Specialty Lines
-
January 24, 2024
4th Circ. Rejects Adviser's Bid To Revive Coverage Suit
An AmTrust insurance unit wasn't required to cover an investment adviser for defamation suits under a professional liability policy issued to her former employer, a Fourth Circuit panel ruled Wednesday, saying the adviser's failure to collect certain expenses under a primary policy doesn't obligate the excess insurer.
-
January 24, 2024
Apartment, Insurers Settle Stalled Construction Coverage Row
A Tampa, Florida, apartment complex owner and its insurers settled their dispute in federal court over coverage for delayed construction after mediation, they said Wednesday in a joint settlement notice.
-
January 24, 2024
Kayne Anderson Loses Coverage Bid In $22M Copyright Row
Investment adviser Kayne Anderson lost its bid for coverage for a collective $22 million in legal expenses and settlement costs after a California appeals court agreed that a copyright dispute over unauthorized copying of an energy news publication does not fall within its policies' scope.
-
January 24, 2024
Accused Fraudster Hurting Policyholders, NC Justices Told
Four insurers told the North Carolina Supreme Court that a former insurance mogul facing criminal fraud charges is still running his businesses, contrary to a contract and lower court order, renewing their request for clarity on what parts of an appellate court's opinion the high court will review.
-
January 24, 2024
Insurer Can't Duck $2M Nursing Home Judgment, Family Argues
The insurer of a now-bankrupt Georgia nursing home can't escape its obligations to cover a $2.1 million default judgment won by the family of a woman who died in the home's care, the family has told a federal judge.
-
January 23, 2024
Oil Co. Says Power Co. Owes $11M For Injury Defense
An oil and gas company seeking up to $11 million in coverage from a power company for an underlying electic shock injury suit told a Wyoming federal court that the power company should've made it an additional insured on its policies, per the companies' agreement.
-
January 23, 2024
College Wants 9th Circ. Opinion In $1.5M Fraud Coverage Spat
A for-profit college that settled with the U.S. government after being accused of stealing money meant to fund veterans' education asked the Ninth Circuit to weigh in after a California federal court said its insurer didn't have to cover nearly $1.5 million in connected investigation defense costs.
-
January 23, 2024
Berkshire Unit Seeks Partial Win In Senior Center Liability Suit
A Berkshire unit is seeking a partial win against a senior care center over an underlying wrongful death suit, telling an Illinois federal court that it cannot be expected to defend the center when a self-insured retention has not been satisfied.
-
January 23, 2024
Progressive Customers Fire Back At Proposed Dismissal
Progressive customers in a consolidated proposed class action surrounding the exposure of nearly 350,000 users' personal data to unauthorized actors urged an Ohio federal judge to reject the insurer's dismissal bid, arguing in part that the motion couldn't get around Progressive's own admission to the leak of information.
-
January 23, 2024
Candy Maker Wants $5M Recall Coverage Suit Tossed
A Texas-based candy company urged a New York federal court to either toss an insurer's lawsuit seeking to avoid coverage for a nearly $5 million recall over metal fragments found in certain gummy candies or transfer the case to Texas, where the company sued its insurer.
-
January 22, 2024
Insurer Can Proceed With $1.7M Settlement Contribution Suit
Viad Corp. can't escape an insurer's suit seeking to recover $1.7 million of a nearly $160 million settlement with the state of Montana, a Nebraska federal court ruled Monday, finding the insurer plausibly alleged that the company could be liable under a reinsurance contract.
-
January 22, 2024
Insurer Says Dive Shop Not Covered For Boat Propeller Injury
Dan Risk Retention Group Inc. has asked a Florida federal court to declare that it does not have to defend a scuba dive operator in a suit filed by a diver whose arm was injured by a boat propeller during a dive.
-
January 22, 2024
No Coverage For Facility Under Canceled Policy, Insurer Says
An insurer told an Oklahoma federal court that an assisted living facility is not owed coverage for a suit over a resident's fall, saying the facility's commercial multiperil policy was canceled for nonpayment days before the underlying suit was filed.
-
January 22, 2024
Southwest's 5th Circ. Win Broadens Scope Of Cyber Coverage
Policyholders and Southwest Airlines alike notched an important win when a Fifth Circuit panel undid a ruling barring excess cyber insurance coverage for costs stemming from the airline's 2016 computer network failure, potentially expanding the scope of cyber coverage.
-
January 22, 2024
Oil Services Co. Seeks Refinery Pollution Coverage
A Chapter 11 liquidating trustee for the estate of a company that stored and refined crude oil in the U.S. Virgin Islands has sued the firm's pollution liability insurers in Texas bankruptcy court, requesting millions of dollars in coverage for putative class actions accusing the debtor of causing pollution damage.
-
January 22, 2024
Lockton Can Proceed With Poaching Suit Against Rival
A Missouri federal court has kept alive insurance brokerage Lockton's lawsuit accusing its former higher-ups of conspiring with California-based competitor Alliant in a poaching scheme, saying the competitor cannot escape a forum-selection clause that was in the former elites' contracts.
-
January 22, 2024
Smucker's, Insurer Want $8M For Fire Smoldering Nut Sparked
Smucker's and its insurer are seeking to recoup $8 million for fire damages at a peanut butter factory, saying a refrigerator repair technician's mistake led to an evacuation that left no personnel there to extinguish the fire, according to a suit removed Friday to Kentucky federal court.
