Property
-
April 24, 2024
Samsung Unit Says Exclusion Doesn't Apply To Storm Losses
A Samsung unit seeking coverage for more than $400 million in damage to its semiconductor manufacturing facility related to Winter Storm Uri in 2021 asked a Texas federal court to rule that power loss during the storm did not trigger the policy's so-called lack of services exclusion.
-
April 23, 2024
HUD Finalizes Rule Raising Building Standards In Flood Zones
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development published a rule on Tuesday setting stricter flood-protection standards for homes built or fixed with funds from the agency in an effort to manage storm risk and rising insurance costs.
-
April 22, 2024
Ralph Lauren Can Continue Appeal Of COVID Coverage Loss
The Third Circuit on Monday lifted a stay that sidelined a Ralph Lauren Corp. appeal of a district judge's ruling that the fashion retailer failed to show insurable physical damage to stores from the COVID-19 pandemic, sending the case to an appellate motions panel with three similar actions.
-
April 19, 2024
Insurers Push To Arbitrate Hurricane Damage Case
An arbitrator should decide whether a Louisiana property owner's hurricane damage claims must be arbitrated, a group of surplus lines insurers argued in urging the Second Circuit to reject a New York district court's reliance on the circuit's precedent to find the arbitration clause at issue unenforceable.
-
April 19, 2024
CORRECTED: Fla. Jury Says AIG Mishandled Claim For Irma Damage
A Florida federal jury on Friday found that AIG mishandled part of the claims process for damage from Hurricane Irma to a $95 million oceanfront mansion near Miami but declined to award punitive damages against the insurer.
-
April 19, 2024
The Week In Trump: NY Trial And A High Court Date Loom
Despite a few snags, jury selection for Donald Trump's hush money trial in Manhattan unfolded relatively quickly, clearing the way for opening statements Monday in the historic case as the former president prepped for a U.S. Supreme Court debate over his supposed immunity.
-
April 18, 2024
Justices' Corporate Disclosure Ruling Dodges D&O Upheaval
A U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited when securities fraud claims can be brought for a failure to disclose information relieved policyholder experts, who told Law360 that the justices avoided major consequences for directors and officers policies.
-
April 18, 2024
Mich. High Court Takes Up Insurer Garnishment Dispute
The Michigan Supreme Court agreed Thursday to consider whether an insurer's supposed bad faith refusal to settle a claim can be litigated in a garnishment action in The Burlington Insurance Co.'s appeal of an injured worker's attempt to collect the unsatisfied portion of a $13.7 million judgment.
-
April 18, 2024
Four Environmental Issues Insurers Eye On Earth Day
From questions over climate disclosure rules to a rapidly increasing landscape of flood risk, Earth Day this year offers a chance to take stock of how much climate change has affected the insurance industry and the consumers that rely on it for disaster relief. Here, ahead of the annual quasi-holiday on April 22, Law360 looks at some of the most important insurance trends and stories related to the environment.
-
April 18, 2024
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
California's attorney general stepped into an unfair competition dispute with State Farm, Allstate demanded that a former contractor stop spreading lies, a session replay suit against Liberty Mutual was paused, and the Eleventh Circuit pondered whether an insurer should pay a nonapportioned settlement.
-
April 18, 2024
Ohtani Theft Scandal Loads Bases For Insurance Claims
The embezzlement and sports betting scandal that has ensnared Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter could implicate a range of insurance and civil litigation possibilities, coverage experts say, pointing to criminal allegations that Ohtani was defrauded of $16 million.
-
April 17, 2024
No Redo For Insurer In Hail Damage Dispute, Judge Says
A Texas federal court refused to rethink its ruling denying an insurer's early win in a hail damage coverage dispute with a textile company, saying the insurer provided no new information that could change the court's finding or establish the court's manifest error.
-
April 17, 2024
Insurer Owes No More Water Damage Coverage, Court Says
A Nationwide unit was required to pay only $5,000 to a Tennessee building's owner after water from a sewer or drain pipe backed up and overflowed within, a Tennessee federal court ruled, finding a water damage exclusion in the company's policy made a $5,000 sublimit applicable.
