Expert Analysis

5 Key Steps To Prepare For Oral Arguments

Whether presenting oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court or a local county judge, effective preparation inc... (more story)

Maryland High Court Ruling Clarifies Claim Assignment

In its recent opinion in Featherfall Restoration, the Maryland Supreme Court reemphasized a policyholder's ability... (more story)

NY Ruling Eases Admission Of Medical Record Evidence

A New York appellate court’s recent ruling in Pillco v. 160 Dikeman clarifies the standard for evaluating accident... (more story)

Property More

Insurers Win Arbitration Of Nursing Home Coverage Fight

A Louisiana federal judge has ordered the holder of a mortgage on a New Orleans nursing home to arbitrate hurricane damage claims against a group of insurers, saying the company was bound to an underlying arbi... (more story)

5th Circ. Asks How Many Policies Really Exist In Arb. Appeal

Hearing separate appeals over a group of eight domestic insurers' bid to arbitrate hurricane damage claims from two Louisiana policyholders, a Fifth Circuit panel wrestled Wednesday with whether those policyho... (more story)

Insurance Firm Adds Texas Office As Claim Denials Spike

Your Insurance Attorney announced Wednesday that it has opened a new office in Houston, noting that the property and casualty insurance firm's expansion comes as the state faces worsening hurricane seasons and... (more story)

2nd Circ. Affirms Arizona Iced Tea's Audit Expense Coverage

Hanover Insurance Co. must cover the maker of Arizona Iced Tea for additional audit expenses from a power surge that erased years of financial data, the Second Circuit determined Tuesday, finding that delays a... (more story)

Progressive Owes No Coverage For Truck Transport Mishap

A Progressive Insurance unit has no duty to defend or indemnify a transportation company facing an injury lawsuit alleging that a disabled truck rolled into oncoming interstate traffic while a worker was loadi... (more story)

Texas Mall Settles $7.3M Hailstorm Coverage Dispute

A Texas shopping center owner told a federal court Tuesday that it has "amicably" settled its dispute with insurers for roughly $7.3 million in hail damage it incurred, roughly three months after it took them to court.

8th Circ.'s 'Erie Guess' Affirms Apt. Co.'s $27M Insurance Win

A partially split Eighth Circuit panel affirmed an apartment complex's $27 million jury award against Travelers Insurance, holding that an expert's testimony about the presence of carcinogenetic soot is suffic... (more story)

Hurricane Maria Fraud Suit Against Adjuster Thrown Out

A Puerto Rico federal court tossed an insurer's lawsuit against a public adjuster alleging it inflated its calculation of damage that a Puerto Rico town suffered from Hurricane Maria in 2017, finding the lawsu... (more story)

Insurance Litigation Week In Review

The Fourth Circuit erased class certification in a lawsuit challenging Progressive's coverage of totaled vehicles, the First Circuit said an insurer had no defense obligations over an eviction scheme alleged a... (more story)

Hotel Group Says Insurer Owes $12.5M For Helene Losses

A hotel group said it is entitled to recover $12.5 million from a Liberty Mutual unit for business interruption losses stemming from Hurricane Helene, the company said, telling a North Carolina federal court t... (more story)

General Liability More

Care Facility Not Covered In Patient Death Suits, Insurer Says

An insurer said it has no duty to defend or indemnify a long-term nursing care facility in four wrongful death suits, telling an Illinois federal court that general liability and professional liability coverag... (more story)

Del. Justices Say Mattel Sleeper Suit Not Ripe For Review

The Delaware Supreme Court has declined to step in and review a pretrial order in an insurance dispute in which Mattel Inc. and Fisher-Price Inc. seek coverage of settlements in suits over infant injuries, say... (more story)

Insurer Says No Coverage For Parking Garage Death Suit

An insurer said it has no duty to defend or indemnify a parking garage designer accused of improperly designing a facility at a New Jersey university after a man jumped from an upper level and died, telling a ... (more story)

No Coverage For Voluntary Phishing Payments, Insurer Says

A Pittsburgh seating company is not entitled to coverage for more than $530,000 it lost in a computer phishing scheme, an insurer told a Pennsylvania state court, saying the payments made by the company's co-o... (more story)

