Specialty Lines

  • March 06, 2025

    Pricey Privacy Suits Prompt Insurers To Assess Coverage

    The Sixth Circuit's ruling earlier this year that an electronic data exclusion in Home Depot's insurance policies barred coverage for a $50 million claim stemming from a 2014 data breach is the latest example of the potential cost of privacy litigation to policyholders — even those who believe they have ample coverage.

  • March 06, 2025

    Cobalt Miner Gets OK For Debt-For-Equity Swap Ch. 11 Plan

    A Texas bankruptcy judge Thursday approved the reorganization plan of Australia-based cobalt mining and refining group Jervois Mining Ltd., overruling a shareholder objection about the case's speed and U.S. ties.

  • March 06, 2025

    Insurers Seek Toss Of Meta's Social Media MDL Coverage Suit

    A group of insurers urged a California federal court to either toss or stay Meta's suit seeking to pause all coverage litigation regarding underlying claims that the company deliberately designed its platforms to be addictive to adolescents, saying the first-to-file rule applies to the carriers' Delaware state court suit.

  • March 06, 2025

    Reddy Ice Must Cover Walmart's Slip-And-Fall Settlement​​​​​​​

    Bagged ice seller Reddy Ice Corp. must indemnify Walmart Inc. for the retailer's settlement of a woman's slip-and-fall lawsuit, an Arkansas federal court ruled Thursday, noting it is "undisputed" that the woman fell because of water originating from a faulty freezer display owned by Reddy Ice.

  • March 06, 2025

    Mich. Supreme Court Preview: Sex Offender Tracking, Rentals

    The Michigan Supreme Court is gearing up to hear arguments next week on the constitutionality of making sex offenders wear location-tracking devices for life, whether short-term vacation rentals fit into the definition of residential use of a property and whether political parties have standing to sue when a community's election workers are overwhelmingly from the same political party.

  • March 06, 2025

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    Colorado's last-resort property insurer partnered with an artificial intelligence company, a Hawaii federal court admonished insurers for not complying with an arbitration order, a New York federal judge found reasonable contract interpretations on both sides of an insurance dispute and a Delaware judge sent a coverage battle to trial. Here, Law360 takes a look at this week's top insurance news.

  • March 06, 2025

    Fla. Coverage Bill Could Add Pressure To Struggling Condos

    A Florida bill that would require condominium associations to comply with building safety laws or risk their last-resort insurance option is well-intentioned, but could result in a slew of negative consequences for condo owners, insurance experts say.

  • March 06, 2025

    Pigment Co. Not Covered For Asbestos Suits, Court Told

    A Liberty Mutual unit doesn't owe coverage to a cosmetic pigment manufacturer in underlying suits alleging injury from exposure to asbestos-containing materials, it told a New York federal court, saying certain claims fall outside the scope of coverage because they're not based on the company's work.

  • March 05, 2025

    Goldberg Segalla Brings On Insurance Pro From Connell Foley

    Goldberg Segalla grew its New Jersey presence this week with a former of counsel at Connell Foley LLP specializing in insurance litigation and bringing in-house experience from Cure Auto Insurance.

  • March 04, 2025

    Insurer Says Claims Of Illegally Tracked Info Erase Coverage

    An insurer for a fertility treatment provider told an Illinois federal court that an exclusion on the disclosure of personal information precludes commercial general liability coverage for a lawsuit accusing the provider of unlawfully installing tracking technologies to collect website users' private information.

  • March 03, 2025

    Insurer Seeks Exit After Doctor Rejects Mistaken Surgery Deal

    An insurer for a doctor accused of performing the wrong surgery should no longer have a duty to indemnify him after his refusal to ink a settlement, the carrier told a California federal court, noting the doctor's underlying counsel already obtained settlement authority from the insurer.

  • February 27, 2025

    Calif. State Farm Meeting Raises Solvency Concerns

    State Farm's emergency request for a 22% premium increase in California has raised questions about the insurer's financial health, but a prominent consumer group says the carrier hasn't justified that request and several others that would raise premium costs.

