General Liability
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February 06, 2024
Complex Not Covered For $4M Shooting Claim, Insurer Says
A Nationwide unit told a Georgia federal court it doesn't owe coverage to an Atlanta apartment complex for a tenant's bid to hold it liable for injuries she suffered during a shooting, claiming the complex waited nearly a year to notify the insurer.
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February 05, 2024
Fla. Legislative Session: Property Insurance Bills Roundup
Florida lawmakers have put forward dozens of proposals to address insurance challenges in the state, from a bill that would expand coverage from the state's last resort insurer to another that contemplates mangroves as bulwarks against flooding.
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February 05, 2024
Wendy's Not Covered In Freezer Injury Suit, Insurer Says
The insurer for an HVAC company told an Illinois federal court that it has no duty to defend or indemnify the operators of a Chicago-area Wendy's restaurant in an underlying lawsuit brought by a man who was injured while performing maintenance on a walk-in freezer.
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February 05, 2024
Insurer Owes $1.3M In Defects Row Defense Costs, Co. Says
A Hartford unit owes a Chicago-area homebuilder more than $1.3 million in unpaid defense costs related to an underlying construction defect suit, the company told an Illinois federal court, claiming the insurer has refused to explain its coverage decisions.
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February 05, 2024
No CGL Coverage For Home Depot Data Breach, 6th Circ. Told
Two insurers have told the Sixth Circuit they owe no commercial general liability coverage to Home Depot for its $172 million settlement with financial institutions over a 2014 breach of customer payment information, arguing an electronic data exclusion wholly barred coverage for the institutions' claimed losses.
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February 05, 2024
BNSF Railway Blamed For Triggering 2023 Wash. Wildfire
A tenant who lost his belongings in a blaze last summer that destroyed 10 homes and burned more than 500 acres in Washington state blamed BNSF Railway in state court for negligently running a "fire prone train" through a hot, dry, overgrown area, igniting the Tunnel 5 Fire.
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February 05, 2024
Berkley Wants Out Of Defending Atty In $750K Trust Dispute
An insurer told an Illinois federal court it doesn't owe defense or indemnification to an insured attorney in an underlying action from a trust alleging it's owed more than $750,000 in overdue payments, arguing there is no coverage for the trust's suit in the attorney's firm's policy.
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February 05, 2024
Insurer Owes $2.5M For Lost Income, Shop Owner Says
A Hartford unit refused to pay out $2.5 million in business interruption coverage for a New York City doughnut shop's income that was lost while the city shut the store down during repairs, the shop told a New York federal court.
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February 02, 2024
Calif. Rate Approvals Centered In Coverage Crisis Debate
A California law permitting public challenges to proposed premium increases is saving policyholders billions of dollars, a consumer advocacy group recently reported, a claim that has drawn scorn from industry professionals amid efforts to change the law to better favor carriers.
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February 02, 2024
Claims Against BNSF Cut From $1.3M Derailment Dispute
A Washington federal judge trimmed several claims against BNSF Railway Co. and a transportation contractor from Starr Indemnity & Liability Co.'s $1.3 million suit over a shipment of clothing destroyed in a train derailment, finding they were preempted by federal law.
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February 02, 2024
Owner Says Insurer Can't Dodge Tenn. Hooters Bombing Row
The insurer of a Hooters restaurant that was decimated in a 2020 Christmas Day bombing appointed a crooked appraiser who tainted a damage award, the historic property's owner told a Tennessee Federal Court, adding that the biased determination was invalid under state law.
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February 02, 2024
Insurer Needn't Cover Contractor In Construction Injury Suit
Evanston Insurance Co. has no duty to defend or indemnify a contractor in an underlying suit filed by a worker who was injured when he fell off a ladder at a construction site, a Washington federal court ruled Friday, saying the policy's residential construction exclusion applies.
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February 02, 2024
9th Circ.'s Opioid Ruling Packs Limited Punch
The Ninth Circuit's finding that McKesson's insurers need not defend the pharmaceutical company against suits from municipalities claiming its deliberate conduct increased their opioid epidemic response costs is a sting to policyholders — but a slight one, experts say, because the panel relied on a California state appeals court decision in the unpublished ruling.