Crash Victim Hits Progressive With Claims Over 'Regular Use'

Progressive Insurance systematically denied auto insurance coverage under an exclusion relating to vehicles not directly insured but still regularly used, two Pennsylvania residents told a Pennsylvania state c... (more story)

4th Circ. Revokes Class Cert. In Progressive Car Valuation Suit

The Fourth Circuit reversed a Progressive Insurance policyholder's class certification win over certain adjustments the insurer makes when calculating the actual cash value of a totaled vehicle, saying that de... (more story)

Fla. Misses Opportunity To Rectify Wrongful Death Damages

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' recent veto of a bill that would have removed certain arbitrary and unfair prohibitions on noneconomic wrongful death damages in medical negligence cases highlights the urgent need f... (more story)

1st Circ. Says Insurer Owes No Defense In Eviction Suits

A Liberty Mutual unit has no duty to defend a commercial real estate loan provider in underlying suits over the eviction of residents from a Massachusetts senior care facility, the First Circuit ruled, finding... (more story)

Chubb Units Say No To Test Cases In Archdiocese Ch. 11

Insurance carriers for the Archdiocese of San Francisco urged a California bankruptcy court to reject a deal between the archdiocese and sexual abuse claimants to allow five lawsuits to proceed despite a Chapt... (more story)

Co. Not Covered For $7.5M Crash Judgment, Insurer Says

A food service distributor isn't entitled to coverage of a nearly $7.5 million judgment entered against it in a suit over a collision involving one of its trucks and another driver, an insurer told a Connectic... (more story)

Specialty Lines More

Investment Co. Founder's Life Insurance Award Dropped To $1

The Fourth Circuit affirmed Wednesday that a jury did not have sufficient evidence to conclude that historian and investment firm founder Malcolm Wiener suffered $16 million in damages over a canceled life ins... (more story)

Insurer Escapes Duty To Cover Lab's Suit Over COVID Tests

Continental Casualty Co. is not obligated to cover a Pennsylvania laboratory in an underlying lawsuit brought by a COVID-19 test manufacturer that accuses the lab of neglecting its responsibilities and falsely... (more story)

Nationwide Unit Needn't Cover Restaurateur In Fraud Disputes

The former co-manager of a defunct Colorado restaurant venture cannot get coverage for a suit alleging he defrauded a lender and a separate bankruptcy proceeding, a New York federal court ruled, finding a Nati... (more story)

Team Says Insurer Owes $5.5M Over MLB Negotiations Deal

An Oregon baseball team called the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes told a New Hampshire federal court that an insurer for the association behind Minor League Baseball must cover its $5.5 million judgment against MiLB o... (more story)

Rhodium Founders Defend D&O Coverage Request In Ch. 11

Founders of cryptocurrency mining firm Rhodium are defending their request for leave to pursue payouts from the company's directors and officers insurance policy, saying an ad hoc group's protests fell flat si... (more story)

Clause Not Unconscionable In Jet Damage Row, 9th Circ. Says

A "limitation of liability" provision that an aircraft services company used in a "landing card" agreement for arriving aircraft wasn't unconscionable under Nevada law, the Ninth Circuit ruled, siding against ... (more story)

9 Jury Selection Lessons From The Combs Trial

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian’s unusually thorough jury selection process for the trial of Sean Combs offers attorneys and judges a master class in using case-specific juror questionnaires and extended ... (more story)

AI Tools Spark Debate Over Insurance Policy Interpretation

An artificial intelligence tool drafts an insurance policy and makes a note of potential inconsistencies in language.

Court Refuses To Split IT Co.'s Settlement Coverage Claims

A Colorado federal court refused Thursday to separate and stay an information technology company's bad faith claims against a Chubb unit and malpractice claim against a law firm in a dispute over coverage for ... (more story)

Mitigating Employer Liability Risk Under Sex Assault Rule

The American Law Institute's newly approved rule expands vicarious liability to employers for certain sexual assaults that employees commit, which could materially increase employers' exposure unless they stre... (more story)