  • February 27, 2025

    4th Circ. Says Trustees Can't Settle Co.'s Suit Against Ex-CEO

    Separate bankruptcy trustees for a company and its former CEO have no right to settle the company's fraud claims against the CEO with insurance proceeds from a directors and officers policy, the Fourth Circuit ruled, agreeing with the insurer that only the former CEO himself has consent-to-settle rights. 

  • February 27, 2025

    Facility Says Insurer Flip-Flopped On Wrongful Death Defense

    The operator of a skilled nursing facility in Los Angeles told a California federal court that its insurer wrongfully flip-flopped on defending it against a wrongful death suit, telling the court that despite $1 million in coverage, the insurer twice assigned and withdrew defense counsel.

  • February 27, 2025

    Insurer's Bid To Dodge $1.4M Bank Scam Suit Premature

    An insurer cannot yet escape an attorney's demand for coverage in an alleged scheme to steal $1.4 million from a New Jersey development company, a Connecticut federal judge ruled, saying the carrier didn't follow court procedures before it moved to end the case.

  • February 27, 2025

    Q&A: Minnesota Law Prof On Hard-To-Read Insurance Policies

    How hard is it to understand a homeowners insurance policy? For many, reading a policy will often raise more confusion about what's covered than if they hadn't read a policy at all, according to a new paper from experts in insurance and consumer law. Here, Law360 discusses the subject with Daniel Schwarcz, a University of Minnesota Law School professor who has built a career in studying the transparency of insurance markets.

  • February 27, 2025

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    New York's insurance regulator imposed over $20 million in fines against auto insurers, the Eighth Circuit found that a Missouri law barred an insurer's $60 million asbestos coverage suit and the Tenth Circuit affirmed that AIG doesn't owe coverage to a Colorado ski resort's homeowners association.

  • February 25, 2025

    Fla. Bill Targets Last-Resort Coverage For Unsafe Condos

    A bill introduced ahead of Florida's 2025 legislative session looks to bar the state's Citizens Property Insurance Corp. from providing or renewing coverage policies for condominiums that fall short of inspection requirements.

  • February 24, 2025

    Insurer Won't Have To Cover Sports CEO's Child Sex Suits

    An insurance company doesn't have to defend the former leader of a sports equipment company against allegations of sexual assault against minors, a Washington federal court said Monday, making final an earlier ruling that said the policies offered no conceivable coverage.

  • February 24, 2025

    Lloyd's Says Cadwalader's Suit Claims Nonexistent Tort

    A Lloyd's of London syndicate has urged a North Carolina judge to toss part of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP's coverage lawsuit stemming from a data breach, saying there's no tort remedy for the allegation that the insurer exposed the firm's confidential information in a court filing.

  • February 24, 2025

    Insurer Needn't Cover Hospital's $2.5M Virus Vax Probe Costs

    A Chubb unit has no obligation to pay an Illinois hospital for $2.5 million in legal costs associated with responding to federal and state probes into its COVID-19 vaccine distribution program, a federal court ruled, finding that the policy's $1 million regulatory claims sublimit applies.

  • February 21, 2025

    NJ High Court Takes Up Pharma Co. Fraud Coverage Row

    The New Jersey Supreme Court will review an appeals court's ruling against indemnification in a case of first impression on the applicability of an exclusion barring directors and officers coverage for wrongful acts "in any way involving" an insured's work for an uninsured entity, the high court announced.

  • February 21, 2025

    Morgan Lewis Adds Partner To Insurance Recovery Practice

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP announced that it has added a new partner and insurance expert in its Chicago office, in a move to bolster the firm's insurance recovery and dispute resolution capabilities for corporate policyholder clients.

  • February 20, 2025

    Trump's Anti-DEI Orders Stress Existing D&O Insurance Risks

    President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in government and the private sector are putting pressure on companies and insurers, threatening to strain directors and officers policies that were already stressed by a mounting backlash to DEI programs.

  • February 20, 2025

    Insurer Can't Quickly Exit Broker Premium Theft Row

    A Louisiana federal court rejected most arguments made by an insurer seeking to avoid professional liability coverage of a broker whose former employee stole policy premiums and failed to secure insurance for clients, leaving the company to cover around $1 million in Hurricane Laura damage.

