General Liability
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December 03, 2024
Insurance Execs Charged With $250M Fake Policy Scheme
An insurance company and two executives issued bogus insurance policies purporting to offer over $250 million in coverage to companies and homeowners, according to an indictment announced by the Manhattan district attorney Tuesday.
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December 03, 2024
Del. Justices To Review 3M Earplug MDL Coverage Dispute
The Delaware Supreme Court agreed to review a lower court's finding that defense costs paid by 3M in underlying multidistrict litigation over the company's combat earplugs could not satisfy the self-insured retention of its subsidiary's insurance policies.
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December 03, 2024
Insurer Says No Coverage For Fishery's $2M Water Damage
An insurer told an Arizona federal court it owed no coverage to a seafood company embroiled in underlying litigation over more than $2 million in water damage, saying the fishmonger's splashing at its rental property wasn't accidental and its polices weren't in effect at the time.
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December 02, 2024
Insurer Says Telecom Co. Can't Ax Marshall Fire Coverage Suit
Liberty Mutual urged a Colorado federal court to allow it to proceed with a lawsuit against a Lumen Technologies subsidiary over coverage for underlying litigation linking the 2021 Marshall Fire to an unmoored telecommunications line, arguing that the insurer had clear standing to bring the suit.
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December 02, 2024
Motor Carrier Must Cover $6.7M Jet Engine Loss, Co. Says
A transportation company has told a Connecticut federal court that a subcontractor hired to transport a jet engine that was damaged en route to Alabama must defend and indemnify the company in an insurer's suit seeking to recover more than $6.7 million paid to the manufacturer of the engine.
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November 27, 2024
Co. Seeks $4.4M In Bad Faith Damages Over Developer Row
A collections company that was assigned insurance rights as part of settled, underlying litigation concerning a real estate development in Washington state told a federal court it's entitled to over $4.4 million in bad faith damages against an insurer, arguing the carrier prioritized its own interests ahead of its insured.
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November 27, 2024
No Coverage For Drywall Co. In Murder Suit, Insurer Says
An insurer said it has no duty to defend or indemnify a drywall company accused of negligently hiring a man who murdered a house cleaner in a home he was working on in Galveston County, telling a Texas federal court that several policy exclusions preclude coverage.
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November 26, 2024
Tort Report: Fla. Jury Delivers $141.5M Trucking Crash Verdict
A pending Pennsylvania Supreme Court case over Uber's so-called click-through arbitration agreements and a $141.5 million trucking crash verdict out of Florida lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.
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November 26, 2024
CGL Carrier Seeks $1.2M In Inter-Insurer Injury Dispute
A general liability insurer told a Michigan federal court that a professional liability insurer owes $1.2 million toward a $1.5 million settlement reached in an underlying lawsuit involving their mutual insured, a cardiovascular practice located in a Detroit hospital, arguing that the professional liability policy covered the claim.
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November 26, 2024
7th Circ. Says Insurer Must Defend $3.4M Faulty Work Row
An architectural design firm's commercial general liability insurer must defend it and its owner against faulty work claims seeking more than $3.4 million in damages, the Seventh Circuit ruled, after the Illinois Supreme Court overturned prior appellate precedent siding with insurers in such disputes.
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November 26, 2024
Chemical Co. Demands Defense Coverage In PFAS Foam MDL
Specialty chemical company Clariant Corp. is suing five of its insurers in the North Carolina Business Court seeking defense costs in a host of underlying mass tort lawsuits over forever chemicals found in firefighting foam products.
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November 25, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Reverse Amber Heard's Loss In Coverage Suit
The Ninth Circuit upheld an insurer's favorable ruling Monday in its legal dispute with actress Amber Heard, affirming that she had no right to independent counsel paid for by New York Marine and General Insurance Co. in a defamation suit by her ex-husband, Johnny Depp.
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November 25, 2024
Bad Faith Case Isn't Apt For Garnishment, Mich. Justices Told
The Insurance Alliance of Michigan urged the Michigan Supreme Court to reverse an appeals court decision allowing an injured man to litigate bad faith claims against the at-fault party's insurer in garnishment proceedings, arguing the appellate decision allows him to circumvent pleading standards for a conventional civil action.
