General Liability

  • October 10, 2024

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    A Hawaii petroleum company isn’t covered for underlying claims that it contributed to global warming, The Rockefeller University can continue to pursue bad faith and deceptive practice claims against its carriers in a coverage dispute over sex abuse claims, and an aircraft company is seeking $220 million for aircraft still in Russia. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.

  • October 10, 2024

    Rock Climbing School Not Covered In Fall Suit, Insurer Says

    An insurer said it doesn't owe coverage to a rock climbing school in an underlying suit brought by the family of a teenager who was injured after he fell 35 feet while climbing, telling a North Carolina federal court that the policy does not provide coverage for joint ventures.

  • October 10, 2024

    Back-To-Back Storms Expose Outdated NFIP Holes, Pro Says

    The one-two punch of hurricanes Helene and Milton should give policymakers another reason to bolster the country's leading flood insurer and rethink water risks, according to Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers and a leading figure among flood loss reduction professionals. Here, Law360 talks to Berginnis about how the back-to-back storms lay bare the country's flood risks.

  • October 09, 2024

    9th Circ. Grills Geico, Assignees Over Failed Settlement

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared conflicted over both Geico and a policyholder's assignees' arguments regarding whether the carrier acted in bad faith toward its insured when it prioritized a release of the insured's father-in-law during failed settlement negotiations with the family of a pedestrian fatally struck by the insured driver.

  • October 09, 2024

    Insurer Wins Ex-PwC Exec's Long-Term Disability Suit

    An Illinois federal judge handed Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Co. a win in a federal benefits lawsuit from a former PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP executive who alleged she was wrongly denied long-term disability benefits after fibromyalgia left her unable to continue working.

  • October 08, 2024

    Underwriter Says Freight Co. Not Covered For Missing Cargo

    An underwriter urged a Washington federal court to relieve it of any coverage obligations it may owe under a commercial auto policy to a freight company that is potentially on the hook for over $580,000 after a cargo broker claimed that a shipment of computer parts wasn't delivered.

  • October 08, 2024

    Hawaii Justices Hand AIG Win In Novel Climate Coverage Suit

    AIG isn't obligated to cover a lawsuit accusing a Honolulu-based Sunoco subsidiary of contributing to climate change, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled, saying a pollution exclusion in the oil giant's policy encompasses greenhouse gas emissions.

  • October 08, 2024

    Insurer Says Kiwanis Abuse Claims Won't Trigger $35M Policy

    An insurer told a Washington federal judge that because its coverage only kicked in at the $35 million level, it should be dismissed from litigation seeking payment of a multimillion-dollar judgment from insurers to resolve child sex abuse survivors' claims against a foster boys home run by Kiwanis International.

  • October 07, 2024

    Factory Mutual Must Fully Cover Plant Explosions, Suit Says

    Petrochemicals maker Indorama Ventures accused Factory Mutual Insurance Co. in Texas federal court Monday of wrongly refusing to fully cover roughly $100 million in losses stemming from a series of major explosions in 2019 near an Indorama plant in Texas.

  • October 07, 2024

    No Defense Cost Reimbursement Owed Over Dam Flood Row

    An insurer for an excavation subcontractor has no duty to equitably reimburse another insurer for the $832,000 it said it incurred defending various parties against claims that they failed to control floodwaters while working on a dam project, a Texas federal court ruled Monday. 

  • October 07, 2024

    Mich. Supreme Court Snapshot: Insulin Prices, Disney Audit

    The Michigan Supreme Court's first oral argument session of the 2024-25 term promises to be a busy one, involving an investigation into Eli Lilly's insulin prices with big implications for the scope of Michigan's consumer protection law and Disney's appeal of an order to turn over decades-old uncashed checks to the state treasurer.

  • October 07, 2024

    Akerman Adds In-House Atty From WR Berkley

    An assistant vice president and counsel to W.R. Berkley Corp., a commercial lines property and casualty insurance holding company, left his in-house role to become a partner with Akerman LLP in New York, the firm announced Monday.

  • October 04, 2024

    Death Suit Coverage Dispute Must Be Heard In State Court

    An Oklahoma federal court declined jurisdiction over an insurer's coverage dispute against a construction company stemming from an underlying wrongful death lawsuit, finding that keeping the action in federal court wouldn't settle the controversy and would "impede upon principles of federal-state comity."