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February 02, 2024
6th Circ. Revives Bank's $32M Ponzi Settlement Coverage Suit
A bank can seek coverage for a $32 million settlement it paid to resolve a bankruptcy suit alleging it allowed a Ponzi scheme to continue so it could recover loans to the company running the scheme, the Sixth Circuit ruled, reversing a win for a pair of AIG insurers.
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February 02, 2024
Clyde & Co. Hires Ex-Lewis Brisbois Team In Chicago
Law firm Clyde & Co. LLP announced Thursday that it had hired nine Chicago-based insurance law and general liability attorneys from Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, including that firm's former managing partner in the city.
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February 01, 2024
Insurer Fights Railroad Subpoena For Ohio Derailment Docs
An insurance company that investigated claims made surrounding last year's East Palestine, Ohio, derailment has asked an Ohio federal court to block a subpoena from Norfolk Southern seeking to procure its findings from the area where the accident occurred, arguing it was a nonparty to the massive litigation over the derailment.
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February 01, 2024
Imerys, Cyprus Mines Propose Ch. 11 Plans With $862M Trust
Bankrupt talc supplier Imerys Talc America, Inc. and its former owner Cyprus Mines Corp. asked a Delaware bankruptcy court to sign off on disclosure statements for their separate Chapter 11 plans that would create an $862.5 million joint trust to settle claims that their talc caused cancer.
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February 01, 2024
Experts Urge Justices To Bar Insurer's Ch. 11 Challenge
Truck Insurance Exchange's contention that it is a "party in interest" with standing to challenge its insureds' Chapter 11 reorganization plan, which established a trust for asbestos injury claims, would upend the bankruptcy system if accepted, experts and policyholder representatives told the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday.
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February 01, 2024
Insurers Blast Syracuse Diocese Ch. 11 Plan
Interstate Fire & Casualty Co., joined by a number of other insurance carriers, has objected to the Chapter 11 plan disclosure statement of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, New York, saying that the plan's treatment of insurance policies abrogated the insurers' rights and that the disclosure contained inadequate information.
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February 01, 2024
Tenn. Resident Says State Farm Marketing Calls Violated TCPA
State Farm used a third-party company to make automated telemarketing calls without prior consent, violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, according to a proposed class action filed in Illinois federal court.
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February 01, 2024
Insurer Wants Out Of $1M Construction Defect Coverage Suit
An insurer told a Florida federal court that it shouldn't have to cover builders in underlying litigation accusing them of causing more than $1 million in damage via defective construction on a beachfront vacation home.
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February 01, 2024
Insurer Needn't Cover Gym In Brain Injury Suit, Court Says
An insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify a gymnastics facility and an employee against a suit over a student-athlete's traumatic brain injury, an Illinois federal court ruled, finding that exclusions for gymnast injuries and injuries arising from use of certain gymnastics equipment preclude coverage.
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January 31, 2024
Insurance Execs Stole Co. Assets For New Biz, Suit Says
An insurance company alleged in a federal complaint Tuesday that three former executives lined their own pockets by breaking laws and stealing assets in a plot to found their own competing business as part of a vindictive campaign fraught with subterfuge on North Carolina regulators to further imperil their former employer.
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January 31, 2024
Electric Co. Says Insurer Refuses To Defend BIPA Suit
An electric company told an Illinois federal court that its insurers wrongfully refused to defend or indemnify it against an underlying proposed class action in state court by an employee who alleged the company violated the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act.
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January 31, 2024
$17.5M Hail Claim Mostly Not Covered, Insurer Says
A storage company's insurer told a Texas federal court that much of the nearly $17.5 million in hail damage the company said it suffered wasn't actually caused by hail, adding that it refused to allow a construction consultant to inspect its property "despite multiple requests."
Expert Analysis
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Taming Plaintiffs' Thriving 'Reptile' Tactics: Why It's Time
As insurers and corporate policyholders are looking down the dangerous double barrel of price level and social inflation, it's important to examine what they can do to contain a leading driver of social inflation — plaintiffs lawyers' reptile theory, which positions jurors as guardians against dangers for society, say Scott Seaman and Diane Webster at Hinshaw.
