Property
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June 29, 2022
Mo. Panel Affirms Homeowner's Roof Damage Coverage Win
A Missouri appeals panel upheld a property owner's coverage win against an AIG unit, finding the insurer breached its policy by improperly depreciating labor costs when calculating the actual cash value of a storm-damaged roof.
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June 28, 2022
Real Estate Co. Can't Get $12M Virus Coverage Under Policy
A Connecticut state court judge axed a real estate investment firm's bid to recoup more than $12 million in pandemic-related losses from its insurer, finding that the claim falls clearly within a carveout for damages related to contamination.
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June 28, 2022
Wash. Justices Ponder Coverage For Delayed Tunnel Project
An insurance coverage dispute over the three-year delay of a tunnel project in Seattle had the Washington Supreme Court on Tuesday again questioning whether the loss of use of a property constitutes physical loss covered by insurance.
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June 28, 2022
8th Circ. Rejects Hotel Operator's Virus Coverage Appeal
The Eighth Circuit refused to revive a hotel and restaurant operator's COVID-19 business interruption insurance suit against Continental Casualty Co. on Tuesday, finding the company did not show any covered physical loss or damage.
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June 28, 2022
Atlanta Hotel Asks 11th Circ. To Revive Mold Damage Claim
The owner of an Atlanta Hilton hotel asked the Eleventh Circuit to revive its $20 million water and mold damage suit against Affiliated FM Insurance Co., arguing a Georgia federal court did not consider the actual language of the hotel's "all-risk" insurance policy when it tossed the case.
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June 28, 2022
Liberty Unit Seeks To Ax Wash. Landlord's Coverage Suit
A Liberty Mutual subsidiary asked a Washington federal court to toss a landlord's bid for coverage of biohazard damage and unauthorized renovations caused by a former tenant, saying its initial denials of coverage were correct and reasonable.
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June 28, 2022
Panel Affirms Sanction On Homeowners In Fire Coverage Suit
A California appeals panel upheld monetary sanctions imposed against two homeowners for destroying evidence before their insurer's inspector could investigate their claims for mold contamination stemming from the 2018 Carr fire.
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June 27, 2022
Liberty Mutual Unit Must Face Condo's Irma Damage Claim
A Florida federal judge ruled that a condominium association sufficiently pled its breach of contract claims against a Liberty Mutual subsidiary in a suit alleging that the insurer refused to cover Hurricane Irma damage to a dozen units, but tossed the policyholder's declaratory judgment claim as duplicative.
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June 27, 2022
Investor Must Arbitrate Case Over $36M Hurricane Irma Award
A Florida federal judge on Monday denied a real estate investment company's request to hear its case against insurance underwriters at Lloyd's and its affiliates, ruling that due to an agreement already in place, the parties must arbitrate the dispute over a delayed $36 million award for Hurricane Irma-related damage.
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June 27, 2022
Insurer Seeks Win In NJ Hair Salon's Virus Coverage Suit
A Farmers Insurance unit told a New Jersey federal judge that a hair salon has provided little evidence of physical loss or damage from COVID-19 and the pandemic shutdown orders.
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June 27, 2022
Hotel REIT Says Insurers Must Cover COVID-19 Losses
A real estate investment trust asked a New York state court to find that the presence of COVID-19 and the virus that causes the disease triggers coverage under a $150 million all-risk insurance program, saying that a number of insurers wrongfully denied coverage of its pandemic-related losses.
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June 27, 2022
Car Auction Co. Asks 4th Circ. For Redo In Virus Suit
A car auction company urged the Fourth Circuit to wait to hear what Maryland's high court says about whether COVID-19 causes a physical loss or damage that's covered by insurance, arguing the court should vacate an earlier order in favor of a Chubb unit.
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June 24, 2022
NJ Panel Reverses Casino's Virus Coverage Suit Victory
A New Jersey state appeals panel ruled that an Atlantic City casino and resort operator's suit for pandemic coverage should have been dismissed by a lower court that found the casino plausibly alleged it sustained the kind of direct damage required for coverage.
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June 24, 2022
NH Medical Society Denounces Insurers' COVID-19 Science
The New Hampshire Medical Society blasted arguments from insurers that COVID-19 can be easily removed, telling the state's high court that the arguments amount to "junk science."
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June 24, 2022
Roofers Test Fla. Insurance Bills In Constitutional Challenges
Home repair contractors who say that the Florida Legislature favored the insurance industry too much with a set of new laws this spring struck back with a set of constitutional challenges in a trio of suits asking courts to block the new rules, arguing they shortchange contractors' and homeowners' rights.
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June 24, 2022
Restaurant Co. Denied NY High Court Bid In Virus Appeal
A New York appellate court denied a restaurant operator's request to take its COVID-19 coverage appeal to the state's highest court.
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June 23, 2022
11th Circ. Upholds Ga. Arcade's Pandemic Coverage Loss
A Georgia-based arcade company lost its appeal for coverage of its pandemic losses Thursday when an Eleventh Circuit panel ruled that the company failed to allege the kind of direct physical loss required for coverage under its Cincinnati policy.
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June 23, 2022
Judge Hints Wawa Virus Case Fate Lies In NJ Appeals Rulings
The future of Wawa Inc.'s amended complaint seeking coverage for coronavirus-related losses rests largely on recent state appellate rulings favoring insurers after a New Jersey state judge questioned Thursday why those victories for the opposition shouldn't dismantle its case.
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June 23, 2022
Zurich Fights La. Helicopter Co.'s Virus Coverage Appeal
Zurich urged the Fifth Circuit to uphold the dismissal of a Louisiana-based helicopter service company's suit seeking to recover COVID-19-related business interruption losses, after a state appeals panel handed a New Orleans restaurant owner a rare win in its own pandemic coverage suit.
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June 23, 2022
Live Nation Says Insurer's Bid To Trim Virus Suit Is Tone-Deaf
Live Nation told a California federal judge Wednesday to tune out Factory Mutual Insurance Co.'s renewed request to trim its COVID-19 coverage suit, saying the "new" rulings cited by the insurer are irrelevant to its case.
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June 23, 2022
Judge Approves $1B Surfside Deal, Holds Off On Fee Request
The judge overseeing the consolidated litigation over the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida, approved a $1.02 billion global settlement on Thursday, but said he would not rule on a $100 million fee request from class counsel until after he had completed the claims process with victims.
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June 22, 2022
Baylor Med School Appeals Insurers' COVID-19 Coverage Win
The Baylor College of Medicine is appealing a Texas state judge's ruling that a pollution and contamination exclusion prevents coverage for its COVID-19-related losses.
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June 22, 2022
Insurer Owed LA Port Operator Defense From City, Judge Says
A Los Angeles company that formerly ran a city-owned port won a partial judgment against United National Insurance Co. on Tuesday when a California federal court found that the insurer was obligated to defend it in an underlying lawsuit from the city.
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June 22, 2022
Law Firm Asks 5th Circ. To Reconsider Tossing Virus Suit
A Texas-based law firm asked the Fifth Circuit to give its COVID-19 business interruption suit against Cincinnati Insurance Co. a second chance, arguing that a three-judge panel didn't properly interpret what the firm said was ambiguous language in its policy.
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June 22, 2022
Calif. Winery Gets Split Ruling On Smoke Damage Coverage
A California federal judge said more evidence is needed to determine whether a 2017 wildfire's smoke damaged a winery's grapes on the vine or after harvest, a determination that could affect whether an Allianz unit owes coverage for the damage.

