Specialty Lines

  • May 01, 2025

    Pierson Ferdinand Adds Insurance Group With New Atty

    The rapidly growing firm of Pierson Ferdinand LLP announced Thursday that it tapped a new partner who was previously with Carlton Fields to launch an international insurance regulatory team practice along with another Los Angeles-based attorney.

  • May 01, 2025

    4th Circ. To Mull Towers Watson's Bump-Up Exclusion Appeal

    The Fourth Circuit will have another chance to interpret the language of so-called bump-up exclusions when it hears oral arguments next week in Towers Watson's long-running dispute to secure $54 million in directors and officers coverage for settlements resolving shareholder litigation. Here, Law360 breaks down the case in advance of the May 6 hearing.

  • April 30, 2025

    Underwriters Seek Exit From $37M FTC Dispute With Loan Co.

    Underwriters asked a California federal court on Wednesday to find that they did not have to defend a company accused by the Federal Trade Commission of bilking consumers out of at least $37 million through a credit scheme designed to trick consumers into taking on debt.

  • April 30, 2025

    Schools Say Norfolk Southern Ducked Postderailment Pledge

    The school district for East Palestine, Ohio, filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Norfolk Southern, claiming the railroad hasn't made good on its promises to help the district recover after a fiery derailment shook the town in 2023.

  • April 29, 2025

    HR Co. Execs Say Insurance Biz Can't Sue Companies It Owns

    Executives of a human resources management and staffing company urged a Florida federal court to toss a lawsuit brought by its workers' compensation insurance manager alleging it's owed $25 million over a dissipated collateral fund, saying the litigation is "collusive" because the parent company controls the entities it's suing.

  • April 29, 2025

    Insurer Denies Extra $5M For Event Co.'s Injury Dispute

    An insurer for a motocross event organizer doesn't owe an additional $5 million in coverage on top of the $1 million it already paid to settle a suit over a child's injury at an amateur national motocross championship event, the carrier told an Ohio federal court.

  • April 28, 2025

    Estate Sues Insurer Over 'Paltry' Offer In DUI Death Case

    The estate of a motorcyclist killed by a driver allegedly overserved at a Washington bar has sued to force the bar's specialty insurance company to cover a partial settlement in an underlying wrongful death suit.

  • April 25, 2025

    Benefits Co. Failed To Protect Personal Info, Suit Says

    An employee benefits administrator failed to properly secure and safeguard private information of benefits recipients, including their names and Social Security numbers, that was later compromised in a data breach, according to a proposed class action in Maryland federal court.

  • April 24, 2025

    Ill. Justices' Pollution Exclusion Review Could Realign Courts

    The Illinois Supreme Court's agreement to consider whether pollution exclusions in standard-form commercial general liability policies apply to industrial emissions allowed under a regulatory permit could potentially provide certainty on the issue and realign Illinois' interpretation with other state courts, experts say.

  • April 24, 2025

    Insurer Says No Coverage For Nursing Home Negligence Deal

    An insurer shouldn't have to pay for a settlement that a healthcare management company reached following a nearly $3.3 million jury verdict in an underlying nursing home negligence suit, the carrier told a Washington federal court, saying the company settled without its consent.

  • April 24, 2025

    Shopify Privacy Ruling May Spark New Wave Of Litigation

    A Ninth Circuit ruling that revived a suit alleging Shopify violated privacy laws using tracking software cleared a key procedural bar that could open the floodgates to a new wave of litigation, threatening to strain an insurance market already tested by privacy suit claims.

  • April 24, 2025

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    California property owners affected by recent wildfires accused hundreds of insurers of collusion, Colorado's justices said no exception exists to the state's economic loss rule for willful and wanton conduct claims, and a California federal judge questioned insurers' bid to litigate coverage for injury claims against Meta in Delaware. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.

  • April 24, 2025

    Pest Co.'s Ex-Employee Not Covered In Child Assault Suit

    An insurer for a pest control company needn't cover a suit alleging a former employee assaulted a minor whom he recruited to work at the business, a Mississippi federal court ruled, finding that neither the employee nor his insulation company is insured under any available insurance policy.

