Property
-
June 06, 2024
Liquor Liability Costs Shake And Stir SC's Hospitality Industry
As the South Carolina General Assembly returned to session Wednesday, grassroots organizations advocating for small businesses gathered at the State House for a press conference urging elected officials to reform legislation burdening restaurants, bars and music venues with increasingly high costs of liability insurance.
-
June 06, 2024
Insurance Broker Expert Says AI 'Top Risk' For Policyholders
Companies are increasingly integrating artificial intelligence technologies into their work, raising concerns in the insurance sector about the potential for growing risks and what coverage options are available for that exposure.
-
June 06, 2024
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed an insurer to intervene in policyholder bankruptcy proceedings, Liberty Mutual requested that a policyholder-judge be removed from a construction accident coverage dispute, and a Markel unit is attempting to skirt a $77.7 million auto accident judgment. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.
-
June 06, 2024
Justices Affirm Taxing Of Estate On Insurance Payout
The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed on Thursday a decision denying a tax refund to the estate of an owner of a building materials company that used a payout from his $3.5 million life insurance policy to purchase his shares in the business.
-
June 05, 2024
Aluminum Co. Seeks Reversal Of $10M Coverage Cap
An aluminum supplier is urging the Fourth Circuit to reverse a lower court's ruling capping its damages at $10 million because of a molten material endorsement, arguing that the fire and water damage it sustained is separate and not subject to any sublimit or exclusion.
-
June 05, 2024
Chubb Needn't Cover $14.5M Mold Deal, 11th Circ. Says
A $14.5 million consent judgment that a Florida woman secured against her condominium's property manager over what she alleged was mold exposure cannot be enforced against a pair of Chubb insurers, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed, saying the manager's carriers did not breach their duty to defend.
-
June 05, 2024
4th Circ. Affirms Insurer's Win In Couple's Home Damage Suit
A West Virginia couple wasn't entitled to a new trial in a property damage coverage dispute, the Fourth Circuit ruled Wednesday, saying a lower court did not abuse its discretion or err in excluding the couple's expert witness and allowing the insurer's expert to testify.
-
June 04, 2024
Simpson Reps Frontdoor On $585M Home Warranty Co. Buy
Simpson Thacher is representing Frontdoor Inc. on a newly inked deal to buy fellow home warranties provider 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty, guided by Ropes & Gray, for $585 million in cash, according to a statement Tuesday.
-
June 03, 2024
Title Insurer Says Ga. Firm Must Repay $158K For Deed Error
A title insurance company said a Georgia law firm must reimburse it $158,000 for negligently issuing a title insurance policy on a real estate closing, telling a Georgia federal court that it is entitled to contractual and common law indemnity for its losses.
-
May 31, 2024
Texas Justices Won't Take On City Insurance Coverage Fight
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday declined to review a trial court's decision rejecting a municipal insurance risk pool's attempt to evade the city of Hidalgo's lawsuit seeking to recover millions of dollars for damage sustained in Hurricane Hanna in July 2020.
-
May 31, 2024
Boat Owner's $1.85M Policy Void In Fire Dispute, Judge Says
A Florida federal court declared a yacht owner's marine insurance policy void from inception, saying the owner, who was seeking coverage for a 2023 boat fire, materially misrepresented the price of the vessel.
-
May 31, 2024
Contractor, Insurers Settle NYC Four Seasons Coverage Row
A New York federal judge dismissed a general contractor's suit seeking coverage from two insurers for an underlying $1 million action over damage to a Four Seasons hotel in midtown Manhattan, saying the parties have reached a proposed settlement.
-
May 31, 2024
4th Circ. Won't Revive NC Homeowners' Storm Coverage Suit
The Fourth Circuit refused on Friday to revive a suit brought by the owners of a North Carolina beach house accusing certain underwriters at Lloyd's London of stalling a $1 million payout over hurricane damage.
-
May 31, 2024
Child Care Center Says Insurer Duped It Into Less Coverage
A Texas child care center says that Century Surety Co. made false claims when it came time to renew an insurance policy, telling a federal court Thursday that the insurance company duped it into signing a policy that had coverage well below what the center thought it was getting.
-
May 30, 2024
NRA Wins Free Speech High Court Battle But May Lose Its War
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the National Rifle Association to proceed with its lawsuit alleging a former New York state official unlawfully pressured financial institutions to cut ties, but the group may now face greater hurdles to final victory.
-
May 30, 2024
Travelers Loses Dismissal Bid In BIPA Coverage Dispute
A New York federal judge declined to trim a software company's lawsuit seeking coverage from a Travelers unit for underlying claims that the company violated the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act, finding the company's declaratory relief and bad faith claims were not duplicative of a breach of contract claim.
-
May 30, 2024
Only $100K Owed For NJ Theater's Virus Losses, Judge Says
A Zurich unit owed a theater only $100,000 for its COVID-19-related losses under its policy's communicable disease coverage provision, a New Jersey federal court ruled, rejecting the theater's arguments that each public health order constituted a separate occurrence and that a "blanket" $1.9 million limit was applicable.
-
May 30, 2024
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
The U.S. Supreme Court revived the National Rifle Association's free speech claims against a former New York state official, a Washington state appeals court ended Quest Diagnostics' bid for COVID-related coverage, and market analyst AM Best reported record investment income for U.S. property and casualty insurers in 2023.
-
May 30, 2024
Active Hurricane Season Looms Over Insurance Industry
The Atlantic hurricane season could continue to stress fragile insurance markets, according to forecasts of a particularly active 2024 season, but experts say there are some positive developments for Florida insurers despite years of elevated losses.
