Property
-
January 17, 2024
Fla. Contractors May Get Another Chance In Malpractice Suit
A Florida storm-damage contractor should get "one last chance to file a proper complaint" in a $1 million dispute over a soured relationship between the business and its lawyers, a Florida federal judge recommended Tuesday.
-
January 16, 2024
Sports Co. Wants Coverage Apart From CEO Accused Of Rape
A sports equipment company asked a Washington federal judge Tuesday not to conflate it with its CEO when determining whether to allow an insurer to escape defending the leader and his company against underlying sexual assault allegations.
-
January 16, 2024
Assurant Unit Escapes NC Brewery's Flood Insurance Suit
A North Carolina federal judge dismissed an Assurant unit from a brewing company's National Flood Insurance Program coverage suit, finding Tuesday that the brewery had no valid claim for damage to a building that was not insured under its policy.
-
January 16, 2024
Cement Co. Rips Insurer Bid To Slip Demurrage Fee Coverage
A Houston-based cement supply company challenged Liberty Mutual's attempt to avoid paying coverage for more than $780,000 in demurrage charges incurred during cleanup of a shipping mishap, telling a Louisiana federal court the charges are a proper expense under a so-called sue and labor clause.
-
January 16, 2024
Coverage Case Over Defective Miami Highway Heads To Trial
A joint venture tasked with a Miami bridge and highway project will have its day in court against an insurer that refused to cover more than $3.6 million in construction defects, a Florida federal court found.
-
January 16, 2024
24 Hour Fitness Asks To Keep COVID Coverage Claims Alive
Gym chain 24 Hour Fitness has urged a Delaware bankruptcy judge to not dismiss the adversary proceedings in its Chapter 11 case seeking insurance coverage for the shutdown of the company's fitness clubs during the COVID-19 pandemic, opposing motions for summary judgment leveled by an Allianz subsidiary and other insurers.
-
January 16, 2024
Condo Assn., Nationwide Units Settle $2.5M Coverage Row
A Seattle-area condo association has told a Washington federal court it reached a settlement with a group of Nationwide units, ending its bid to get more than $2.5 million in coverage for hidden water damage discovered throughout its complex.
-
January 12, 2024
Farmers Must Arbitrate $2M Row Against Insurer, Judge Rules
A Michigan federal judge dismissed a pair of farmers’ claims against two insurers and the United States Department of Agriculture, stating that the claims suffer from “numerous threshold issues,” ordering one insurer to move forward with arbitration with the farmers a $2 million insurance claim.
-
January 12, 2024
Travelers Says No Indemnity For HVAC Co. In Defect Suit
A Travelers unit told a California federal court Friday that it has no duty to indemnify an HVAC company in a dispute over defects at a San Francisco apartment building alleged by the property owner, citing a number of policy exclusions.
-
January 12, 2024
Insurer Seeks To Toss Challenge To Bombing Coverage Award
A Nashville, Tennessee, property owner can't proceed with an amended suit claiming an umpire's bias invalidates an appraisal award in a coverage dispute over damage caused by a Christmas Day bombing in 2020, a Zurich unit told a federal court, saying the company failed to state a claim for relief.
-
January 12, 2024
Allstate Gets Confidentiality In $3M Hidden Rain Damage Suit
Allstate's trade secrets and other documentation will be protected from public view after a Washington federal court approved a confidentiality agreement covering information that might be revealed in a $3.2 million coverage suit over hidden rain damage to condominiums.
-
January 12, 2024
5th Circ. Finds Ambiguity In Policy's Fire Alarm Requirement
A Dallas apartment complex's insurers wrongly denied coverage for a 2020 fire by maintaining the complex's use of smoke detectors without a central fire alarm system had violated its policy's safety requirements, the Fifth Circuit ruled, finding the policy's reference to different types of fire alarms contradictory.
-
January 12, 2024
La. Building Owners Settle Deep Freeze Coverage Suit
The owners of a Louisiana office building permanently ended their bid for nearly $4.5 million in disputed coverage payments for damage caused by a 2021 deep freeze, finalizing a settlement agreement with their insurers to resolve the dispute.
