General Liability

  • June 03, 2024

    PacifiCorp To Pay $178M To 400 Oregonians Over Fires

    PacifiCorp has agreed to pay $178 million to more than 400 Oregon residents affected by a cluster of wildfires that burned more than a million acres of land on Labor Day 2020 amid dangerously dry and windy weather conditions, the utility announced Monday.

  • June 03, 2024

    Surgeons Denied Early Exit From GEICO's Bogus Injury Suit

    A pair of orthopedic surgeons can't escape GEICO's lawsuit claiming they conspired with a personal injury attorney to file inflated insurance claims for car accident victims based on bogus medical documents, a North Carolina federal judge ruled Monday.

  • June 03, 2024

    Real Estate Co., Nationwide Settle CFO Theft Dispute

    A New York federal judge agreed to dismiss a coverage dispute between a property management company and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. over nearly $1 million that the company's former chief financial officer was accused of stealing, following the parties' notice that they reached an agreement.

  • 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

    GRSM50 Brings On Clausen Miller Insurance Pro In SF

    Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP, which now goes by the name GRSM50, is expanding its team, announcing Thursday it is bringing on a Clausen Miller PC insurance specialist as a partner in its San Francisco office.

  • 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

    Bottler Says It's Owed Defense In Wine Contamination Dispute

    A wine bottler told a California federal court its insurer must reimburse defense costs it incurred while fighting a now-settled suit seeking to hold the company liable for a $1.2 million wine contamination, arguing the lawsuit didn't specifically allege what the bottler's actions were nor the cause of contamination.

  • 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

    Archdiocese Seeks NY High Court Clarity In Abuse Row

    The Archdiocese of New York asked a state appeals court for leave to appeal to the state's highest court to clarify the proper pleading standards in a coverage dispute brought by Chubb over sexual abuse claims, arguing Chubb's "collective pleading strategy" is inconsistent with state precedent.

  • May 29, 2024

    11th Circ. Backs Insurer's Win In Trampoline Injury Suit

    United Specialty Insurance had no duty to defend or indemnify a landscaper accused of negligently installing a trampoline that led to a child's injuries, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed, finding that the landscaper's insurance application expressly disclaimed the installation of recreational or playground equipment.

  • May 28, 2024

    US Property Insurers See Record Investment Income In 2023

    U.S. property and casualty insurers earned a record income of $73.9 billion from their investments in 2023, market analyst AM Best reported Tuesday, a bright spot for an industry beset by underwriting losses connected to natural disasters and high inflation.

  • May 28, 2024

    No Coverage For IT Co.'s 'Collusive' Settlement, Insurer Says

    Chubb unit ACE American Insurance Co. told a Colorado federal court it owes no coverage to an IT company found liable by a jury for making fraudulent misrepresentations and breaching its cybersecurity agreement with an investment company, arguing the parties' post-verdict settlement was merely a workaround to "create insurance coverage."

  • May 24, 2024

    No-Show Plaintiff, 'Jackass' Atty Booted Too Fast, Court Says

    A Michigan appellate court sympathized with a trial court dealing with a no-show plaintiff and his lawyer who acted like a "jackass" — according to one appellate judge — but ruled Thursday that the trial court needed to do a better job documenting why it tossed the case instead of issuing a lesser sanction.

  • May 24, 2024

    Insurer's Coverage Suit Premature, Ga. Apt. Complex Says

    An apartment complex facing negligence claims over a shooting told a Georgia federal court that its insurer's suit seeking to avoid coverage must be tossed, arguing that without any factual findings in the underlying state court action, any finding on the insurer's duty to indemnify would be premature.

  • May 24, 2024

    Insurer Owes Coverage For School Defect Claim, Builder Says

    A general contractor told a Washington federal court it is entitled to coverage under a subcontractor's commercial general liability policy with a Liberty Mutual unit for defects and damage that a school district alleges was caused by the subcontractor while working on a school expansion project.

  • May 23, 2024

    Calif. High Court Deals Loss To Policyholder In COVID-19 Suit

    The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the coronavirus generally doesn't cause the kind of damage to property that would trigger coverage under an insurance policy, handing a win to a Chubb insurance company in one of the last major venues for pandemic coverage litigation.

  • May 23, 2024

    Colo. AI Bias Law Brings Little Certainty For Insurance Sector

    Colorado enacted the nation's first comprehensive regulatory scheme for protecting consumers from discriminatory and biased artificial intelligence systems, sending a warning signal to an insurance sector bracing for increased scrutiny and risks related to the technology.