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November 25, 2024
Tenant's Death Excluded From Coverage, Kansas Judge Says
A Kansas federal judge granted an insurer an early win in a coverage dispute with an apartment complex over an underlying lawsuit in which a tenant's son says his father died of hypothermia because of a faulty furnace, finding that a "habitability exclusion" barred coverage for the suit.
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November 22, 2024
Chemical Co.'s PFAS Coverage Suit In SC Gets Tossed
A South Carolina federal court tossed BASF Corp.'s suit seeking coverage for thousands of underlying allegations that the chemical manufacturer's firefighting foam caused pollution and injury, finding Friday that a parallel suit in New Jersey state court favors abstention.
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November 21, 2024
High Court Leaves Insureds With Wood Injury Coverage Win
The Supreme Court's decision to pass on reviewing a Fourth Circuit ruling that revived coverage for a wood treatment product maker's chemical exposure suit left policyholders empowered with a broad duty to defend that carriers say goes too far.
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November 21, 2024
Insurers Sued Over Defense Costs In Fort Bragg Housing Row
An infrastructure company and related entities providing housing for military families told a North Carolina federal court that three of its primary commercial general liability insurers must cover their defense bill from a class action accusing them of providing "unfit and uninhabitable" housing at Fort Bragg.
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November 21, 2024
Concerns Remain Over Pricing In Final Calif. Insurance Rule
Insurers in California will be able to price policies using catastrophe models meant to predict future climate risks, but they must adhere to one of several options for increasing coverage availability, under a final rule that has left lingering concerns. Here, Law360 provides a background and overview of the regulation on catastrophe modeling and ratemaking.
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November 21, 2024
Settlement Doesn't Void Injury Coverage Ruling, Judge Says
A Colorado federal court refused to set aside its September ruling that an oil and gas production company isn't owed coverage by an electrical drilling company for a worker's underlying injury lawsuit, saying the parties' settlement negotiations don't justify vacating a valid court order.
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November 21, 2024
4 Federal Agencies Insurance Attys Must Watch Under Trump
As President-elect Donald Trump continues to build a cabinet for his second term in office, federal agencies are preparing for a transition to an administration that will de-emphasize regulation, which could result in fewer claims for insurers and more transactions for corporate policyholders, experts say. Here, Law360 takes a look at four federal agencies ripe for change that may have a ripple effect on insurance.
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November 21, 2024
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a coverage dispute over a man's wood chemical exposure, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that Lloyd's of London underwriters don't have to cover an investor suit and a California federal court said Truck Insurance Exchange must arbitrate its asbestos coverage claims. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.
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November 21, 2024
Insurer Seeks Subrogation Over Sprinkler Claims
An insurer for a contractor facing property damage claims told a New York federal court that a subcontractor and its insurers must pitch in for over $1.9 million the contractor's insurer has paid in coverage so far, even though it said the subcontractor failed to procure insurance covering the contractor.
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November 20, 2024
11th Circ. Says No Coverage For Holding Co. In $11.7M Row
The Eleventh Circuit unanimously affirmed Wednesday that an insurer doesn't have to cover underlying litigation against a holding company by investors who wanted to revoke an $11.7 million buy-in, because claims were made before the policy was active.
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November 20, 2024
Mich. School Gains Per-Wound Coverage For Shooting Suits
A Michigan school district has access to at least $55 million in coverage from its insurer for a mass shooting that killed four students and injured seven people at a high school in 2021, a state court found, determining each bullet striking a victim was its own occurrence.
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November 20, 2024
No Coverage For Road Rage Shooting Dispute, Judge Says
The auto insurer for a freight transportation company needn't cover an underlying suit over the fatal shooting of a man during a road rage altercation, a West Virginia federal court ruled, saying the shooting was "wholly unrelated to the inherent nature of the vehicle."