-
January 11, 2024
House Bill Would Create National Reinsurance Program
The U.S. Department of the Treasury would administer a new national reinsurance program under a $350 billion proposal that would also provide grants for risk-mitigation activities and cash payments for low-income consumers.
-
January 11, 2024
NC Justices Urged To Nix Clothier's Virus Coverage Appeal
Zurich American Insurance has asked the North Carolina Supreme Court to reject a clothing company's bid to appeal its coverage suit for COVID-19 losses, arguing that the insurance policy in dispute bars coverage for any loss caused by virus contamination.
-
January 11, 2024
Insurer Says Hurricane Ida Didn't Cause Property's Damage
A commercial property owner in New Orleans claiming that Hurricane Ida caused $300,000 worth of damage isn't owed coverage, an insurer told a Louisiana federal court in an attempt for an early win, arguing that the damage was preeexisting.
-
January 11, 2024
Insurer Pins Golf Club's Frozen Pipe Damage On Contractors
Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Co. took a pair of construction contractors to Pennsylvania state court over $280,000 in damages to a Pittsburgh golf club caused by a burst pipe, claiming the companies are responsible for reimbursing the insurer's coverage payment.
-
January 10, 2024
NY High Court Mulls Meaning Of Loss In Virus Coverage Suit
New York's highest court considered Wednesday what kinds of circumstances might constitute physical loss or damage that triggers insurance coverage as the judges weighed whether a restaurant operator's suit for pandemic coverage was prematurely dismissed.
-
January 10, 2024
Insurer Seeks Early Win In Asphalt Injury Dispute With Roofers
An insurer sought an early win against a roofing company Wednesday, telling a Pennsylvania federal court that a policy it issued to the company specifically excludes coverage for injuries resulting from the use of hot tar or asphalt.
-
January 10, 2024
Policy Rider Saves Hospital's Pandemic Claim, 1st Circ. Rules
The First Circuit on Wednesday partially reinstated a Massachusetts hospital's COVID-19-related claim against insurer Continental Casualty, citing a policy rider that specifically covered the costs of complying with state decontamination requirements.
-
January 10, 2024
Insurer Depreciated Flood Coverage, W.Va. Homeowner Says
An insurer unlawfully depreciated the replacement value of a West Virginia man's home after a flood, the man said in a proposed class action in federal court while warning that the company may be doing the same to other policyholders.
-
January 10, 2024
Eateries Press NC Justices To Force COVID-19 Loss Coverage
A group of restaurants and bars pressed the North Carolina Supreme Court on Tuesday to force an insurer to pay for losses incurred because of COVID-19, arguing their policies don't require physical destruction but an inability to use property to trigger coverage.
-
January 10, 2024
Italian Hotel Asks 7th Circ. To Revive Virus Coverage Bid
A luxury Italian hotel told a Seventh Circuit panel Wednesday that it should be able to tap into its Zurich insurance policy for certain COVID-19-related business losses because the hotel's circumstances in 2020 met the circuit's standard for complete uninhabitability.
-
January 10, 2024
Contractors Haven't Paid Up After Default, Insurer Says
An insurer told a New York federal court Wednesday that an engineering firm and several related entities left it on the hook for losses suffered by the owner of a solar power facility after they defaulted on their contract.
-
January 10, 2024
Chicken Plant Fights Sanctions Over Newly Divulged Notes
A North Carolina chicken plant urged the state's business court on Wednesday not to sanction it for a last-minute disclosure of pertinent evidence on the verge of an insurance fraud trial, saying it was an honest error that can be easily resolved by reopening discovery.
Expert Analysis
-
Hybrid Work Models Are Key To Gender Parity In Law Firms
To curb the historically high rates of attrition among female lawyers, Roberta Liebenberg at Fine Kaplan and Stephanie Scharf at Scharf Banks suggest firms must normalize hybrid work schedules, and they recommend best practices to promote engagement among all attorneys, regardless of where they work.
