Authors

Andrew Elkins

Document Type

Case Summary

Publication Date

9-19-2024

Case Synopsis

Prior to AmTrust, Nevada courts were guided not by statute, but by common law, when assessing the degree to which an insurer may assert a claim to damages its insured worker obtained from a third party. One case required courts to use a formula, making insurers bear a portion of the litigation fees and costs when the insurer did not timely intervene.The other limited the portions of the settlement against which insurers could assert a claim, in conflict with the language of NRS § 616C.215.The Court in AmTrust held that the Breen formula is unworkable and that both Breen and Poremba were fundamentally in conflict with the plain language of NRS § 616C.215. Thus, the Court held that moving forward, litigants and courts should focus solely on the statutory language. This decision enforced an insurer’s right to recover from the total amount of a third-party settlement.

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