal Case Law Review at Nov MVCA
Election of 2008 Officers and Board round out annual business meeting
view the article

By Bryan Harrison, AssociationNewsNetwork, Inc.
Click on each photo for larger version

Dale Thayer, now with Curtis & Arata, delivered a detailed and broad legal case law review at the November MVCA luncheon meeting.	Don Duran, of Merced Mutual (middle) was among the larger than anticipated crowd present to see and hear from Mr. Thayer.	Barbara Hall, of Marine Claims Service, Inc., was elected to the MVCA Board for 2008.	MVCA Secretary, Gaye Bishop, with Royalty Cleaning Company, was re-elected for 2008.	Investigator Jim Berwanger was elected to continue serving on the Board for 2008	MVCA President John Tucker, of Bragg & Associates, agrees to stay on for a second term.

Sherry Wenograd, of Frontier Adjusters, was elected to also continue serving on the Board for '08.	Gene Wilkins, of Complere Engineering Group, asks one of numerous questions to follow Mr. Thayer's presentation.	They crowd listened intently to Mr. Thayer's discussion of recent case law decisions before engaging him with specifics on how the decisions presented will likely be interpreted in the coming year.	Kelly Szymulewski, of JM Environmental, and Chris Yaw, of Calison Plumbing at the November meeting.	Tami Umland, of ServiceMaster Advantage, and Deena Lucero, of ServiceMaster Stockton chatted after the meeting and gave us a smile.

Steve Drake, now with Restoration Clean-Up Company, won the $35 Pot of Gold at the November luncheon meeting.

Elaine Preszler, of Enterprise Rent a Car, won the $15 Pot of Gold.

Rick Boggs made what may be his final appearance, at least with FRSTeam, as he is moving on to a company in the Yuba City market area. Best wishes, Rick.

Dale Thayer has been a long time supporter of the Mid-Valley Claims Association. He recently moved on from his former firm, the long-entrenched Thayer, Harvey & Gregerson, to join another formidable Modesto firm, Curtis & Arata. Mr Thayer brought his depth of experience and insurance law knowledge to the November 16, 2007 Mid-Valley Claims Association luncheon meeting, sharing what he called his "Thayer's Top-Ten (plus one) for 2007" legal case law review of recent decisions.

He went through a variety of cases that dealt, on one level or another, with decisions that affect the claims process. A quick list of the cases discussed is as follows:
- Ra v. Superior Court, 154 Cal.App.4th 142
- Jordan v. Allstate 148 Cal.App.4th 1062
- Katiuzhinsky v. Perry, 152 Cal.App.4th 1288
- London Market Insurers v. Superior Court, 146 Cal.App.4th 648
- Rappaport-Scott v. Inter-Insurance Exchange, 146 Cal.App.4th 831
- Barber v. Chang, 151 Cal.App.4th 1456
- City of Santa Barbara v. Superior Court, 41 Cal.4th 747
- Bostick v. Flex Equipment, 147 Cal.App.4th 80
- Dodson v. J. Pacific, 154 Cal.App.4th 931
- Jafari v. EMC, 155 Cal.App.4th 885
- Kasparian v. Avalonbay, 156 Cal.App.4th 11

One, in particular, that claims adjusters "are going to need to know" was the Rapparport-Scott v. Inter-Insurance Exchange case (146 Cal.App.4th 831). "If you deal with UM or UIM claims this decision is one you will need to know," he stated. Subtitled "Why Treat a Third Party Better than the Insured?", the decision involved a bad faith case on a UIM claim. The opinion, authored by Justice Croskey, who Thayer referred to as the "pre-emininant authority on insurance law", stated that "there clearly was a 'genuine dispute' as to the value of the UIM claim and this precluded the carrier being in bad faith."

Mr. Thayer took numerous questions from the floor following his presentation, bantering with the claims people and experts in the room, many of whom have worked with him on cases in the past.

As usual, Dale Thayer's presentation was informative, insightful, and clearly appreciated by the group.

In addition to Mr. Thayer's case law review, the Mid-Valley Claims Association held election of officers and board members for the coming year. President John Tucker, of Bragg & Associates, put forth the proposed list of candidates and, following an offer for nominations from the floor, the board was elected as proposed, as follows:

2008 MVCA Officers -
President: John Tucker - Gregory B. Bragg & Associates, Inc.
Vice President: Marvin Wenograd - Frontier Adjusters
Secretary: Gaye Bishop - Royalty Cleaning Company
Treasurer: Steve Wenograd - Frontier Adjusters

Board of Directors:
Jim Berwanger - James Berwanger Investigations
Magda Calderara - Enterprise Rent a Car
Barbara Hall - Marine Claims Service, Inc.
Sherry Wenograd - Frontier Adjusters
Don Wood - Don's Mobile Glass

Thanks to all our November Meeting Door Prize Contributors

MVCA Home