-
An Insurer's Guide To Policyholder Bankruptcy
Given the increased likelihood of policyholders filing bankruptcy petitions in the wake of the pandemic, insurance professionals must be aware of five basic principles when dealing with an insured in bankruptcy, says Eric Fitzgerald at Goldberg Segalla.
-
Attorneys Beware: Zoom Depositions Are Likely Inadmissible
As legal proceedings have moved online in light of the pandemic, lawyers may mistakenly believe that recorded Zoom video depositions can be entered as evidence, but without certain safeguards, the testimony is unlikely to be accepted by courts, says Phillip Zisook at Schoenberg Finkel.
-
NJ Policyholders Could Still See Recovery For COVID Losses
Although New Jersey state and federal courts have decided the majority of dispositive motions in COVID-19 business interruption insurance cases in favor of insurers, policyholders retain a plausible path to recovery depending on the nature of their loss and the precise policy language at issue, say Lee Epstein and Matthew Goldstein at Flaster Greenberg.
-
COVID Rulings May Support Ransomware Insurance Denials
A recent spate of pandemic-related insurance decisions — where federal courts found that a temporary inability to use property doesn't qualify as physical loss or damage for coverage purposes — may be used as favorable precedent by cyber insurers denying ransomware loss claims for temporary inability to access data, say Thomas Caswell and Peter Kelly Golfman at Zelle.
-
3 Risk Management Lessons From Pandemic Insurance Wars
As appellate decisions in COVID-19 business interruption insurance claims continue to clarify the state of the law, there are some things that policyholders' lawyers and risk managers can do in the meantime to help prepare for future unforeseen events affecting coverage, says Peter Halprin at Pasich.
-
Why Legacy Insurance May Not Protect Adopters Of Bitcoin
Evidenced by El Salvador's adoption of the Bitcoin standard this week, there is an emerging need for insurance products to cover the risk of owning and holding the digital asset, as it may not fall into the protected categories in legacy insurance products, say attorneys at Mound Cotton.
-
Ill. BIPA Ruling Marks Critical Win For Silent Cyber Coverage
The Illinois Supreme Court's recent decision in West Bend Mutual v. Krishna Schaumburg Tan, confirming that commercial general liability policies do not have to include specific language to cover claims under the Biometric Information Privacy Act, represents a critical victory for policyholders, but leaves unresolved issues in the battle over BIPA coverage, says Tae Andrews at Miller Friel.
-
NY Badly Needs Bad Faith Bill To Hold Insurers Accountable
Contrary to a recent Law360 guest article that contends New York state's insurance reform bill would unfairly tip the scales against insurers, Edward Steinberg at the New York State Trial Lawyers Association argues the law is necessary to hold insurers accountable for acting in bad faith, and would protect policyholders and injured parties alike.
-
Insurers Have Cause For Optimism In Labor Cost Rulings
Recent decisions from the high courts of South Carolina and North Carolina — holding that embedded labor costs can be depreciated from the replacement cost of property — bolster insurers’ moderate edge in these disputes and point to important implications for both insureds and insurers, says Richard Mason at MasonADR.
-
Predictions On Pandemic's Lasting Impact On Legal Education
The pandemic accelerated the pace of technological change for legal education, and some of the changes to how law school courses are taught and on-campus interviews are conducted may be here to stay, says Leonard Baynes at the University of Houston.
-
Firms Should Use Surveys To Make Smart Legal Tech Choices
The utility of legal technology innovations may be limited without clear data and objectives from the outset, but targeted surveys can provide specific insights that enable law firms to adopt the most appropriate and efficient tech solutions, says Tim Scott at Frogslayer.
-
Don't Forget Due Diligence In Race For Lateral Associate Hires
Amid high demand for associates and aggressive competition to attract talent, law firms should take three key steps to conduct meaningful prehire due diligence and safeguard against lateral hiring mistakes that can hurt their revenue and reputation, says Michael Ellenhorn at Decipher.