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Recent Decisions Are Eroding All-Risk Insurance Coverage
All-risk insurance coverage is under siege by insurers' broad interpretations of established exclusions, and recent decisions in New Jersey and New Hampshire have shown that courts may not protect coverage despite the policies' text and intent, says Nicholas Insua at Reed Smith.
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The Insurance Industry's Growing Potential Role In Gun Safety
This year has seen two unprecedented events — the passage of a municipal requirement for gun owners' liability insurance, and the Sandy Hook class action settlement — that may motivate insurers to help regulate firearms, but several reasons could hold them back, says Peter Kochenburger at UConn.
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Opioid Case May Guide Climate Change Insurance Suits
A recent opioid case in California federal court that defined "accident" narrowly is based on allegations analogous to those in many climate change lawsuits, and may help insurers assess whether they have a duty to defend, say Dennis Anderson and Nick Dolejsi at Zelle.
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2 Calif. Insurance Decisions Question Boundaries Of Fortuity
Last month, California state and federal courts revisited fortuity issues in two decisions that show how the occurrence requirement and the California Insurance Code's prohibition on coverage for an insured's willful acts can be exceedingly difficult to apply to lawsuits alleging novel legal theories, say Jodi Green and Sophia von Bergen at Miller Nash.
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Insurer Implications As 3 Climate Suits Return To State Courts
Three federal circuit courts recently remanded climate change lawsuits brought by state and local governments against major energy corporations back to state courts, where plaintiffs are more likely to succeed, thus significantly increasing their insurers' and reinsurers' exposure to defense costs and judgments, say José Umbert and Jason Reeves at Zelle.
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6 Rulings Reinforce BIPA Coverage For Illinois Policyholders
Six well-reasoned recent decisions in the Northern District of Illinois have considerably strengthened policyholders’ arguments for commercial general liability coverage in lawsuits brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, say attorneys at Neal Gerber.
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'Take Home' COVID And Emerging Liability Insurance Issues
Plaintiffs may face an uphill battle in take-home COVID-19 suits — cases filed against employers when employees contract the virus at work and then infect their family members — but insurers could still be on the hook for defense costs in protracted litigation, say Melissa D'Alelio and Michael Collier at Robins Kaplan.
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The Misinterpretation Of Pa.'s Bad Faith Claims Handling Rule
Courts applying Pennsylvania law in insurance coverage disputes, such as the recently decided Walker v. Foremost Insurance, and finding that where an insurer establishes that the subject claim is not covered by the insurer’s policy there can also be no bad faith claim by the insured, are inaccurately interpreting state law, say George Stewart and Max Louik at Reed Smith.
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3 Insurance Lessons From Target Data Breach Ruling
In Target v. ACE American Insurance, a Minnesota federal court recently recognized that commercial general liability policies cover losses arising from data breaches, providing useful lessons for policyholders, including a perspective on occurrence and loss of use, say attorneys at Pasich.
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Del. Related Claims Ruling Is Good News For Insurers
The Delaware Supreme Court recently denied coverage for a shareholder class action in First Solar v. National Union First Insurance, rejecting the test for assessing relatedness-based coverage issues, and opening the door for insurers to rely on specific policy wording when evaluating related claims, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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How Sonic Boom Risk Informs 'Physical Loss' For COVID Era
Applied to today's COVID-19 business interruption insurance battles, insurers' historical treatment of damage associated with sonic booms — or explosive sounds stemming from supersonic airplane speeds — may call into question the many court rulings barring coverage for pandemic-related losses on narrow physical loss grounds, say Peter Kochenburger at the University of Connecticut and Jeffrey Stempel at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
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Justices Must Apply Law Evenly In Shadow Docket Rulings
In recent shadow docket decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court has inconsistently applied the requirement that parties demonstrate irreparable harm to obtain injunctive relief, which is problematic for two separate but related reasons, says David Hopkins at Benesch.