For insurance professionals, this ruling offers three critical lessons. First, your insured’s legal positions in early proceedings will define your recovery options in later disputes. Once a court validates a contractual defense, that validation echoes across all related claims. Second, multiple related subrogation actions require careful coordination to avoid contradictory positions that invite judicial estoppel. Third, waiver of subrogation clauses, when successfully deployed defensively, become binding facts that courts will apply consistently across all parties.
State Farm’s subrogation claim crushed by insured’s earlier contradictory court position
