General Liability

  • October 29, 2024

    Texas Judge Rejects Early Win In Water Pollution Dispute

    A Texas federal judge denied on Tuesday an insurer's bid for an early win in its lawsuit against a water supply company accused of providing contaminated water to Cameron County residents, despite the insurer's argument that pollution exclusions in multiple policies bar coverage for the underlying claims.

  • October 29, 2024

    Medical Co. Gets No Coverage For Toxic Tort

    An insurer for B. Braun Medical Inc. has no duty to defend or indemnify the company against numerous lawsuits accusing B. Braun of exposing residents near one of its medical device manufacturing plants to a carcinogenic gas, a Pennsylvania federal court ruled, finding a pollution exclusion applicable.

  • October 28, 2024

    NJ Diocese Gets Insurer's Abuse Coverage Suit Tossed

    A New Jersey federal court tossed an insurer's suit seeking to escape coverage for more than 200 sexual abuse lawsuits brought against the Catholic Diocese of Trenton, saying Monday the suit "relies on a strictly hypothetical controversy that may never occur."

  • October 28, 2024

    Wrongful Death Coverage Capped At $1M, Zurich Says

    Zurich urged a Colorado federal court to grant it an early win in a lawsuit brought by a pipeline construction company stemming from an underlying wrongful death action, arguing that relevant policy language only guaranteed the company $1 million instead of twice that amount.

  • October 25, 2024

    Photo App Says BIPA Ignorance Warrants Insurance Coverage

    The company behind a website and app that allow families to view photos of their children at summer camp told an Illinois federal judge it had no idea about the state's biometric privacy law, and thus couldn't have knowingly violated it, arguing that means insurers cannot shirk their responsibility to defend it in an underlying suit. 

  • October 25, 2024

    New York City Seeks Coverage In Homeless Shelter Death Suit

    The city of New York is seeking coverage from the insurer of a homeless shelter it contracted with after it was accused of negligence leading to the fatal seizure of a mother who lived there, a case removed to New York federal court Friday said.

  • October 24, 2024

    Anderson Kill Warns Of New Perils At Policyholder Conference

    Insurance recovery attorneys from Anderson Kill PC and guest speakers warned an audience in New York City on Thursday of peril upon peril, sounding the alarm on newer cyber and environmental risks in a coverage landscape moving as the ground literally shifts beneath our feet.

  • October 24, 2024

    2nd Circ. Revives Claims Against Insurer In $21M Injury Suit

    The owners of a construction site entangled in litigation over a worker's spinal cord injury can keep pursuing breach of contract claims against the insurance company that backed the worker's ostensible employer, the Second Circuit ruled Wednesday, overturning a lower court.

  • October 24, 2024

    3 Insurance Execs Beat Ex-Employer's Trade Secrets Suit

    A North Carolina federal judge has ruled Sherbrooke Corporate Ltd. failed to properly allege three former executives it accused of stealing confidential, proprietary software to start their own company actually used that software or kept how it worked a secret.

  • October 24, 2024

    Nationwide Asks Mich. Justices To Skip Unitary Tax Case

    Nationwide asked the Michigan Supreme Court to deny the state tax agency's application for review of an appellate court's decision that said the insurance company's entities should file their taxes as a unitary group, saying that ruling was consistent with a plain reading of the state's laws.

  • October 24, 2024

    Lewis Brisbois Adds Partner To General Liability Practice

    Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP announced the growth of its Chicago office with the addition of a partner and insurance expert who brings more than two decades of trial and civil litigation experience.

  • October 24, 2024

    Mixed Opioid Suit Rulings Complicate Disputes For Coverage

    Litigation against manufacturers and distributors of opioid products for their role in nationwide opioid deaths has pitted policyholders against insurers, and mixed rulings in the last year offer unclear signs of how general liability or specialty line policies will afford coverage.

