Property

Expert Analysis

• How NJ Bad Faith Auto Insurance Bill Compares To Pa.'s

  

  The recently enacted New Jersey Insurance Fair Conduct Act, is in some ways narrower and in other ways broader than Pennsylvania's notoriously strict bad faith statute and leaves open many fundamental questions, which took Pennsylvania decades of litigation to resolve, say Kristin Jones and Brian Callaway at Troutman Pepper.

• Reach Of Ohio Ransomware Ruling Limited To Policy At Hand

  

  While an Ohio appellate court's recent decision allowing the insured's ransomware attack claim to proceed in EMOI Services v. Owners Insurance may seem significant for insurance jurisprudence, it should not have implications beyond policies specifically insuring damage to software, says Jane Warring at Zelle.

• Flawed NY Insurance Law Needs Amendments

  

  The New York Comprehensive Insurance Disclosure Act, recently signed by the governor, imposes a multitude of problematic disclosure obligations on defendant-insureds, which the Legislature should — and likely will — seriously consider modifying or eliminating, says Richard Mason at MasonADR.

• How 11th Circ. Ruling Dominated 2021 COVID Insurance Cases

  

  Despite being a case about construction dust and debris, the Eleventh Circuit’s 2020 opinion in Mama Jo’s v. Sparta Insurance had a pervasive and unwarranted effect this year on coverage for business interruption losses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, say Hugh Lumpkin and Garrett Nemeroff at Reed Smith.

• JP Morgan Ruling May Have Broad Insurance Implications

  

  The New York Court of Appeals' recent decision in J.P. Morgan Securities v. Vigilant Insurance — that settlement funds paid to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission did not constitute a penalty for insurance purposes — could have far-reaching application in other types of insurance litigation where plaintiffs could be characterized as seeking equitable relief, say Robert Shulman and Cristen Rose at Paley Rothman.

• 2 Insurance Rulings Showcase Trend Favoring Appraisal

  

  Two recent decisions from a Florida state court and the Tenth Circuit are consistent with the purpose of, and overwhelming judicial preference toward, appraisal as a means of property claim resolution, ensuring that policyholders have further support in employing this tool against a reluctant insurer, say Matthew Weaver and Jessica Gopiao at Reed Smith.

• COVID Insurance Cases Highlight Federal-State Court Tension

  

  COVID-19 insurance coverage litigation has resulted in an unprecedented number of federal courts preemptively ruling on an area of law in which state courts have final say — a problematic trend with likely undesirable results for litigants unless federal courts consider certain proactive solutions, says John Koch at Flaster Greenberg.

• Strike And Riot Insurance Considerations For Policyholders

  

  As civil unrest risks evolve, outpacing the insurance products designed to cover them, businesses relying on strike, riot and civil commotion coverage or commercial property coverage should review key aspects of their policies, say Jillian Raines and Shafkat Rakib at Cohen Ziffer.

• Texas Insurers' Paths To Post-Appraisal Summary Judgment

  

  Despite Texas insurance law changes that have altered the interaction between appraisal awards and certain extracontractual claims, recent state and federal court decisions show insurers still have options for summary judgment on policyholders' claims after the entry of an appraisal award, say Michael O'Brien and Claire Fialcowitz at Zelle.

• Insurers Should Honor Astroworld Coverage Obligations

  

  While insurers may be eager to shift blame on Astroworld showrunner Travis Scott for conditions that resulted in 10 deaths and dozens of injuries, arguments suggesting the tragedy shouldn't be covered appear baseless in light of the facts and the law, says Benjamin Massarsky at Miller Friel.

• Revisiting Loss Calculations For Business Interruption Claims

  

  As business interruption insurance claims from COVID-19 and other recent catastrophes flood the courts, David Yohai and Heather Weaver at Weil examine two common judicial approaches to calculating losses, survey their outsize effect on an insured's recovery, and discuss how the influx of new decisions will change the landscape.

• Pa. Ruling Leaves Auto Policy Stacking Questions

  

  Following the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's recent decision in Donovan v. State Farm, implicitly confirming the validity of a household vehicle auto policy exclusion with a proper inter-policy stacking waiver, it is unclear what the court expects insurers to do about stacking waivers, say Christopher Woodward and Allison Krupp at Marshall Dennehey.

• Cyber Rulings Aren't Helping COVID Biz Interruption Cases

  

  Where policyholders have recently tried to draw comparison between the loss of property use from a COVID-19 shutdown order and the loss of data use from a ransomware attack, they have found courts unsympathetic to these arguments for business interruption insurance coverage, say Jane Warring and Kristian Smith at Zelle.