Specialty Lines

  • July 10, 2025

    Top General Liability Rulings From The First Half Of 2025

    Federal courts have handed down big wins for insurers, finding that they needn't cover claims related to a Home Depot data breach and opioid litigation brought against Publix, as well as issuing rulings favoring carriers in disputes over so-called ghost guns and PFAS-related litigation. Here, Law360 breaks down the top commercial general liability rulings from the first half of 2025.

  • July 10, 2025

    Texas Floods Highlight Risk Of Climate Cuts, Low Coverage

    A series of deadly floods in Texas Hill Country over the July 4 weekend underscore the danger of rollbacks and threats to federal programs for disaster relief and climate monitoring, while also showing the need for greater flood coverage uptake to avoid longer-term economic challenges. 

  • July 10, 2025

    Insurer Wants Out Of Horse Co.'s $3.2M Theft Coverage Fight

    An insurer for an equestrian and his company that faced theft claims urged a Florida federal court to toss a coverage action from the underlying plaintiff, arguing it lacks standing to claim the insurer wasted policy benefits while defending insureds and left nothing for an eventual $3.2 million settlement.

  • July 10, 2025

    6th Circ. Denies Ohio Dentist's Life Insurance Tax Deductions

    An Ohio dentist cannot deduct his life insurance premiums that he intended to potentially donate to a zoo, the Sixth Circuit ruled, saying the arrangement was taxable under 2003 regulations governing policies that involve two parties sharing the cost and benefit of insurance.

  • July 10, 2025

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    Michigan's top court found that claims over personal injury protection coverage can be revived after they are transferred to third parties, the Eighth Circuit relieved a Chubb insurer from having to split an underlying $2 million settlement and the Fourth Circuit revived a South Carolina builder's condo repair coverage dispute. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.

  • July 08, 2025

    Exclusion's Use Of 'The' Supports Alt. Reading, 5th Circ. Says

    The Fifth Circuit said an exclusion barring coverage for intellectual property infringement claims didn't necessarily relieve an insurer from covering defense expenses an oil and gas company incurred in an IP theft lawsuit, finding the exclusion's use of "the" led to a pro-coverage, reasonable meaning.

  • July 07, 2025

    Hartford Says No Coverage For General Store's GIPA Row

    A Hartford unit told an Illinois federal court that it does not owe a general store coverage for claims that the company violated the state's genetic information privacy law by conditioning employment on disclosing genetic information.

  • July 03, 2025

    Plumbing Co. Seeks $25M In Coverage For ERISA Claims

    A plumbing subcontractor told a California federal court that its primary insurer was improperly limiting its coverage in an employee stock ownership plan dispute, hindering its ability to tap into its full $25 million tower of management liability coverage.

  • July 03, 2025

    The Firms That Won Big At The Supreme Court

    The number of law firms juggling three or more arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court this past term nearly doubled from the number of firms that could make that claim last term.

  • July 03, 2025

    Breaking Down The Vote: The High Court Term In Review

    The U.S. Supreme Court once again waited until the term's closing weeks — and even hours — to issue some of its most anticipated and divided decisions.

  • July 02, 2025

    State Farm Investigation In Calif. Spotlights Adjuster Issues

    A California regulatory investigation into State Farm's California subsidiary is spotlighting common issues in the insurance recovery process following major disasters, but experts also say that the insurer's high level of exposure opened it up to more consumer scrutiny.

  • July 02, 2025

    Life Insurer Agrees To Settle Inflated Charges Suits For $45M

    A Missouri-based life insurer agreed to pay $45 million to settle a group of proposed and certified class actions accusing it of using certain nonmortality factors, contrary to policy language, to impose higher costs on policyholders, bringing the insurer's total losses for such claims to over $94.5 million.

  • July 02, 2025

    Q&A: Policyholder Atty On Career Win Against Calif. FAIR Plan

    A major ruling last week that fire insurance offered by California's insurer of last resort doesn't meet minimum standards under state law should redefine the conversation around what constitutes insurable fire risk, according to one of the plaintiff's lawyers. Here, Law360 talks to policyholder attorney Dylan Schaffer of Kerley Schaffer LLP about the decision and case he regards as the most meaningful in his career.