  • October 04, 2024

    Insurer May Pay Only 1 Fla. Mass Shooting Victim

    An insurer isn't required to pay anything to two families whose loved ones died in a mass shooting at a Miami mall because it already exhausted all its proceeds in paying one other family $50,000, a Florida federal judge ruled.

  • October 04, 2024

    Denver Charity Drops Fraudulent Grant Coverage Fight

    A Denver-based nonprofit has agreed to drop its suit over insurance coverage for $349,000 in grants it gave to a different charity whose founder was accused by Colorado authorities of lying about its nonprofit status, according to court filings Friday.

  • October 04, 2024

    NY Appeals Court Won't Trim Sex Abuse Coverage Dispute

    A New York state appeals court upheld a lower court's ruling declining to dismiss The Rockefeller University's claims that its insurers acted in bad faith and conducted deceptive trade practices while handling the university's coverage request for underlying allegations of sexual abuse.

  • October 04, 2024

    Taxation With Representation: Gibson Dunn, Weil, Simpson

    In this week's Taxation with Representation, DirectTV buys EchoStar's video business for $10 billion, Marsh McLennan inks a $7.75 billion deal for McGriff Insurance, and PepsiCo closes a $1.2 billion deal to purchase Siete Foods.

  • October 03, 2024

    10th Circ. Denies Gunshot Injury Coverage To Hookah Lounge

    The Tenth Circuit backed an insurer's win Thursday against a hookah lounge seeking coverage of underlying litigation over paralyzing gunshot wounds a man suffered in 2019 during a shootout between lounge security guards and an armed patron.

  • October 03, 2024

    Helene's Devastation Worsened By Inadequate Insurance

    Hurricane Helene's devastating path across the southeastern U.S. has brought concerns about inadequate flood insurance and resilience measures to the forefront of a national conversation on the risks of extreme precipitation.

  • October 03, 2024

    12 Lawyers Who Are The Future Of The Supreme Court Bar

    One attorney hasn't lost a single U.S. Supreme Court case she's argued, or even a single justice's vote. One attorney is perhaps "the preeminent SCOTUS advocate." And one may soon become U.S. solicitor general, despite acknowledging there are "judges out there who don't like me." All three are among a dozen lawyers in the vanguard of the Supreme Court bar's next generation, poised to follow in the footsteps of the bar's current icons.

  • October 03, 2024

    9th. Circ. To Weigh If Geico Favored Noninsured In Auto Suit

    The Ninth Circuit will hear oral arguments Wednesday over whether Geico acted in bad faith when it prioritized a release of its policyholder's father-in-law during failed settlement negotiations with the family of a pedestrian fatally struck by the insured driver, focusing on whether a "permissive-use provision" extended coverage. Here, Law360 breaks down the case in advance.

  • October 03, 2024

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    Employees in Colorado can seek coverage beyond workers' compensation after crashing at work, a suit over the demise of a tunnel-boring machine is finally over, the Alaska Supreme Court iced out businesses seeking COVID-19 loss coverage and Atari was allowed to pursue State Farm for using its game in a commercial. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.

  • October 03, 2024

    D&O Expert Talks Market Trends And Predictions

    Directors and officers policyholders should keep a close eye on an evolving regulatory environment and risks related to artificial intelligence, but they can expect the market to remain stable over the next year due to increased capacity, according to CAC Specialty Senior Vice President Robert Regueiro. Here, he sits down with Law360 to talk about those issues.

  • October 03, 2024

    TikTok Ruling Expected To Spur Major Coverage Review

    The Third Circuit knocked a hole in social media companies' liability protections by reviving a lawsuit challenging TikTok's algorithm, potentially multiplying litigation risks and costs and prompting a major reevaluation of those companies' insurance coverage options.

  • October 02, 2024

    Gordon Rees Atty Asks Judge To Rethink Malpractice Ruling

    A Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP attorney urged a Washington state court to reconsider a recent ruling denying the dismissal of legal malpractice claims brought by the insurer for a climbing equipment manufacturer, saying the assignment and subrogation of professional liability claims is improper.