  • October 24, 2024

    Meet The NC And Del. Insurance Commissioner Candidates

    With less than two weeks until Election Day, North Carolina and Delaware are gearing up for two insurance commissioner races featuring challenges to the incumbent's seat. The candidates in each state spoke with Law360 to share their takes on the status of their state's insurance market and their plans for holding the office.

  • October 24, 2024

    11th Circ. Puts Period On Missing Comma Coverage Ruling

    The Eleventh Circuit refused to review its August finding that the absence of a comma in a Chubb unit's professional services policy didn't change its clear and unambiguous meaning, thus precluding coverage for the audit of a food services company.

  • October 23, 2024

    Insurers Slam Mich. No-Fault Ruling As 'Judicial Activism'

    A trade group representing Michigan insurers said an appellate court ruling in a medical provider's suit over nonpayment of auto insurance benefits could encourage gamesmanship in no-fault insurance litigation, in a friend-of-the-court brief filed on Tuesday with the state's top court.

  • October 23, 2024

    Crypto Co. Says Insurer Owes $3.4M For Damaged Equipment

    A Bitcoin mining company's insurer owes more than $3.4 million for damage to processing equipment following a power supply disturbance, the mining company told a Tennessee federal court, arguing that the insurer wrongfully claimed that the loss resulted from excluded wear and tear.

  • October 22, 2024

    Colo. Justices Doubt Geico Agreed With Man's Crash Claims

    Justices of Colorado's highest court appeared skeptical Tuesday of a man's claim that his noneconomic damages for injuries from a car accident were uncontested by his insurance carrier, with one justice citing the policyholder's rejection of settlement offers as evidence of a dispute.

  • October 22, 2024

    NYC Eatery Operators Say Insurers Must Cover Gas Leak Loss

    The operators of a New York City Italian restaurant said their insurers wrongly denied coverage for business income and food inventory losses sustained as a result of a gas leak, telling a Colorado state court that the carriers can't rely on policy exclusions.

  • October 22, 2024

    AIG Says No Coverage For Calif. Ethylene Oxide Pollution Suit

    A group of AIG units told a California state court that they owe no coverage to a food product developer or medical sterilization companies Sterigenics US LLC and Sotera Health LLC over claims that they intentionally exposed residents to a known carcinogen between the late 1980s and 2022.

  • October 22, 2024

    Ex-Atty Charged With Stealing Settlement Funds From Clients

    A former attorney who practiced in Oklahoma and gave up his law license in 2020 amid a disciplinary investigation has been charged in federal court with stealing money his then-clients were owed from settlements between 2015 and 2020.

  • October 22, 2024

    Insurer Beats Sacramento Kings' COVID-19 Coverage Suit

    A California federal court handed a win to the Sacramento Kings' insurer in a coverage dispute over pandemic-related losses that the basketball team and its arena operator incurred, finding that a contamination exclusion bars coverage.

  • October 22, 2024

    The 2024 Prestige Leaders

    Check out our Prestige Leaders ranking, analysis and interactive graphics to see which firms stand out for their financial performance, attractiveness to attorneys and law students, ability to secure accolades and positive legal news media representation.

  • October 22, 2024

    How Law Firms Get And Keep Elite Status

    For decades, a handful of New York-based law firms thoroughly dominated the national consciousness when it came to power, profitability and prestige. But in today's legal market, increased movement of partners and clients from one firm to the next has begun to shake things up and create opportunities for go-getters to ascend the ranks.

  • October 21, 2024

    5th Circ. Asked To Nix Insurer's $2.2M Assault Coverage Win

    A group of Texas trial lawyers urged the Fifth Circuit to reverse a Texas federal court's order permitting a bar's insurer to pay only its $1 million limit for a $3.2 million personal injury judgment, arguing the underlying plaintiffs made a valid presuit settlement demand.

  • October 18, 2024

    Law360 MVP Awards Go To Top Attys From 74 Firms

    The attorneys chosen as Law360's 2024 MVPs have distinguished themselves from their peers by securing hard-earned successes in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.

