Allstate Insurance v. Atwood

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• recognizing that “it is inappropriate for the insurer to intervene in the trial of the tort suit against its insured”
• stating that “declaratory judgments in advance of tort trials, to resolve issues presented in pending tort cases, should be rare”
• observing that “[t]he normal rule is ... that a pre-tort trial declaratory judgment action, to resolve an issue presented in the pending tort case, is prohibited”
• noting that “[a]s a general matter, a liability insurer is bound by the finding in a tort action against its insured that the insured was liable due to negligence”
• holding an insurer’s failure to bring a declaratory judgment action, “or to take an appeal from the dismissal of such an action without a declaration, will not operate as an estoppel or a waiver against the insurer”
• “Maryland law generally precludes” direct “actions by plaintiffs against defendants’ liability insurers,” and the liability insurer may not be a party to the tort suit “prior to the jury’s verdict”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).