Expert Analysis

  • 5th Circ. Ruling Aids Insureds In Contractual Exclusion Rows

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent insurance decision in Windermere Oaks v. Allied World, in favor of coverage, provides policyholders with guidance on how to distinguish between contractual and noncontractual claims when insurers deploy broadly worded liability exclusions to deny coverage, say Max Louik and David Ledet at Reed Smith.

  • 2nd Circ. Reinsurance Ruling Correctly Applied English Law

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    Contrary to a recent Law360 guest article's argument, the Second Circuit correctly applied English law when it decided in Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania v. Equitas that concurrent reinsurance certificates required the reinsurer to cover loss in accordance with the law of the policy's governing jurisdiction, say Peter Chaffetz and Andrew Poplinger at Chaffetz Lindsey.

  • ALI, Bar Groups Need More Defense Engagement For Balance

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    The American Law Institute and state bar committees have a special role in the development of the law — but if they do not do a better job of including attorneys from the defense bar, they will come to be viewed as special interest advocacy groups, says Mark Behrens at Shook Hardy.

  • 2nd Circ. Reinsurance Ruling Misconstrues English Law

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    The Second Circuit's finding in Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania v. Equitas Insurance, that London-based reinsurer Equitas owed coverage for losses outside the policy period, stems from that court's misinterpretation of English law on reinsurance policy construction, says Christopher Foster at Holman Fenwick.

  • 4 Emerging Risks For US Insurance Markets

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    Both insureds and insurers in the U.S. must be aware of significant inbound exposures — including the issues arising from opioids, climate change and artificial intelligence — that could lead to continued volatility in insurance markets, say Aidan McCormack and Wes Reichart at DLA Piper.

  • How Mich. Bill Could Reshape State's Insurance Landscape

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    A recently introduced Michigan Senate bill would bar insurers from delaying, denying or failing to pay a claim unless there is a reasonable basis found in the policy, but its requirement calling for written standards for claims adjusting could create liability issues for large insurers, says Emily Coyle at Plunkett Cooney.

  • PFAS Coverage Litigation Strategy Lessons For Policyholders

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    While policyholders' efforts to recover insurance proceeds for PFAS-related costs are in the early stages, it appears from litigation so far that substantial coverage should be available for PFAS-related liabilities, including both defense costs and indemnity payments in connection with those liabilities, say Benedict Lenhart and Alexis Dyschkant at Covington.

  • Exxon Ruling Highlights Additional Insured Coverage Conflict

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    Despite the Texas Supreme Court's recent decision in Exxon Mobil v. National Union, finding that contractual minimum insurance requirements cannot be used as a ceiling to bar umbrella coverage, the case nevertheless illustrates insurers' aggressive tactics to reduce the scope of additional insured coverage, say David Kroeger and Steven Tinetti at Jenner & Block.

  • Tackling Long-Tail Legacy Liability Risk: A Defendant's Toolkit

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    Johnson & Johnson was recently rebuffed in its efforts to employ the "Texas Two-Step," which is likely to affect this increasingly popular method to isolate and spin off large asbestos and talc liabilities, but companies have multiple options to reduce long-tail legacy liability risk, says Stephen Hoke at Hoke LLC.

  • Climate Reporting Regs Mean New Risks To Insure

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    As regulators in the U.S., U.K. and beyond implement new climate-related investment and disclosure requirements for corporations, decision makers should investigate whether their insurance policies offer the right coverage to respond to the legal and regulatory risks of this increased scrutiny, says David Cummings at Reed Smith.

  • Md. Abuse Law Makes Past Liability Coverage Review Vital

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    Maryland is the first state to allow an indefinite lookback period for previously time-barred lawsuits by victims of child sexual abuse against public and private entities — and lawsuits brought under the new law likely will implicate coverage under insurance policies issued over the past 80 years or longer, say Michael Levine and Olivia Bushman at Hunton.

  • Unpacking NY's Revamped Wrongful Death Bill

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    Legislation to amend New York’s wrongful death law, introduced May 2, proposes more limited reforms than an earlier version the governor vetoed in January, but will likely still face strong opposition due to the severe financial impacts it would have on insurers’ set premiums and reserves, say Eric Andrew and David Adams at Hurwitz Fine.

  • NY Ruling Highlights Need For Specific Insurance Disclaimers

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    New York coverage counsel responsible for writing disclaimer letters should heed a recent appellate decision, Bahnuk v. Countryway Insurance, in which the letter sent to the plaintiff was deemed to be insufficiently specific, leaving the insurance company on the hook for coverage, says Dan Kohane at Hurwitz Fine.