Fire Losses and Conflicting Judicial Rulings Over Whether Property Insurers Must Indemnify Insureds and Pay Third-Party Claims - Some Implications for Wildfire Litigation in Texas's Courts

Abstract

This essay has two purposes. First, it is designed to highlight some of the issues and principles that have influenced historically whether state and federal courts will order property insurers to indemnify insureds after a fire destroys the latter's commercial and/or residential property. The second purpose is to find a plausible answer to the implied, duty-to-pay question that appears in Ryan v. New York Central R.R. Company: whether liability insurers must pay proceeds to cover third-party, fire-loss claims, if a fire (1) ignites on an insured's property, (2) spreads, (3) evolves into a "wildfire," and (4) eviscerates third-party claimants' structures and personalty.