  • April 24, 2025

    Law Prof Pushes For Regulating Sustainability In Insurance

    Consumers should have more information about the sustainability features of their ordinary insurance products, but existing regulations in the United Kingdom and Europe don't encourage transparency or innovation of sustainable-minded products. Franziska Arnold-Dwyer, an associate law professor at University College London, spoke to Law360 about sustainability in insurance and her recent paper on the matter.

  • April 22, 2025

    Insurer Skirts Bad Faith Claim In $60M Liposuction Death Row

    The professional liability insurer for a Georgia cosmetic surgery provider didn't act in bad faith in handling a liposuction patient death claim that eventually led to a $60 million judgment, a Utah federal court ruled, rejecting arguments that the insurer breached its duties.

  • April 21, 2025

    Exclusion Bars Coverage For Trade Secrets Suit, Insurer Says

    An engineering firm's directors and officers insurer told a Nebraska federal court Monday it should owe no coverage for a settled lawsuit that accused the firm of conspiring to poach a rail contractor's employees and clients, citing an exclusion relating to the misappropriation of trade secrets.

  • April 21, 2025

    Justices Nix Appraiser's Petition Seeking Arbitral Immunity

    An insurance appraiser failed Monday to get the U.S. Supreme Court to define what "arbitration" actually means under the Federal Arbitration Act, seeking immunity after a Colorado state jury found he fraudulently inflated a $1.6 million appraisal award against a Travelers unit that was ultimately vacated.

  • April 21, 2025

    Calif. Homeowners Say Insurers Colluded To Limit Coverage

    California property owners affected by the Los Angeles wildfires accused over 300 insurers of conspiring to eliminate competition in the marketplace, forcing consumers to instead obtain fire insurance from the state's insurer of last resort, according to two lawsuits filed in state court.

  • April 21, 2025

    Insurers Clash Over Coverage In Racetrack Injury Suit

    Acuity Insurance LLC wants a Pennsylvania federal court to join two other insurers to its defense of a client accused of designing inadequate safety barriers at a Lancaster County raceway, claiming the other companies had wrongly declined coverage for subsidiaries of the insured.

  • April 17, 2025

    NC Justice Unsure Contractor Can Avoid Workers' Comp Payout

    A North Carolina Supreme Court justice seemed skeptical of a construction company's argument that a sheriff's department should cover the entire cost of a workers' compensation payout to a deputy injured while directing traffic on a bridge repair job, citing the court's precedent on the topic during an oral argument Thursday.

  • April 17, 2025

    Colo. FAIR Plan Gives Policyholders Options At A Cost

    Colorado launched the country's first new Fair Access to Insurance Requirements, or FAIR, Plan in 40 years to offer residents another tool in an increasingly challenging wildfire, hail and wind market, but experts emphasized that this limited form of coverage is not intended to address affordability concerns.

  • April 17, 2025

    Chancery Fast-Tracks Suits Targeting Reinsurance Offshoring

    A trio of Oxford Risk Management Group LLC reinsurance customers this week won fast-tracking of three Court of Chancery suits that raised multiple claims, including for treble damages, after ORMG declared that it had unilaterally transferred some of its U.S. accounts and exposures to an allegedly steeply undercapitalized, captive Bermuda reinsurer.

  • April 17, 2025

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    Auto insurers can't shake feds' "forced coverage" claims, the Suquamish Tribe asks the U.S. Supreme Court not to weigh in on its COVID-19 coverage case, saying its court has jurisdiction, IBM wants coverage for $900 million in environmental expenses and Consumer Watchdog sues California's insurance chief over proposed post-wildfire insurance surcharges.

  • April 17, 2025

    Policyholders Must Prep For Hurdles In FCA Suits, Atty Says

    Policyholders face numerous coverage issues for underlying claims made under a federal law addressing fraud in government programs, including high states and unusual circumstances, said Lilit Asadourian, a policyholder-side attorney who has fought these issues in Delaware courts and beyond. Here, Asadourian tells Law360 how policyholders can anticipate and address coverage challenge in False Claims Act suits.