-
April 16, 2024
5th Circ. Rejects La. Homeowners' Repeat Hurricane Claim
The Fifth Circuit declined Tuesday to revive a Louisiana couple's proposed class action alleging that their insurer's method of evaluating their Hurricane Ida property damage violated state law, affirming that a previous, related lawsuit the couple filed barred the present claim from coverage.
-
April 16, 2024
11th Circ. Asks If Undivided Settlement Can Still Be Covered
An Eleventh Circuit panel seemed torn Tuesday on whether to allow insurance coverage for a $557,000 nonapportioned Georgia federal settlement that potentially included both covered theft and noncovered negligent deconstruction, awarded to a Georgia mill owner who hired the insured.
-
April 15, 2024
Geico Must Arbitrate Fraud Claims Against Chiropractors
The Third Circuit held in a precedential opinion Monday that Geico must arbitrate three lawsuits accusing chiropractic practices of providing unnecessary services totaling $10 million, pointing to documentation indicating that disputes connected to personal injury protection benefits must be resolved out of court.
-
April 15, 2024
Calif. AG Backs Unfair Competition Claims Against State Farm
California policyholders should be able to assert claims under the state's unfair competition law independent of a one-year claim filing deadline under their insurance policy, state Attorney General Rob Bonta told the California Supreme Court, backing a San Francisco homeowner's unfair competition claims against a State Farm unit.
-
April 12, 2024
Ala. Church's Hurricane Claims Are Covered, 11th Circ. Rules
There was enough evidence for an Alabama federal jury to conclude that a church suffered nearly $170,000 in covered property damage from Hurricane Sally, the Eleventh Circuit has ruled, rejecting an insurer's argument that the church's claims failed as a matter of law under a wear and tear exclusion.
-
April 12, 2024
The Week In Trump: Catch Up On The Ex-President's Cases
Donald Trump and his legal team proved that they are nothing if not persistent as they repeatedly tried — and failed — to hit the brakes on the former president's porn star hush money trial in Manhattan.
-
April 11, 2024
Norfolk's Proposed Deal Shows Risk Management Is Critical
Norfolk Southern Railway Co.'s proposed $600 million settlement with residents and businesses stemming from last year's train derailment and toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, highlights the importance of a proactive risk management department and transparency between policyholders and carriers, experts say.
-
April 11, 2024
Insurer AI Rules Push Self-Oversight, Leave Enforcement Hazy
State regulators across the United States that advise insurers to establish protocols for testing, documenting and governing their artificial intelligence tools are offering clarity for companies to self-regulate, but leaving the prospect of enforcement vague, experts said.
-
April 11, 2024
Chubb-Archdiocese Suit Raises Coverage Burden Issue
A Chubb lawsuit against the Archdiocese of New York over indemnity for sexual abuse claims is implicating questions over which party has the burden to show if a liability might be covered or not, a dispute inextricably tied to justice for the church's many alleged victims.
-
April 11, 2024
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
Louisiana's top court was asked to examine the enforceability of certain insurance contracts' arbitration clauses, the Sixth Circuit ordered a company to pay back some of the defense bill its insurer footed, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard COVID-19 coverage arguments and the Ninth Circuit rejected such arguments under Washington law.
-
April 11, 2024
Ex-Geico Agents Ask 6th Circ. To Revive Classification Suit
A group of former Geico agents asked the Sixth Circuit to revive their claims that they were misclassified and denied benefits, challenging the accuracy and relevance of plan documents that the lower court reviewed when dismissing the workers' suit.
-
April 11, 2024
11th Circ. To Weigh If Wood Theft Is 'Intentional'
The Eleventh Circuit will review, on April 16, a Georgia federal ruling forcing an insurer to cover a $557,000 settlement for shoddy workmanship and wood theft during a deconstruction project by its policyholder, and the outcome could hinge on what constitutes an accident and which state law applies. Here, Law360 breaks down the case in advance of oral arguments.
Expert Analysis
-
BigLaw Must Nix All-Or-Nothing Work Model To Retain Talent
Record numbers of workers quitting in the “Great Resignation,” paired with the growing success of nontraditional and freelance legal services, show that BigLaw’s management committees must reconsider rigid billable hour expectations and be open to part-time and noncontinuous work arrangements, says Hui Chen at Hui Chen Ethics.