Expert Analysis

  • Justices' Ch. 11 Ruling Is A Big Moment For Debtors' Insurers

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Truck Insurance v. Kaiser Gypsum ruling upends decades of Chapter 11 bankruptcy jurisprudence that relegated a debtor’s insurer to the sidelines, giving insurers a new footing to try and avoid significant liability, say Stuart Gordon and Benjamin Wisher at Rivkin Radler.

  • 7th Circ Joins Trend Of No CGL Coverage For Structural Flaws

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    The Seventh Circuit, which recently held potential structural instability did not count as property damage under a construction company's commercial general liability policy, joins a growing consensus that faulty work does not implicate coverage without tangible and present damage to the project, say Sarah Abrams at Baleen Specialty, and Elan Kandel and James Talbert at Bailey Cavalieri.

  • 7th Circ. Exclusion Ruling Will Narrow BIPA Coverage

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    The Seventh Circuit's recent decision in Thermoflex Waukegan v. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, holding that the access or disclosure exclusion applies to insurance claims brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, departs from the majority rule and opens the door to insurers more firmly denying coverage under general liability policies, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Revisiting Scalia's 'What's It To You?' After Kaiser Ruling

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser allows insurers to be considered "parties in interest" in Chapter 11 cases, they still need to show they would face an injury in fact, answering the late Justice Antonin Scalia's "what's it to you?" question, say Brent Weisenberg and Jeff Prol at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Calif. Long-Tail Ruling Continues Policyholder-Friendly Trend

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    The California Supreme Court's recent ruling in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Cement & Gypsum, rejecting horizontal policy exhaustion, was the latest in a string of its decisions involving insurance coverage for continuous or progressive injury claims that favor policyholders, say Billie Mandelbaum and David Goodwin at Covington.

  • NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    The second quarter of 2024 saw less enforcement activity in the realm of New York financial services, but brought substantial regulatory and legislative developments, including state regulators' guidance on cybersecurity compliance and customer service processes for virtual currency entities, say James Vivenzio and Andrew Lucas at Perkins Coie.

  • NJ Justices Clarify First-Party Indemnification Availability

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    In Boyle v. Huff, the New Jersey Supreme Court recently held that indemnification can be available in first-party claims, resolving an open question and setting up contracting parties for careful negotiations around indemnity clauses, says Todd Leon at Marshall Dennehey.

  • Takeaways From Justices' Redemption Insurance Decision

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Connelly v. U.S. examines how to determine the fair market value of shares in a closely held company for estate tax purposes, and clarifies how life insurance held by the company to enable redemption of a decedent’s shares affects that calculation, says Evelyn Haralampu at Burns & Levinson.

  • Insurers Have A Ch. 11 Voice Following High Court Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum — which reaffirmed a broad definition of "party in interest" — will give insurers, particularly in mass tort Chapter 11 bankruptcies, more opportunity to protect their interests and identify problems with reorganization plans, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.

  • 8th Circ. Insurance Ruling Spotlights Related-Claims Defenses

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    The Eighth Circuit’s recent Dexon v. Travelers ruling — that the insurer must provide a defense despite the policy’s related-acts provision — provides guidance for how policyholders can overcome related-acts defenses, say Geoffrey Fehling and Jae Lynn Huckaba at Hunton.

  • Managing Legal Risks After University Gaza Protests

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    Following the protests sparked by the war in Gaza, colleges and universities should expect a long investigative tail and take steps to mitigate risks associated with compliance issues under various legal frameworks and institutional policies, say Wiley's Diana Shaw and Colin Cloherty.

  • An Insurance Coverage Checklist For PFAS Defendants

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    With PFAS liability exposures attracting increased media attention, now is a good time for companies that could be exposed to liability related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to review existing and past insurance policies, and consider taking proactive steps to maximize their likelihood of coverage, say attorneys at Nossaman.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: May Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from automobile insurance to securities — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including circuit-specific ascertainability requirements and how to conduct a Daubert analysis prior to class certification.