-
January 22, 2024
Condo To Tell 6th Circ. Insurer Must Cover Resident Suits
A Detroit condominium association said it will urge the Sixth Circuit to reverse a Michigan federal court's ruling that its insurer does not owe it coverage for underlying suits over damaged fences, defamation and legal fees.
-
January 19, 2024
Law360 Names Firms Of The Year
Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 55 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, steering some of the largest deals of 2023 and securing high-profile litigation wins, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.
-
January 19, 2024
Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year
Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2023, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and major deals that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.
-
January 19, 2024
Insurer Says Colo. Policy Spat 'Intertwined' With Atty Blunders
The primary insurer for a Colorado climbing gear company said an excess insurer's bid to get out of liability for a climber's injuries should be heard in a Washington state malpractice suit, arguing in a motion that the policy dispute is "intertwined" with lawyer misconduct in the underlying product liability case.
-
January 19, 2024
Club Shooting Victim Seeks Toss Of Insurer's Coverage Fight
The victim of a 2019 shooting at a South Carolina nightclub urged a federal court Friday to toss a suit brought by the club's insurer over coverage for an $18.1 million default judgment, saying any ruling regarding the carrier's coverage obligations under the policy is moot.
-
January 19, 2024
Insurance Mogul Fights Spending Clampdown In $524M Fight
Embattled insurance mogul Greg Lindberg has pressed a North Carolina federal court to scrap a bid by an insurer, which won a $524 million judgment against him, to stop him from spending his money, arguing that the insurer had the same financial restriction overturned in a state court.
-
January 19, 2024
Proposed $350B Federal Reinsurance Program Draws Scrutiny
A proposed national reinsurance program lacks important details for legislation that would dramatically change the federal government's role in insurance markets, experts said, while offering competing ideas about whether such a program is needed at all.
-
January 19, 2024
Md. Atty Seeks En Banc Review By 4th Circ. On Defense Costs
A Maryland attorney asked the Fourth Circuit to reconsider a panel's decision saying he is not entitled to defense costs from his firm's insurer after being indicted on allegations he seized $13 million in Somalian government funds, arguing the decision undermines "the very purpose" of professional liability insurance.
Expert Analysis
-
Check Your Policy Fine Print For Cyberwarfare Coverage
Given increasing risks of cyberwarfare following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and with a recent policyholder-friendly ruling in Merck v. ACE from a New Jersey state court, those insured should take notice of certain insurers' expansive changes to war exclusions to broadly include cyberattacks, say Philip He and Colin Kemp at Pillsbury.
-
How To Negotiate Better D&O Coverage For Antitrust Matters
In light of the Federal Trade Commission's recent indication that it will ramp up antitrust enforcement, Geoffrey Fehling and Christopher Dufek at Hunton discuss several issues corporate policyholders should review when placing and renewing directors and officers insurance coverage.
-
New 'Bad Faith' Claim Law Holds NJ Insurers Accountable
New Jersey’s recently enacted Insurance Fair Conduct Act, giving policyholders a bad faith cause of action for claims involving uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, is an important step toward countering unfair insurer advantage and expanding consumer protections, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
-
Insurance Implications Of Texas '8 Corners' Rulings
Two recent Texas Supreme Court opinions resolve a long-pending question by reaffirming the so-called eight-corners rule as the primary means for determining an insurer's duty to defend, which should provide greater consistency between future state and federal decisions, says Susan Kidwell at Locke Lord.
-
Why I'll Miss Arguing Before Justice Breyer
Carter Phillips at Sidley shares some of his fondest memories of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer both inside and out of the courtroom, and explains why he thinks the justice’s multipronged questions during U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments were everything an advocate could ask for.
-
Examining Event Cancellation Coverage As COVID Lingers
Recent pandemic-related postponements from the NBA, NFL and Grammys, coupled with COVID-19 being excluded from new event cancellation policies, highlight the need for event organizers to explore cancellation risks and how specialty coverage can serve as a tool for mitigation, say Jorge Aviles and Andrea DeField at Hunton.
-
What Cos. Should Know About D&O Policy Landscape In 2022
Directors and officers liability insurance issues are likely to evolve this year against the backdrop of a new COVID-19 variant, rising inflation and other developments, particularly with regard to antitrust-related enforcement, special purpose acquisition companies, pandemic-related liability and cybersecurity, says Christina Lincoln at Robins Kaplan.
-
Securing Coverage For Investors' Political Risk Claims In 2022
While recent world events highlight the need for foreign investors to protect themselves from losses related to political instability, businesses should be aware of the ways political risk insurers may seek to deny or delay payment of claims, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.
-
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.
-
D&O Insurance Lessons From The Rise And Fall Of Theranos
After the fall of Theranos and the recent criminal conviction of founder Elizabeth Holmes, startups seeking to protect their directors and officers from exposure to personal liability should consider how eye-popping company valuations and other changes to the startup landscape will affect their D&O policies, say Lilit Asadourian and Kathryn Bayes at Reed Smith.
-
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.
-
Beyond Insurance: Mitigating Cyber Risk In 2022
As insurers move to higher premiums and less coverage for cyberattacks, companies should consider restructuring their risk mitigation strategies for the upcoming year to lessen their reliance on insurance support for data security issues, say professionals at StoneTurn.