-
11th Circ. Ruling Highlights Trend Of Stricter Insurer Valuation
The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in favor of the insurer in Metal Products v. Ohio Security Insurance is a jarring reminder that both Florida insurance companies and courts are increasingly viewing policy valuation provisions with stricter scrutiny, say Gina Lozier and Christopher Choquette at Berger Singerman.
-
The Flaws In The Traditional Approach To Hiring A Law Firm
Trevor Faure at Smarter Law Solutions and Gregory Richter at Major Lindsey offer an inside look at Teva Pharmaceuticals' recent overhaul of its law firm relationships through anonymous grading, and discuss how the company’s surprising findings on the correlation between quality and cost reveal shortcomings in traditional business development.
-
Federal Courts Are Right Venue For COVID Insurance Cases
Two recent Law360 guest articles positing that state, not federal, courts should be deciding COVID-19 insurance coverage disputes incorrectly assume that these cases contain novel insurance law issues, say attorneys at Dentons.
-
Keys To Keeping Law Firm Talent Amid The Great Resignation
With employees leaving their jobs at an unprecedented pace during the "Great Resignation," law firm leaders looking to retain associates and professional staff need to operate with emotional intelligence, talk about failures openly and take the time to offer frequent feedback, says Dorianna Phillips at Lane Powell.
-
How AI Can Transform Crisis Management In Litigation
Attorneys should understand how to use rapidly advancing artificial intelligence technology to help clients prepare for potential catastrophic events and the inevitable litigation arising from them, from predicting crises before they occur to testing legal theories once they arise, say Stratton Horres at Wilson Elser and David Steiger.
-
Litigation Complicates Surprise Medical Bill Law Compliance
Health care providers working on compliance with a recently effective law intended to curb surprise medical bills should prioritize provisions of the statute that are not being challenged by a group of ongoing lawsuits, and prepare to take advantage of potential provider-friendly court rulings regarding components in question, say Brenna Jenny and Jaime Jones at Sidley.
-
How NJ Bad Faith Auto Insurance Bill Compares To Pa.'s
The recently enacted New Jersey Insurance Fair Conduct Act, is in some ways narrower and in other ways broader than Pennsylvania's notoriously strict bad faith statute and leaves open many fundamental questions, which took Pennsylvania decades of litigation to resolve, say Kristin Jones and Brian Callaway at Troutman Pepper.
-
The Rising Demand For Commercial Litigators In 2022
Amid broken supply chains, pandemic-induced bankruptcies and a rise in regulation by litigation, strong commercial litigators — strategists who are adept in trying a range of tortious and contractual disputes — are becoming a must-have for many law firms, making this year an opportune moment to make the career switch, say Michael Ascher and Kimberly Donlon at Major Lindsey.
-
Reach Of Ohio Ransomware Ruling Limited To Policy At Hand
While an Ohio appellate court's recent decision allowing the insured's ransomware attack claim to proceed in EMOI Services v. Owners Insurance may seem significant for insurance jurisprudence, it should not have implications beyond policies specifically insuring damage to software, says Jane Warring at Zelle.
-
To Retain Talent, GCs Should Prioritize Mission Statements
With greater legal demands and an increasing number of workers resigning during the pandemic, general counsel should take steps to articulate their teams' values in departmental mission statements, which will help them better prioritize corporate values and attract and retain talent, says Catherine Kemnitz at Axiom.
-
Flawed NY Insurance Law Needs Amendments
The New York Comprehensive Insurance Disclosure Act, recently signed by the governor, imposes a multitude of problematic disclosure obligations on defendant-insureds, which the Legislature should — and likely will — seriously consider modifying or eliminating, says Richard Mason at MasonADR.
-
Recent Bias Suits Against Law Firms And Lessons For 2022
2021 employment discrimination case filings and developments show that law firms big and small are not immune from claims, and should serve as a reminder that the start of a new year is a good time to review and update salary, promotion and leave policies to mitigate litigation risks, says Hope Comisky at Griesing Law.