  • July 02, 2025

    Auto Dividend Policies Can Be A Win For Drivers And Insurers

    Dividend policies from auto insurers can offer carriers more premiums up front, strengthening their bottom line, while encouraging drivers to be more risk-averse once they have a vested interest in receiving significant dividends, carrier-side attorney Michael Savett of Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP told Law360. Here, Savett discusses the particulars of such policies.

  • July 02, 2025

    Marsh Says Brokerage Poached Employees, Client

    Insurance brokerage Marsh told a New York federal court that a competing brokerage orchestrated a scheme with former Marsh employees to steal clients in its surety business, noting that the competitor has faced over 70 other similar lawsuits.

  • July 02, 2025

    Kenyan Firm's Boeing Crash Fee-Sharing Suit Is Tossed

    An Illinois federal judge has thrown out a suit by a Kenyan firm alleging that an Illinois firm wrongly pushed it out of a fee-sharing agreement stemming from a settlement with Boeing over the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max crash, finding some of the claims fall under Illinois' litigation privilege, while the rest are unsupported by the complaint.

  • July 01, 2025

    Hartford Units Avoid Asbestos Settlement Coverage

    Three Hartford units have no duty to cover a brake and clutch manufacturer for an asbestos injury settlement, a New Jersey federal court ruled, finding the company's late notice of the claim doomed its chances at coverage.

  • July 01, 2025

    Anthem Inks $13M Deal To End Mental Health Class Action

    Anthem has agreed to pay about $12.9 million to end a proposed class action alleging the insurer's coverage denials for inpatient mental health and substance use disorder treatments violated federal benefits and mental health parity laws, according to New York federal court filings.

  • July 01, 2025

    Nationwide Launches Coverage Bid For Fatal Crash Suit

    Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Co. wants an Ohio federal court to order that a Connecticut-based insurer and a transportation company must cover wrongful death claims stemming from a tractor-trailer crash that ultimately killed a pregnant mother's unborn baby.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Decline Appeal Over State Law Question Certification

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined accepting a petition for certiorari attacking the Ninth Circuit's "uniquely standardless approach" for asking state supreme courts to answer questions of state law, in an appeal over putative class action claims that two life insurers violated California statutes concerning benefit denials.

  • June 26, 2025

    Calif. FAIR Plan Fire Policy Is Unlawful, Court Rules

    Fire insurance offered by California's insurer of last resort does not meet the minimum coverage standards laid out in the state insurance code, a California state court ruled, finding the policy's definition of "direct physical loss" and its smoke damage provision to be unlawfully restrictive.

  • June 26, 2025

    Iran Volatility Implicates Range Of Trade Coverages, Pros Say

    A growing market for insurance meant to protect companies from trade disruptions could help a wide array of industries cover risks associated with military hostilities in Iran and Israel, but experts caution that there are important limits to such coverages.

  • June 26, 2025

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    State Farm will likely face class certification in a California federal homeowners insurance case, the Ninth Circuit sought input from New York's top court over automakers' duties, and a New York federal court sided with a policyholder in coverage litigation over corporate sale and merger transactions. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.

  • June 26, 2025

    Insurance May Not Solve Swalwell's DOJ Concerns

    U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell’s decision to obtain liability insurance amid concerns of arrest and legal action from the Trump administration could encourage other public officials to follow suit, but questions remain over whether potential claims will fall within the scope of coverage, experts say. Here, policyholder attorneys share their thoughts on public officials shielding themselves with individual liability policies.

  • June 26, 2025

    NJ Water Treatment Co. Can't Avoid AIG's Rescission Bid

    A water treatment product manufacturer must face an AIG unit's counterclaim seeking to rescind extensions of two policies, a New Jersey federal court ruled Thursday, saying the insurer plausibly alleged that the company made material misrepresentations in its policy application that could void coverage under the extensions.