  • April 17, 2025

    General Aviation Insurance Stays Steady Through Turbulence

    The general aviation and airline insurance industry remains steady despite supply-chain concerns and a rise in accident rates. Here, Philip Stafford, a senior partner in Gallagher's aerospace division, shares his thoughts on the current state of this sector with Law360.

Expert Analysis

  • Use The Right Kind Of Feedback To Help Gen Z Attorneys

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    Generation Z associates bring unique perspectives and expectations to the workplace, so it’s imperative that supervising attorneys adapt their feedback approach in order to help young lawyers learn and grow — which is good for law firms, too, says Rachael Bosch at Fringe Professional Development.

  • Congress Can And Must Enact A Supreme Court Ethics Code

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    As public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court dips to historic lows following reports raising conflict of interest concerns, Congress must exercise its constitutional power to enact a mandatory and enforceable code of ethics for the high court, says Muhammad Faridi, president of the New York City Bar Association.

  • State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape

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    Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.

  • Insurance Likely Kept Swift Out Of The Woods After Vienna

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    Financial losses Taylor Swift incurred from the cancellation of three concerts in Vienna in August will likely be covered by insurance policies, considering how the facts of the situation differ from those of the Foo Fighters' 2015 insurance dispute over event cancellation and terrorism coverage, say attorneys at Anderson Kill.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy identifies practice tips from four recent class certification rulings involving denial of Medicare reimbursements, automobile insurance disputes, veterans' rights and automobile defects.

  • 3 Coverage Tips As 2nd Circ. 'Swipes Left' On Tinder Claim

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    The Second Circuit's recent opinion in Match Group v. Beazley Underwriting, overturning Tinder's victory on its insurer's motion to dismiss a coverage action, reinforces three best practices policyholders purchasing claims-made coverage should adhere to in order to avoid late-notice defenses, say Lynda Bennett and Alexander Corson at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • What To Know About Insurance Coverage For Antitrust Risks

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    With all the regulatory activity surrounding antitrust and unfair competition claims, as highlighted by last month's D.C. federal court decision that Google is a monopolist, businesses must not only ensure compliance, but also understand their potential insurance coverage when such claims arise, says Micah Skidmore at Haynes Boone.

  • Finding Coverage For Online Retail Privacy Class Actions

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    Following recent court rulings interpreting state invasion of privacy and electronic surveillance statutes triggering a surge in the filing of privacy class actions against online retailers, companies should examine their various insurance policies, including E&O and D&O, for defense coverage of these claims, says Alison Gaske at Gilbert LLP.

  • What We Know From Early Cyberinsurance Rulings

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    Recent cyber disruption incidents, like the Crowdstrike outage and the CDK Global cyberattack this summer, highlight the necessity of understanding legal interpretations of cyberinsurance coverage — an area in which there has been little litigation thus far, say Peter Halprin and Rebecca Schwarz at Haynes Boone.

  • 6 Considerations To Determine If A Cyber Incident Is Material

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent guidance on material cybersecurity incidents covers a range of ransomware scenarios, from a company paying a sum and regaining operations to recovering payment via cyberinsurance, but makes it clear that no single factor determines whether a cybersecurity incident is material, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Insuring Lender's Baseball Bet Leads To Major League Dispute

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    In RockFence v. Lloyd's, a California federal court seeks to define who qualifies as a professional baseball player for purposes of an insurance coverage payout, providing an illuminating case study of potential legal issues arising from baseball service loans, say Marshall Gilinsky and Seán McCabe at Anderson Kill.

  • Insurance Lessons From 11th Circ. Ruling On Policy Grammar

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in ECB v. Chubb Insurance, holding that missing punctuation didn't change the clear meaning of a professional services policy, offers policyholder takeaways about the uncertainty that can arise when courts interpret insurance policy language based on obscure grammatical canons, say Hugh Lumpkin and Garrett Nemeroff at Reed Smith.

  • Ore. Insurance Litigation Is Testing The Bounds After Moody

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    Despite the Oregon Supreme Court’s attempt to limit application of its 2023 decision in Moody v. Oregon Community Credit Union, which for the first time awarded extracontractual damages stemming from alleged negligent claims handling, recent litigation shows Oregon insurance companies face greater exposure, says Sarah Pozzi at Cozen O’Connor.