Policyholder Hopes Tested In Virus Case At Wash. High Court
Washington’s top court seemed skeptical Tuesday that a pediatric dental practice’s slowdown of operations during the COVID-19 pandemic is tantamount to a loss caused by fire or rain requiring closure for repairs, in the court’s first in-person oral arguments held in over two years since the pandemic’s start.

2nd Circ. Precedent Dooms Boutique's Virus Coverage Suit
The owner of high-end clothing boutiques lost its COVID-19 coverage lawsuit with a Chubb unit when a New York federal judge ruled that the Second Circuit's precedent doomed the case because there wasn't any physical loss or damage to property.

Wash. Justices To View Long-Awaited Virus Coverage Issues
Policyholders and insurers will turn their attention to Washington's top court on June 28 as the justices consider whether a pediatric dental practice was insured for losses caused by government-imposed restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, in a venue policyholder attorneys have long hoped would prove friendly to their clients.
Expert Analysis
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Property Insurance Coverage Can Hinge On 'Riot' Or 'Protest'
As protests erupt across the U.S. in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, Alycen Moss and Elliot Kerzner at Cozen O'Connor examine important property insurance questions that depend on whether a gathering of people is classified as a protest or a riot.
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Lessons From Calif. Liability Claim Recoupment Ruling
A recent California federal court decision in Evanston Insurance v. Winstar Properties illustrates the perils of insurer recoupment and underscores the importance of assessing recoupment rights, if any, throughout the claims process, say Geoffrey Fehling and Veronica Adams at Hunton.
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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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Exploring Calif. Wildfire Insurance's Legislative Landscape
As California wildfire season approaches, elected officials and insurance companies continue to face the task of finding long-term solutions, including an increasingly important role for mitigation efforts by individual homeowners and business owners in order to protect their property, say Jan Larson and Jenna Conwisar at Jenner & Block.
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COVID Coverage Cases Conflict With Insurer Documentation
A look at three court cases highlights a gap between successful insurer arguments made in litigation about policy text and the insurance industry's own understanding of the potential for property damage and business interruption coverage of virus- and disease-related claims, say professors at UConn, the University of Nevada and Queen's University.
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Pandemic Losses Do Not Trigger Biz Interruption Coverage
Although Law360 has reported that there may be hope for policyholders seeking property insurance coverage for pandemic-related losses, basic contract principles and overwhelming case law show the opposite, say attorneys at Dentons.
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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 Best Practices For NY Climate Risk Compliance
Insurers should view the New York Department of Financial Services' guidance on managing financial risks from climate change as a bellwether for state and federal regulation and should use the time before this summer's compliance deadline to prepare and implement an appropriate response strategy, say Jim Wrynn and Robert Stephens at FTI Consulting.
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Assessing NFT Insurance Coverage Options And Gaps
Because non-fungible tokens do not come bundled with insurance policies, and until NFT-specific insurance policies become more common, NFT owners should proactively protect against risk by drawing upon existing frameworks, despite potential coverage gaps, say Brian Scarbrough and Edward Crouse at Jenner & Block.
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Crypto And NFTs Could Change The Future Of Real Estate
As they grow increasingly popular, cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens may shape how real estate transactions are conducted and open the market to many new investors, but these changes are not without risk, says Hugo Alvarez at Cole Scott.
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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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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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Ill. COVID Rulings Correctly Adopt Physical Loss Standard
In two recent decisions, Sweet Berry Cafe v. Society Insurance and Lee v. State Farm, Illinois appellate courts properly followed the Illinois Supreme Court's standard for physical loss when deciding COVID-19 business interruption cases, says Melinda Kollross at Clausen Miller.