Expert Analysis

  • NM Cyber Ruling Will Spur Litigation As Coverage Remedy

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    In Kane v. Beazley, the New Mexico Court of Appeals recently found that a cyber liability provision insuring security breaches included coverage for funds transfer fraud, implicitly and incorrectly motivating policyholders to commence litigation to avoid contractual limitations on cyber coverages, say attorneys at Zelle.

  • How Insurance Policies Are Adapting To AI Risk

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    While many risks related to artificial intelligence may still fit under existing commercial insurance policies, the rise of broad AI exclusions, the definitional uncertainties surrounding what qualifies as AI and the emergence of affirmative AI coverage signal a shift toward a more fragmented and complex coverage environment, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • 8 Insurer Takeaways From Sweeping Georgia Tort Reform

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    Insurers should take note of several critical components of Georgia's tort litigation overhaul — including limitations on damages anchoring, procedural rules governing dismissals, and liability standards in negligent security cases — and adapt claims-handling strategies to reduce litigation risk, says Lucy Aquino at Cozen O'Connor.

  • 3 Juror Psychology Principles For Expert Witness Testimony

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    Expert witnesses can sometimes fall into traps when trying to teach juries complex topics by failing to consider the psychology of juror comprehension, but attorneys can help witnesses avoid these pitfalls with a deeper understanding of cognitive lag, chunking and learning styles, says Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • State Farm Rate Hike Portends Intensifying Insurance Crisis

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    The California Department of Insurance's unprecedented emergency approval of a 17% rate increase for State Farm General Insurance, the first interim rate relief granted before completing full actuarial justification, represents a regulatory watershed and establishes precedent that could fundamentally reshape insurers' response to climate-driven market instability, says Daniel Veroff at Merlin Law Group.

  • 5 Insurance Claims That Could Emerge After NCAA Settlement

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    Following the recent NCAA class action settlement that will allow revenue sharing with college athletes, there may be potential management liability for universities, their executive leadership and boards that could expose insurers to tax, regulatory, breach of contract and other claims, says Sarah Abrams at Baleen Specialty.

  • 3 Corporate Deposition Prep Tips To Counter 'Reptile' Tactics

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    With plaintiffs counsel’s rising use of reptile strategies that seek to activate jurors' survival instincts, corporate deponents face an increased risk of being lulled into providing testimony that undercuts a key defense or sets up the plaintiff's case strategy at trial, making it important to consider factors like cross-examination and timing, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Cos. Considering DExit Should Assess D&O Insurance Effects

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    As companies consider incorporating in less-regulated states than Delaware, they shouldn't neglect to balance the long-term insurance implications against the short-term benefits of lower taxes and a more permissive legal regime, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Statistics Tools Chart A Path For AI Use In Expert Testimony

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    To avoid the fate of numerous expert witnesses whose testimony was recently deemed inadmissible by courts, experts relying on artificial intelligence and machine learning should learn from statistical tools’ road to judicial acceptance, say directors at Secretariat.

  • 7 D&O Coverage Areas To Assess As DOJ Targets DEI

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    Companies that receive federal funds or have the remnants of a diversity, equity and inclusion program should review their directors and officers liability insurance policies ahead of a major shift in how the U.S. Department of Justice enforces the False Claims Act, says Bill Wagner at Taft.

  • Measuring The Impact Of Attorney Gender On Trial Outcomes

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    Preliminary findings from our recent study on how attorney gender might affect case outcomes support the conclusion that there is little in the way of a clear, universal bias against attorneys of a given gender, say Jill Leibold, Olivia Goodman and Alexa Hiley at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • Oft-Forgotten Evidence Rule Can Be Powerful Trial Tool

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    Rule 608 may be one of the most overlooked provisions in the Federal Rules of Evidence, but as a transformative tool that allows attorneys to attack a witness's character for truthfulness through opinion or reputation testimony, its potential to reshape a case cannot be overstated, says Marian Braccia at Temple University Beasley School of Law.

  • What Disparate Impact Order Means For Insurers' AI Use

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    A recent executive order seeking to bar disparate impact theory conveys a meaningful policy shift, but does not alter the legal status of federal antidiscrimination law or enforceability of state laws, such as those holding insurers accountable for using artificial intelligence in a nondiscriminatory matter, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.