
Fire Victims See Positive Step In Calif.'s FAIR Plan Action
California regulators gave fire victims a boost last week when the state's insurance department launched a legal action seeking penalties against the state's last-resort insurer for its handling of smoke damage claims, but the market effects of the move are still not fully clear.

10th Circ. Water Loss Ruling Spotlights Competing Exclusions
The Tenth Circuit recently affirmed that a water damage exclusion applied to a Kansas office building's $1.75 million repair claim from a broken water pipe, providing insurance experts an unusual case for weighing two seemingly related exclusions against one another.

Ill. Auto Rate Initiative Puts Pricing Accuracy In Spotlight
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias launched a new campaign aimed at reducing auto insurers' use of nondriving factors when setting rates on the grounds that these elements contribute to discriminatory rate-setting, but insurer and consumer advocates are split over the initiative's efficacy and potential cost increases.
Property More
Wallace Stevens was an acclaimed modernist poet, but his parallel career as an insurance attorney isn't as widely discussed, according to attorney Daniel J. Kornstein, who has studied Stevens' life. To mark th... (more story)
Governmental COVID-19 shutdown orders, and not the pandemic itself, are what constitute an "occurrence" under Life Time Fitness' commercial property policy with Zurich American Insurance Co., a Minnesota state... (more story)
A Georgia federal judge refused to let Bank of America escape a proposed class action accusing it of overcharging residential trusts for insurance, ruling in part that the named plaintiff can seek damages for ... (more story)
A Georgia federal judge refused to grant AMCO Insurance Co. an early win on most claims in its suit asserting it has no duty to defend an Atlanta apartment complex sued by a resident who was struck by bullets while sleeping.
A jewelry store's property insurer owes no coverage over claims for rainstorm damage, a Michigan federal court ruled Thursday, finding an exclusion barring coverage from water overflow due to floods was applicable.
The Archdiocese of New York demanded disclosure of reinsurance policies in a discovery-related appeal amid underlying sex abuse litigation, Zurich was accused of putting both its interests ahead of another ins... (more story)
Recent widespread fires in and around California's wine-producing regions, which produce a vast majority of the nation's wine, have spurred concern from policyholders and public officials over how wineries can... (more story)
A recent cyberattack against St. Paul, Minnesota, highlights the importance of cyber coverage for cities and counties, with the caveat that financial vitality, state and federal laws, and third parties retaine... (more story)
An insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify a man facing a civil claim of negligently blinding a Los Angeles police officer with a laser, it told a California federal court, saying the man's criminal convict... (more story)
An insurer can't escape a Louisiana church's suit seeking nearly $5 million in coverage for claimed Hurricane Ida damage, a federal court ruled Wednesday, rejecting the insurer's contention that the church bre... (more story)
General Liability More
A New York federal court didn't err in declaring that a subcontractor's insurer had a duty to indemnify a property owner in a worker's construction injury lawsuit that is still pending, the Second Circuit affi... (more story)
Red Roof Inn told an Ohio federal court Wednesday that a Liberty Mutual unit must defend it in 11 lawsuits alleging it violated the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act by financially benefi... (more story)
A move across the country to new surroundings at Tucker Arensberg PC's Pittsburgh office has given a seasoned attorney the opportunity to expand the scope of his litigation practice into new areas.
A split Delaware Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's finding that defense costs paid by 3M in underlying multidistrict litigation over the company's combat earplugs could not satisfy the self-insur... (more story)
An insurance company has told the Eleventh Circuit it should not have to foot the bill to defend its client against a federal malpractice suit in Atlanta, arguing its policy contains a carveout for claims invo... (more story)
A Travelers subsidiary has no obligation to defend a construction company against a suit seeking indemnification for asbestos-related injury claims, a South Carolina federal court ruled, finding that the suit ... (more story)
An excess insurer for a construction company must pay a woman and her two children its full $2 million limit after they suffered severe injuries in a head-on collision, the Fourth Circuit ruled, further findin... (more story)
An insurer asked a Michigan federal judge to declare it has no obligation to cover a $50 million judgment against a township, arguing the damages that stem from the township's unconstitutional zoning restricti... (more story)
A chemicals manufacturer accusing a reinsurer of failing to fully cover its roughly $100 million business interruption claim over a chemical plant explosion can still pursue its coverage claims, a Texas federa... (more story)
With its recent decision in Protopapas v. Travelers, the South Carolina Court of Appeals becomes the highest court in South Carolina to adopt the all sums allocation approach for long-tail claims, providing ke... (more story)
Specialty Lines More
A senior care facility isn't owed coverage for an underlying lawsuit accusing a facility chaplain of sexually assaulting a patient, the facility's insurer said, arguing coverage is precluded due to a molestati... (more story)
A cyber insurer urged a Texas federal court to reject Cicis Pizza's attempt to recast a ransomware attack as a cyber extortion event in order to open the door to more coverage, saying it has fulfilled its cont... (more story)
A company that invested in a personal injury law firm's docket of cases alleges in a lawsuit removed to North Carolina federal court that its insurer "intentionally obstructed" its recovery of more than $116 m... (more story)
A Washington federal court rejected a cyber insurer's bid to dismiss a law firm's coverage action alleging it lost more than $1 million in a data breach that also involved spoofed emails, finding the insurer's... (more story)
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners' recently proposed tool that would enable regulators to assess risks posed by insurers' use of artificial intelligence takes a more expansive approach than t... (more story)
The Council on State Taxation backed entities of Nationwide in the Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday, saying the justices should affirm an appellate court's decision that said the insurance company's affilia... (more story)
A poultry producer said it is entitled to coverage for underlying class actions stemming from a data breach that compromised its employees' personal information, telling a Georgia federal court that its insure... (more story)
An insurer said it has no duty to defend or indemnify law firms and attorneys accused of running a billing scheme that defrauded Ford out of more than $100 million, telling a California federal court that the ... (more story)
Last week at the Delaware Court of Chancery, insurance brokerage and risk management giant Marsh & McLennan Cos. sought injunctive relief in a new suit accusing U.S. affiliates of London-based Howden Holdings ... (more story)
Lowenstein Sandler LLP has added a new partner to its insurance recovery group who has a wide breadth of experience in not only representing corporate policyholders, but also in advising clients in general com... (more story)