General Liability

Expert Analysis

• The Misinterpretation Of Pa.'s Bad Faith Claims Handling Rule

  

  Courts applying Pennsylvania law in insurance coverage disputes, such as the recently decided Walker v. Foremost Insurance, and finding that where an insurer establishes that the subject claim is not covered by the insurer’s policy there can also be no bad faith claim by the insured, are inaccurately interpreting state law, say George Stewart and Max Louik at Reed Smith.

• 3 Insurance Lessons From Target Data Breach Ruling

  

  In Target v. ACE American Insurance, a Minnesota federal court recently recognized that commercial general liability policies cover losses arising from data breaches, providing useful lessons for policyholders, including a perspective on occurrence and loss of use, say attorneys at Pasich.

• Del. Related Claims Ruling Is Good News For Insurers

  

  The Delaware Supreme Court recently denied coverage for a shareholder class action in First Solar v. National Union First Insurance, rejecting the test for assessing relatedness-based coverage issues, and opening the door for insurers to rely on specific policy wording when evaluating related claims, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

• How Sonic Boom Risk Informs 'Physical Loss' For COVID Era

  

  Applied to today's COVID-19 business interruption insurance battles, insurers' historical treatment of damage associated with sonic booms — or explosive sounds stemming from supersonic airplane speeds — may call into question the many court rulings barring coverage for pandemic-related losses on narrow physical loss grounds, say Peter Kochenburger at the University of Connecticut and Jeffrey Stempel at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

• Justices Must Apply Law Evenly In Shadow Docket Rulings

  

  In recent shadow docket decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court has inconsistently applied the requirement that parties demonstrate irreparable harm to obtain injunctive relief, which is problematic for two separate but related reasons, says David Hopkins at Benesch.

• Where NY Regulator's Insurance Investigation Is Headed

  

  The New York Department of Financial Services' recent inquiry into property and casualty insurers' usage of credit information in underwriting could precede a number of actions addressing the practice, say Matthew Gaul and Maxfield Fey at Willkie.

• What Cos. Can Glean From Early Cyber Policy Cases

  

  Insurance claims for cyberattacks under cyber-specific policies have thus far been less contested than claims brought under commercial, crime and professional liability policies, however that may be changing, as cyber losses and liabilities continue to escalate and the market hardens, says Daniel Healy at Anderson Kill.

• A Guide To Extrinsic Evidence In Determining Duty To Defend

  

  As the eight-corners rule for the duty to defend is increasingly riddled with exceptions to its strict formulation of confining the analysis to only the language of the insurance policy and the underlying complaint, Richard Mason at MasonADR discusses the newest notable decisions and offers strategies for attorneys litigating the duty to defend.

• What Insureds Should Look For In Excess Policies

  

  A recent California appellate court decision, Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Cement, demonstrates how courts will protect policyholder expectations against primary insurance carriers' actions that might restrict available excess coverage, and highlights how insureds should be diligent in reviewing excess policies on primary erosion, say Courtney Horrigan and Elizabeth Taylor at Reed Smith.

• 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.

• Defense Counsel Must Alter Tactics To Fight Outsize Verdicts

  

  If defense counsel continue to use the same strategies they’ve always relied on without recognizing plaintiffs attorneys’ new playbook, so-called nuclear verdicts, such as the recent $730 million jury verdict in a wrongful death case in Texas, will continue to proliferate, says Robert Tyson at Tyson & Mendes.