Timing Is (Almost) Everything: Potential Exposure in Cases Involving Assignments and Covenants Not to Execute
By Louis C. Long

When a plaintiff grants a covenant not to execute against an insured’s personal assets in exchange for an assignment of the insured’s rights to proceed against the insurer, can the plaintiff recover from the insurer the entire amount of a subsequent judgment in excess of policy limits? The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals — customarily a court antagonistic to the interests of the insurance industry — surprisingly responded in the negative in Strahin v. Sullivan, 2006 W.Va. LEXIS 6 (W.Va. February 21, 2007).
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