Expert Analysis

  • Mass. Ruling Shows Value Of Additional Insured Specifics

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    A Massachusetts court’s recent D.F. Pray v. Wesco Insurance decision demonstrates that blanket additional insured endorsements can create issues with personal jurisdiction, so those named as additional insureds should require their lower-tier contractors to use specific endorsements, say Thomas Dunn and Sheya Rivard at Pierce Atwood.

  • Insurance Cos. Are Stretching Construction Standard Limits

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    In the construction sector, the importance of closely vetting downstream parties' insurance policies has never been more critical — owners and general contractors need to be on the lookout for ever broader carrier-specific expansions of standard insurance provisions that are perilous for risk transfer, says Eric Clarkson at Saxe Doernberger.

  • 7 Ways Telco Operators Can Approach Lead Cable Claims

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    A recent spotlight on the telecommunication industry shows that companies in the field have known for decades that lead-wrapped cables proliferate in their vast networks, which is likely to provoke prolonged and costly legal battles — but seven best practices can efficiently resolve claims and minimize damage, say consultants at AlixPartners.

  • What Wis. High Court Ruling Means For Coverage Analysis

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    Overturning insurance law precedent in 5 Walworth v. Engerman Contracting, the Wisconsin Supreme Court recently rejected the use of the economic loss doctrine and integrated systems analysis in commercial general liability cases, but a strongly worded concurrence could indicate that the court's opinion may have limited persuasive reach, say Laura Lin and Pierce MacConaghy at Simpson Thacher.

  • Auto Insurers Should Reassess Calif. Diminished Value Claims

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    Many California auto insurers currently pay third-party claims for diminished value damages after a vehicle has been in an accident; however, federal decisions interpreting California law suggest that insurers may not have to pay some of these claims, says Charles Danaher at Sheppard Mullin.

  • In Ga., Promptness Is Key To Setting Aside Default Judgments

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    The Georgia Court of Appeals' recent vacating of a lower court's decision to set aside a default judgment against Samsung Electronics America is a reminder of the processes and arguments provided by Georgia's statutes for challenging default judgments — including the importance of responding quickly, says Katy Robertson at Swift Currie.

  • 1st Circ. Harvard Ruling Provides Primer On Policy Provisions

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    In its recent finding of no coverage for Harvard due to the school's failure to give Zurich American Insurance timely notice of its claim, the First Circuit provides a good analysis of the distinctions between occurrence and claims-made policies, including the rationale for differences in notice provisions, says Andrew Paliotta at Cozen O'Connor.

  • SEC's New Rules Likely Will Affect Cyber, D&O Insurance

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently adopted cybersecurity incident disclosure rules that could create new challenges that affect how public companies assess the risk of securities, corporate governance and cyber-related lawsuits, which may implicate novel insurance coverage issues, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Potential Marijuana Status Change Would Shift Industry Risks

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    Cannabis companies and their insurers should pay close attention to how the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' move toward marijuana reclassification plays out, and the potential for a shakeup in the landscape for cannabis regulation at the state and federal levels, says Ian Stewart at Wilson Elser.

  • Key Provisions In Florida's New Insurer Accountability Act

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    Florida's recent bipartisan Insurer Accountability Act introduces a range of new obligations for insurance companies and regulatory bodies to strengthen consumer protection, and other states may follow suit should it prove successful at ensuring a reliable insurance market, say Jan Larson and Benjamin Malings at Jenner & Block.

  • Next Steps For Insurers After Ky. OKs Early 3rd-Party Claims

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    While insurers in Kentucky may face more statutory bad faith claims after a recent state Supreme Court decision clarified that third parties may bring these torts even before determination of coverage is finalized, insurers can adopt a variety of approaches to reduce their exposure, says Jason Reichlyn at Dykema Gossett.

  • Insurers, Prepare For Large Exposures From PFAS Claims

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    With thousands of lawsuits concerning per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances pending across the country, several large settlements already reached, and both regulators and the plaintiffs bar increasingly focusing on PFAS, it is becoming clear that these "forever chemicals" present major exposures to insurers and their policyholders, say Scott Seaman and Jennifer Arnold at Hinshaw.

  • What To Know About Duty To Settle Insurance Claims In Texas

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    Laura Grabouski of Holden Litigation examines the parameters of Texas insurers' duty to settle liability claims within the limits of the primary policy, as knowledge of the requirements — and the potential exposure from insureds, judgment creditors or excess creditors — can pay dividends in the era of nuclear verdicts.