Insurance
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November 13, 2018
NJ Firm Can Drop Recalcitrant Client In Insurance Fraud Suit
A law firm was allowed to withdraw as counsel for a New Jersey homeowner Tuesday in an insurance fraud suit brought by mortgage lender Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB, after a federal judge determined the defendant has not been responsive with her attorneys or paid her legal bills.
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November 13, 2018
Insured California Wildfire Losses May Top $6B, Report Says
A spate of deadly wildfires that has scorched hundreds of thousands of acres in California may end up costing insurance companies $6 billion or more, according to a report issued Monday by Moody’s Investors Service Inc.
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November 13, 2018
Law Firm Says Staffer's Prior Employment Doesn't Warrant DQ
A Texas law firm defended its involvement Monday in an insurer client's coverage dispute with a seed company, saying one of the firm’s support staff had indeed previously worked for the seed company but left long before the grounds for a coverage dispute were even known.
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November 13, 2018
Fla. Blue Cross Illegally Cornering ACA Market, Rival Says
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida was hit with a suit on Tuesday claiming it has created an unlawful stranglehold on Affordable Care Act policies in the Sunshine State by having brokers agree not to carry policies from any other insurer.
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November 13, 2018
Insurer Says Sports Bar Not Covered In Customers' Crash Suit
Atlantic Casualty Insurance Co. filed suit Tuesday against a sports bar it insures to avoid paying for an underlying suit by four customers over an intoxicated patron who crashed his car into the Cincinnati-area bar, telling an Ohio federal court that several exclusions apply to bar coverage.
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November 13, 2018
High Court Won't Touch Honeywell Retiree Benefits Battle
The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday it won't hear a group of retirees' challenge to a Sixth Circuit opinion that found Honeywell International Inc. didn't owe them lifetime health care benefits.
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November 12, 2018
Ex-AIG Staff Could Win $100M After High Court Bonus Ruling
A London court has ruled that 23 former executives at AIG are entitled to deferred bonuses pre-dating the financial crisis that could be worth more than $100 million despite the units' involvement in the risky trading that nearly brought down the insurance giant.
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November 9, 2018
9th Circ. Sends T-Mobile Coverage Row To Wash. Justices
The Ninth Circuit on Friday asked Washington state’s high court to consider whether Selective Insurance Co. of America must cover T-Mobile’s costs in a lawsuit alleging its antenna installation contractor damaged a building in the Bronx in New York, saying Washington state law is unsettled on a critical issue in the case.
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November 9, 2018
Wisc. Agency Appeals In Trans State Workers' Coverage Suit
A Wisconsin agency has appealed to the Seventh Circuit a ruling blocking the state from excluding gender-confirming medical care from state employees' health coverage and entering jury awards in favor of two transgender workers at the University of Wisconsin who were denied such care.
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November 9, 2018
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
The last week has seen a pair of disputes involving asset manager CGrowth, another suit from private equity-linked firms taking on parties linked to Thailand's KPN Group and Kodak bring a competition case against Goldman, Glencore and others the film giant has accused of manipulating aluminum prices in the U.S. Here, Law360 looks at those and other new claims in the U.K.
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November 9, 2018
Insurer Says Costco's $8M Gender Bias Deal Not Covered
Excess insurer Arrowood Indemnity Co. urged a Washington federal judge to hold that Costco's failure to secure its consent for an $8 million settlement of a gender bias class action relieves the insurer of any coverage duties, while Costco countered Arrowood waited too long to object to the deal.
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November 9, 2018
Insurer Must Defend Shooter's Estate, Pa. Justices Told
A man who was injured in a scuffle as he walked in on a murder-suicide is urging Pennsylvania's highest court to uphold a decision finding that Erie Insurance Exchange was responsible for the cost of defending the gunman's estate in a lawsuit over the incident.
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November 9, 2018
Timeshare Owners Hit Marriott With Sanctions Bid
Timeshare owners have asked a Florida federal court to sanction Marriott Ownership Resorts Inc. in a proposed class action claiming the timeshare company and its insurer duped them into invalid real estate deals with Orange County's help, saying it intentionally withheld "massive amounts" of documents during discovery.
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November 9, 2018
Drone Crash Injury At Wedding Not Covered, Insurer Says
An insurance company has asked a California federal court to grant a quick win in its suit against a policy-holding photography company because exclusions in the coverage mean it doesn't have to pay for a drone incident at a wedding shoot during which a guest lost an eye.
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November 9, 2018
Looming GDPR Fines To Spark Insurance Coverage Fights
Cyber policies are increasingly incorporating coverage for the hefty fines and liabilities that are likely to arise from the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, but legal and regulatory pronouncements in vital jurisdictions may stymie these efforts and open the door for unprecedented coverage battles, experts say.