-
May 30, 2024
Consumer Advocate Unpacks Big Issues Facing Insureds
The use of socioeconomic factors in auto insurance, climate change's impact on the rising cost of homeowners insurance and the hollowing out of insurance policies are some of the most pressing issues consumers face today, says an advocate from the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America.
-
May 30, 2024
Insurer Rebukes Bad Faith Claims In $25M Child Abuse Row
An insurer urged a Washington federal court to dismiss bad faith counterclaims brought against it by families who say the insurer failed to provide coverage toward a daycare center's $24.5 million settlement of claims that its former employee sexually molested children.
-
May 30, 2024
Insurance Atty Fights For Lone Woman On Death Row In Miss.
Attorney A. Kate Margolis lives a double life: one, in which she fights on behalf of insurance policyholders as counsel at Bradley, and another, spent trying to save convicted murderer Lisa Jo Chamberlin, the only woman on Mississippi's death row.
-
May 30, 2024
Meet The Attys In Margolis Edelstein Malpractice Fight
Counsel representing Margolis Edelstein and an insurer that has accused the firm of malpractice are gearing up for a July oral argument so the Delaware Supreme Court can decide if the firm can escape the suit.
-
May 30, 2024
Justices Revive NRA's Free Speech Claims Against NY Official
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the National Rifle Association can proceed with certain claims in its lawsuit alleging that a former New York state official violated the gun rights group's free speech protections by pressuring financial institutions to cut ties with it.
-
May 29, 2024
Wash. Panel Ends Quest Diagnostics' COVID Coverage Quest
Quest Diagnostics' insurers don't owe the medical testing lab COVID-19-related business loss coverage, a Washington appeals court said, ruling the company failed to show that the presence of the virus resulted in physical loss or damage to its property.
Expert Analysis
-
Learning From This Year's Legal Industry Discrimination Suits
To limit the risk of lawsuits and make the workplace a more welcoming environment for female attorneys, it is important to reflect on lawyers' recent discrimination and sexual harassment claims against law firms and public employers, says Hope Comisky at Griesing Law.
-
More Stringent Calif. Claim Law Could Benefit Policyholders
Although a new California statute that imposes additional requirements for policyholder presuit demands — effective Jan. 1 — was ostensibly passed as a bad faith liability shield for insurers, used correctly it may provide a more specific road map for plaintiff recovery, says Shanti Eagle at Farella Braun.
-
Hard Insurance Market Will Influence Legal Industry, Economy
As the cost of claims starts to outstrip the value of premiums, insurers are denying more claims and considering scaling back coverage, leading to an influx of legal work and potential holes in the market, says Bruce Hepburn at Mactavish.
-
Check This List Twice: 4 Steps To Abate Coverage Concerns
This holiday season give your company the gift of following easy administrative steps to avoid the far-too-common clerical errors that could lead to forfeited insurance coverage, say Vivek Chopra and Mattison Kim at Perkins Coie.
-
Lessons On Notice From 7th Circ. Claims-Made Policy Ruling
The Seventh Circuit's recent decision in Hanover Insurance v. R.W. Dunteman contains broad lessons for policyholders — as many claims-made policies include similar aggregation and claims notice provisions as the one at issue — on how to preserve coverage, say Brian Scarbrough and Maura Smyles at Jenner & Block.
-
Fla. Insurance Suit Trends To Look Out For After Hurricane Ian
There will likely be tens of thousands of property insurance lawsuits filed in the wake of Hurricane Ian, and carriers and insureds will need to view claims through Florida's Valued Policy Law, the concurrent cause doctrine and anti-concurrent cause provisions, say David Levin and Spencer Leach at Baker Donelson.
-
Property Policies Could Cover Organized Retail Crime Losses
Following a recent surge in organized retail crime, policyholders can look to case law that suggests they may be able to skirt property policy loss exclusions if they can produce evidence of theft, says Micah Skidmore at Haynes Boone.
-
Policyholders Are Not To Blame For Social Inflation
As part of the controversial assertion that insurers are facing an unprecedented increase in claims costs due to so-called social inflation, a recent Law360 guest article argued that policyholders contribute to social inflation and are therefore responsible for remedying it, but these accusations are unsupported by empirical data, says Benjamin Tievsky at Pillsbury.
-
How A Publication Request Helped Shape COVID Case Law
More than a decade after MRI Healthcare v. State Farm was decided in a California state appeals court, the case influenced the early development of COVID-19 business interruption insurance law and shows how counsel can use publication requests to help shape the industry, say Josephine Petrick and Ashley Nakai at Hanson Bridgett.
-
A Recovery Option For Lenders With Planes Stuck In Russia
For aircraft lessors considering insurance coverage litigation to recover for losses of equipment leased to Russian airlines, negotiating an assignment of rights may provide a faster pathway to recovery, say David Klein and Jose Lua-Valencia at Pillsbury.
-
Policyholders Should Also Want To Fight Social Inflation
Effectively combating the ills of social inflation — the upward creep in insurance litigation and expected payouts — requires all stakeholders, not just insurers, to recognize the mutual interests between insurers and the risk pool of insureds, says Bryant Green at Zelle.
-
Property Claim Ruling Rightly Backs Texas Removal Policy
The Fifth Circuit’s recent decision in Advanced Indicator v. Acadia Insurance, allowing the insurer to remove a property damage suit to federal court, ensures that abusive practices related to weather claims will continue to be thwarted per an important chapter of the Texas Insurance Code, says Karl Schulz at Cozen.
-
Trends And Opportunities In Canada's Insurance M&A Market
Laurie LaPalme and Derek Levinsky at Dentons discuss the results of a survey regarding Canada's insurance mergers and acquisitions market, and their expectations for the next year in this space — including an increased focus on accident and sickness insurance, and technology-focused assets.