Expert Analysis

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • What 2 Years Of Ukraine-Russia Conflict Can Teach Cos.

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    A few key legal lessons for the global business community since Russia's invasion of Ukraine could help protect global commerce in times of future conflict, including how to respond to disparate trade restrictions and sanctions, navigate war-related contract disputes, and protect against heightened cybersecurity risks, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Cos. Seeking Cyber Coverage Can Look To Key Policy Terms

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    As cyberattacks increasingly threaten business operations, including one last month that partially paralyzed UnitedHealth's services, expanded interpretations of several key policy terms may allow affected companies to recover under cyber business interruption policies or other coverage, even if their business hasn't completely shut down, say attorneys at Kasowitz.

  • Insurance Industry Asbestos Reserve Estimates Are Unreliable

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    Insurance regulators rely on industry self-reporting in approving insurance company reorganizations, but AM Best data reveals that actuarial and audit estimates have been setting perniciously low levels of loss reserves for asbestos liabilities and thus should be treated with deep skepticism, says Jonathan Terrell at KCIC.

  • Insurance Implications Of Trump's NY Civil Fraud Verdict

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    A New York state trial court’s $450 million judgment against former President Donald Trump and affiliated entities for valuation fraud offers several important lessons for companies seeking to obtain directors and officers insurance, including the consequences of fraudulent misrepresentations and critical areas of underwriting risk, says Kevin LaCroix at RT ProExec.

  • Understanding Insurance Is Key To Limiting Antitrust Liability

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    As regulators signal their intent to continue last year's aggressive campaign of corporate antitrust litigation, businesses must make active management of their liability insurance policies, along with a firm knowledge of the limits of their coverage, central to their strategies for limiting the enormous financial risks of enforcement, say attorneys at Nossaman.

  • High Court Should Endorse Insurer Standing In Bankruptcy

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    In Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum, the U.S. Supreme Court will examine bankruptcy standing doctrine as applied to insurers in mass tort cases, and should use the opportunity to eliminate spurious standing roadblocks to resolving insurer objections on their merits, says Frank Perch at White and Williams.

  • Lessons For D&O Policyholders From Pharma Co. Ruling

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    A California federal court's recent decision in AmTrust v. 180 Life Sciences, requiring insurers to advance defense costs for a potentially covered claim, provides a valuable road map for directors and officers insurance policyholders, rebutting the common presumption that a D&O insurer's duty to advance costs is more limited than under other policies, say attorneys at Pasich.

  • 5 Tips For Policyholders Arbitrating R&W Insurance Claims

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    With more representations and warranties insurance disputes being arbitrated, policyholder counsel should note issues that are unique to RWI claims, including those of privilege, priority and preserving subrogation, says Micah Skidmore at Haynes Boone. 

  • Justices Stay The Course In Maritime Choice-Of-Law Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's narrowly drawn decision in Great Lakes Insurance v. Raiders Retreat Realty, enforcing the underlying insurance contract's choice-of-law provision, carefully distinguishes those provisions from forum selection clauses, and ensures that courts will not apply its precepts outside the maritime context, says John Coyle at the University of North Carolina.

  • Key Lessons After A Rare R&W Insurance Ruling

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    The recent New York state court decision in Novolex Holdings v. Illinois Union Insurance is noteworthy as one of the rare judicial opinions arising in the context of representations and warranties insurance, serving to remind parties entering into R&W insurance policies that they may not be immune from some doctrines unfavorable to insurers, say attorneys at Kramer Levin.

  • SEC Regs Give Banks Chance To Step Up Cyber Safety Game

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    Just as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act forced financial institutions to undertake best practices in recordkeeping, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recently effective cybersecurity regulations stand to similarly drive those same enterprises to seek out and implement best practices in cybersecurity, to everyone's benefit, says James Gerber at SimSpace.

  • What To Know About RWI In Acquisition And Divestiture Deals

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    As a slower pace of merger activity turns underwriters toward new industries, representations and warranties insurance policies are increasingly being written for acquisition and divestiture energy deals, making it important for contracting parties to understand how the RWI underwriting process works in this new sector, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.