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November 8, 2018
Liberty Can’t Foist Silk Theft Coverage Onto Fellow Insurer
A California federal judge has ruled that a Liberty Mutual unit cannot put CNA Financial Corp. on the hook for the nearly $1.2 million it paid to cover the theft of a silk shipment from the companies’ mutual insured, saying the lack of a contractual relationship between the two insurers dooms the lawsuit.
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November 8, 2018
Aetna Owes $26M Over Denied Cancer Treatment, Jury Says
An Oklahoma jury this week slammed Aetna with two verdicts totaling nearly $25.6 million, finding the insurer willfully acted in bad faith when it repeatedly refused to cover proton beam therapy recommended for a woman’s cancer.
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November 8, 2018
Insurer Says County, Racetrack Not Covered In Crash Suit
Evanston Insurance Co. on Wednesday asked a California federal court to rule that it has no further obligation to defend or indemnify Monterey County or the operator of a Salinas-based racetrack in a lawsuit over a motorcycle accident at the track, saying the claims are outside the scope of its policy.
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November 8, 2018
UnitedHealth Class Denied Cert. In Prosthetic Benefits Suit
A California federal judge has shot down an attempt by the UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s beneficiaries to sue the insurer as a class over alleged denials of benefits for prosthetic arms and legs, but he gave them a shot at refiling even as he threatened their lead counsel with a $2,500 sanction.
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November 8, 2018
Insurer Sues To Duck Covering Stanley Cup Stein TM Suit
Sentinel Insurance Company Ltd. on Wednesday sued two companies that sell beer steins resembling the Stanley Cup to avoid paying for their defense in a trademark infringement suit brought by the National Hockey League, telling an Illinois federal court that a litany of exclusions apply to bar coverage.
Expert Analysis
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New Construction Trends And Their Impact On Contracts
Trends and technologies such as performance-based and resilience-oriented design, modular construction, and the use of drones are changing complex construction and engineering projects — and will require careful consideration and analysis during project negotiation and contracting, say attorneys with Mayer Brown LLP and engineers with Exponent Inc.
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It’s Time For Law Firms To Start Talking About Gen Z
Since the oldest members of Generation Z aren’t even finished with law school yet, law firm management is in a unique position to prepare for their entrance into the legal workforce, says Eliza Stoker of Major Lindsey & Africa.
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Clear, Concise Disclosures For Variable Contracts In Sight
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent proposals to improve disclosures about variable annuities and variable life insurance contracts should go a long way in enhancing the investment experience for retail investors, say Ronald Holinsky of Lincoln Financial Group and Robert Robertson of Dechert LLP.
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State Net
How The States Fared In The Midterms
Lou Cannon, editorial adviser and columnist at LexisNexis State Net Capitol Journal, dissects the results of the governor’s races and state legislative chambers in the 2018 midterm elections.
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A Post-Election Survey Of The Health Care Ecosystem
Health care featured prominently in the 2018 midterm election campaign. Here, attorneys with Debevoise & Plimpton LLP offer thoughts on what the election results and a divided Congress mean for different sectors of the health care industry.
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Mass. Court Ruling Reinforces 2 Keys To Pollution Coverage
The Massachusetts federal district court's decision in Plainstow Project v. Ace Property & Casualty Insurance illustrates a recent pro-policyholder outcome as to the interplay of a policy's pollution exclusion and the viability of its “sudden and accidental” exception, say Alexander Bandza and Brian Scarbrough of Jenner & Block LLP.
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Q&A
Back To School: Yale's Linda Greenhouse Talks Journalism
In this series featuring law school luminaries, Yale Law School lecturer and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Linda Greenhouse discusses her coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court, the conservatives' long game and trends in journalism.
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Opinion
Celebrate Veterans By Improving Their Access To Justice
Attorneys should think beyond the Veterans Day parades and use their time and talents to help the many veterans facing urgent legal issues, says Linda Klein of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC.
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Iran Sanctions Reimposed: 5 Key Questions
With this week's reimposition of the final tranche of U.S. sanctions against Iran, foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies must ensure they have concluded all Iran-related business. The addition of more Iranian individuals and entities to the specially designated nationals list means additional compliance risks, say attorneys with Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
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What Montrose Means For Multilayered Insurance In Calif.
The California Court of Appeal's recent decision in Montrose v. Superior Court, which held that trial courts deciding coverage cases that involve multiple layers of insurance must analyze each policy, is unsurprising given the California Supreme Court's analysis in similar cases, though some inconsistencies may need to be addressed, say Robert Anderson and Gary Spencer of The Anderson Edge.