General Liability
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October 11, 2024
Insurer Must Defend Flight Co. Over Propeller Injury Suit
An insurer must defend a flight training business against personal injury claims by a flight instructor who said an aircraft propeller injured him, an Illinois federal court ruled Friday, finding the company's late notice to the business's insurer did not void the potential for coverage.
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October 11, 2024
No Coverage For Wage Disclosure Suits, Insurer Says
An insurer said it has no duty to defend or indemnify two restaurant franchise operators accused of violating Washington's Equal Pay and Opportunities Act, telling a federal court that the allegations do not trigger coverage under an employment practices liability insurance policy.
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October 11, 2024
Asbestos Claimants Say Kaiser Ch. 11 Plan Should Stand
Asbestos injury claimants in Kaiser Gypsum Co.'s bankruptcy case have asked the Fourth Circuit to uphold the company's Chapter 11 plan, saying the arguments against it by Kaiser's primary insurer are based on speculative harms.
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October 11, 2024
Subcontractor Owes Travelers $325K For Hotel Work Deal
A Travelers unit is entitled to recover $325,000 for payments made against its surety bonds to settle a general contractor's claims that a subcontractor abandoned work on an Idaho hotel, a Washington federal court ruled, finding the subcontractor liable under an indemnity agreement with Travelers.
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October 10, 2024
Insurers Win Big In Hawaii Climate Change Pollutant Suit
The Hawaii Supreme Court's ruling that AIG doesn't need to cover a suit accusing a Sunoco subsidiary of contributing to climate change drew praise from insurance carrier attorneys for finding that greenhouse gasses are an excluded pollutant, but policyholder attorneys took satisfaction in the court's expanded view of covered occurrences.
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October 10, 2024
Why So Hard To Say 'Denied'? Mich. Justices Ask Insurers
Michigan Supreme Court justices pushed insurers Wednesday to explain why they take issue with appellate rulings requiring them to explicitly say they have "denied" insureds' claims, asking what about including that word or evaluating claims as they normally do would create new obligations on the insurers.
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October 10, 2024
COVID Coverage Questions Linger As Challenges Wind Down
Nationwide efforts to recover insurance payouts for COVID-19 pandemic losses met a series of setbacks in recent weeks, largely bringing major litigation to a close even as questions linger over key coverage issues that could have lasting effects.
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October 10, 2024
Too Early To Decide Indemnification In Flood Row, BNSF Says
Railway giant BNSF told a California federal court that it's too early for the court to decide whether two Travelers units have a duty to indemnify BNSF in a lawsuit alleging that a track relocation project BNSF undertook caused significant flooding, noting the case is still pending.
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October 10, 2024
Suppliers' $7.6M Deal To End Daily Harvest Leek Claims OK'd
A New York federal judge has given the go-ahead to a $7.6 million settlement with suppliers for meal kit delivery service Daily Harvest Inc. to end claims from buyers that a lentil and leek meal caused gastrointestinal illness.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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Calif. Long-Tail Ruling Continues Policyholder-Friendly Trend
The California Supreme Court's recent ruling in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Cement & Gypsum, rejecting horizontal policy exhaustion, was the latest in a string of its decisions involving insurance coverage for continuous or progressive injury claims that favor policyholders, say Billie Mandelbaum and David Goodwin at Covington.
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NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2
The second quarter of 2024 saw less enforcement activity in the realm of New York financial services, but brought substantial regulatory and legislative developments, including state regulators' guidance on cybersecurity compliance and customer service processes for virtual currency entities, say James Vivenzio and Andrew Lucas at Perkins Coie.
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NJ Justices Clarify First-Party Indemnification Availability
In Boyle v. Huff, the New Jersey Supreme Court recently held that indemnification can be available in first-party claims, resolving an open question and setting up contracting parties for careful negotiations around indemnity clauses, says Todd Leon at Marshall Dennehey.
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Takeaways From Justices' Redemption Insurance Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Connelly v. U.S. examines how to determine the fair market value of shares in a closely held company for estate tax purposes, and clarifies how life insurance held by the company to enable redemption of a decedent’s shares affects that calculation, says Evelyn Haralampu at Burns & Levinson.
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Insurers Have A Ch. 11 Voice Following High Court Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum — which reaffirmed a broad definition of "party in interest" — will give insurers, particularly in mass tort Chapter 11 bankruptcies, more opportunity to protect their interests and identify problems with reorganization plans, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.
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8th Circ. Insurance Ruling Spotlights Related-Claims Defenses
The Eighth Circuit’s recent Dexon v. Travelers ruling — that the insurer must provide a defense despite the policy’s related-acts provision — provides guidance for how policyholders can overcome related-acts defenses, say Geoffrey Fehling and Jae Lynn Huckaba at Hunton.
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Managing Legal Risks After University Gaza Protests
Following the protests sparked by the war in Gaza, colleges and universities should expect a long investigative tail and take steps to mitigate risks associated with compliance issues under various legal frameworks and institutional policies, say Wiley's Diana Shaw and Colin Cloherty.
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An Insurance Coverage Checklist For PFAS Defendants
With PFAS liability exposures attracting increased media attention, now is a good time for companies that could be exposed to liability related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to review existing and past insurance policies, and consider taking proactive steps to maximize their likelihood of coverage, say attorneys at Nossaman.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: May Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from automobile insurance to securities — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including circuit-specific ascertainability requirements and how to conduct a Daubert analysis prior to class certification.
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Key Insurance Considerations After $725M Benzene Verdict
The recent massive benzene verdict in Gill v. Exxon Mobil will certainly trigger insurance questions — and likely a new wave of benzene suits — so potential defendants should study Radiator Specialty v. Arrowood Indemnity, the only state high court decision regarding benzene claim coverage, says Jonathan Hardin at Perkins Coie.
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Key Lessons From Recent Insurance Policy Reform Litigation
A review of recent case law reveals the wide range of misunderstandings that may arise between insurers and policyholders in the purchase and renewal of insurance policies, as well as the utility — and the limits — of reformation and related remedies for these misunderstandings, say Jad Khazem and Seth Tucker at Covington.
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Corporate Insurance Considerations For Trafficking Claims
With the surge in litigation over liability under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, corporate risk managers and in-house counsel need to ensure that appropriate insurance coverage is in place to provide for defense and indemnity against this liability, says Micah Skidmore at Haynes Boone.
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Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance
A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.