Expert Analysis
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What's In NYDFS Guidance On Use Of AI In Insurance
Matthew Gaul and Shlomo Potesky at Willkie summarize the New York Department of Financial Services' recently adopted circular letter on the use of artificial intelligence in insurance underwriting and pricing, and highlight the material changes made to it in response to comments on the draft circular letter.
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Del. 3M Ruling Risks Upending Corporate Insurance Programs
A Delaware court's findings last week in the 3M earplug insurance litigation that a parent company's defense fee payments don't count toward a subsidiary's self-insured retention and that an insurer's duty to pay defense costs doesn't attach to multidistrict litigation merit closer scrutiny in light of the modern corporate form and the fundamental objectives of MDLs, say Julie Hammerman and Gary Thompson at Thompson HD.
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Justices' Ch. 11 Ruling Is A Big Moment For Debtors' Insurers
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Truck Insurance v. Kaiser Gypsum ruling upends decades of Chapter 11 bankruptcy jurisprudence that relegated a debtor’s insurer to the sidelines, giving insurers a new footing to try and avoid significant liability, say Stuart Gordon and Benjamin Wisher at Rivkin Radler.
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7th Circ Joins Trend Of No CGL Coverage For Structural Flaws
The Seventh Circuit, which recently held potential structural instability did not count as property damage under a construction company's commercial general liability policy, joins a growing consensus that faulty work does not implicate coverage without tangible and present damage to the project, say Sarah Abrams at Baleen Specialty, and Elan Kandel and James Talbert at Bailey Cavalieri.
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7th Circ. Exclusion Ruling Will Narrow BIPA Coverage
The Seventh Circuit's recent decision in Thermoflex Waukegan v. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, holding that the access or disclosure exclusion applies to insurance claims brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, departs from the majority rule and opens the door to insurers more firmly denying coverage under general liability policies, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
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Revisiting Scalia's 'What's It To You?' After Kaiser Ruling
While the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser allows insurers to be considered "parties in interest" in Chapter 11 cases, they still need to show they would face an injury in fact, answering the late Justice Antonin Scalia's "what's it to you?" question, say Brent Weisenberg and Jeff Prol at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Calif. Long-Tail Ruling Continues Policyholder-Friendly Trend
The California Supreme Court's recent ruling in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Cement & Gypsum, rejecting horizontal policy exhaustion, was the latest in a string of its decisions involving insurance coverage for continuous or progressive injury claims that favor policyholders, say Billie Mandelbaum and David Goodwin at Covington.
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NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2
The second quarter of 2024 saw less enforcement activity in the realm of New York financial services, but brought substantial regulatory and legislative developments, including state regulators' guidance on cybersecurity compliance and customer service processes for virtual currency entities, say James Vivenzio and Andrew Lucas at Perkins Coie.
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NJ Justices Clarify First-Party Indemnification Availability
In Boyle v. Huff, the New Jersey Supreme Court recently held that indemnification can be available in first-party claims, resolving an open question and setting up contracting parties for careful negotiations around indemnity clauses, says Todd Leon at Marshall Dennehey.
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Takeaways From Justices' Redemption Insurance Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Connelly v. U.S. examines how to determine the fair market value of shares in a closely held company for estate tax purposes, and clarifies how life insurance held by the company to enable redemption of a decedent’s shares affects that calculation, says Evelyn Haralampu at Burns & Levinson.
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Insurers Have A Ch. 11 Voice Following High Court Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum — which reaffirmed a broad definition of "party in interest" — will give insurers, particularly in mass tort Chapter 11 bankruptcies, more opportunity to protect their interests and identify problems with reorganization plans, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.
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8th Circ. Insurance Ruling Spotlights Related-Claims Defenses
The Eighth Circuit’s recent Dexon v. Travelers ruling — that the insurer must provide a defense despite the policy’s related-acts provision — provides guidance for how policyholders can overcome related-acts defenses, say Geoffrey Fehling and Jae Lynn Huckaba at Hunton.
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Managing Legal Risks After University Gaza Protests
Following the protests sparked by the war in Gaza, colleges and universities should expect a long investigative tail and take steps to mitigate risks associated with compliance issues under various legal frameworks and institutional policies, say Wiley's Diana Shaw and Colin Cloherty.