Kentucky Injury Lawyers Blog

In the case of James Malone v. Kentucky Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, the Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed the Opinion of the Court of Appeals, upholding the trial court's summary judgment.

The primary issue under consideration in this case was the requirement under KRS 304.39-320 and Coots v. Allstate Ins. Co. for an injured person or personal representative who "agrees to settle a claim with a liability insurer and its insured" to provide written notice of "the proposed settlement" by certified or registered mail to all uninsured motorist insurers that provide coverage.

After sustaining injuries from a car accident, James Malone filed suit against Timothy Bruce, the other driver involved in the collision, and against Kentucky Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, Malone's underinsured motorist insurance (UIM) carrier. Prior to trail, Malone accepted the offer of Bruce's liability insurance carrier, Atlanta Casualty, for the limits of the policy in exchange for a release from further liability. Malone's counsel sent a certified letter to Farm Bureau stating, in part:

"Atlanta Casualty has advised that they have policy limits of $25,000.00 and this amount has been offered to settle their portion of Mr. Malone's claim. We are considering whether to accept this offer. In the meantime, because of the seriousness of Mr. Malone's injuries, we are making a claim for the policy limits of all applicable policies issued by Kentucky Farm Bureau for underinsured motorist coverage."

Farm Bureau filed a motion for summary judgment seeking a dismissal of Malone's UIM claim on the grounds that Malone's written notice stated only that he was "considering whether to accept this offer," which was not sufficient notice of an agreement to settle as required by KRS 304.39-320. They claimed that this lack of proper notice released Farm Bureau from responsibility for the UIM claim made by Malone. The McCracken Circuit Court agreed, and the summary judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeals and Kentucky Supreme Court.

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, hosted the agency's fourth public hearing on Compassionate Allowances in July 2009. The hearing included testimony from some of the nation's leading experts on early-onset Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. The deliberations focused on methods for identifying and implementing Compassionate Allowances for people with early-onset Alzheimer's.

"This year, through Compassionate Allowances and our Quick Disability Determination process, over 100,000 Americans with severe disabilities will be approved for Social Security disability benefits in a matter of days rather than the months and years it can sometimes take," said Commissioner Astrue.  "We are now looking to add more diseases and impairments to these expedited processes. We are expanding our focus from specific rare diseases and cancers to look at subgroups of much broader conditions.  Early-onset Alzheimer's disease is a rapidly progressive and debilitating disease of the brain that affects individuals between the ages of 50 and 65 and clearly deserves our consideration."

In October 2008, Social Security launched Compassionate Allowances to expedite the processing of disability claims for applicants with medical conditions so severe that their conditions by definition meet Social Security's standards.  Prior to the recent hearing on Alzheimer's Disease, three other Compassionate Allowance hearings were held on rare diseases, cancers, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke. The Commissioner will hold the fifth public outreach hearing on schizophrenia in November 2009. To learn more, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances