Property
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April 09, 2024
4th Circ. Tosses Duty To Defend Case Over Oil Co.'s Objection
The Fourth Circuit said Tuesday that a West Virginia oil and gas company lacked standing to continue an appeal that was originally brought by a green grower, which had sought coverage from its insurer for an underlying $4 million land use dispute with the extractor.
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April 09, 2024
Insurance Firm Will Pay $4M To End Calif. Wage Class Action
A California federal judge gave the green light to a $4 million class action settlement resolving allegations that an insurance and risk management company didn't closely track workers' hours, which resulted in underpayment for over 2,100 workers.
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April 09, 2024
Trump Opposes NY Monitor Probe After Exec's Perjury
Attorneys for Donald Trump argued against allowing a court-appointed monitor of the Trump Organization to look into supposed discovery lapses in the New York attorney general's civil business fraud case related to a perjury plea by the company's former longtime Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg.
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April 09, 2024
Embattled Houston Law Firm Files Ch. 11
Insurance law firm MMA Law Firm on Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Texas bankruptcy court, weeks after a federal judge declined to toss a suit seeking class damages over the Houston firm's allegedly illegal efforts to solicit clients in hurricane-related property damage cases.
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April 08, 2024
AIG Acted In Bad Faith In Hurricane Dispute, Homeowners Say
Owners of a $95 million oceanfront mansion near Miami told jurors Monday that AIG should be punished for acting in bad faith in handling a claim for damage from Hurricane Irma, saying the company repeatedly prioritized maximizing profits at the expense of customer service.
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April 08, 2024
Texas School District Not Immune In Arbitration Row
A Texas school district isn't immune from a lawsuit by its insurers seeking to appoint an umpire in a $10 million hurricane damage dispute, a New York federal court ruled Monday, finding the district doesn't meet the standards set under the 11th Amendment.
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April 08, 2024
Conn. Law Firm Demands Insurer Pay More For Leak In Office
A Connecticut law firm and a real estate company have accused their insurer of failing to fully cover damage from a leak at their New Haven offices despite a $2.2 million policy in a suit removed to Connecticut federal court by the insurer.
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April 08, 2024
Insurer Fights 3rd Circ. Bid To Revive Crash Coverage Suit
An insurer has urged the Third Circuit to affirm that a Pennsylvania couple couldn't claim it had acted in bad faith by failing to immediately cover the husband's brain injuries from a crash with an underinsured motorist.
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April 05, 2024
NJ Recycler's Fire Damage Suit To Remain In NJ, Judge Rules
A New Jersey federal judge declined to move a paper recycler's fire coverage dispute to New York, but did agree to toss one of its claims against its insurer, finding the recycler's declaratory judgment and breach of contract claims were duplicative.
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April 05, 2024
Conn. Court Limits Payouts For Underinsured Motorist Policies
Siding with Safeco Insurance Co. and overturning a lower court's calculations, the Connecticut Appellate Court on Friday cemented the insurance industry's ability to escape underinsured motorist claims by injured policyholders whose coverage equals that of drivers at fault, even when at-fault drivers' insurers divvy up smaller payments.
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April 05, 2024
Pa. Supreme Court Snapshot: COVID Coverage Starts Spring
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court's April lineup will prepare the justices to deliver highly anticipated guidance on whether business losses stemming COVID-19 pandemic orders should be covered by insurance and if Pittsburgh can compel rental-property owners to register and undergo training.
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April 05, 2024
Chinese Insurer Awarded Nearly $15M Over Hotel Theft Suit
A California federal judge awarded a Chinese insurer nearly $15 million in damages after a man accused of conspiring to fraudulently claim ownership of New York City's JW Marriott Essex House Hotel and other luxury properties failed to appear in the action.
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April 04, 2024
Homeowner Asks 9th Circ. To Rethink Fire Coverage Ruling
A woman who was prevented from coverage of a 2021 house fire by the Ninth Circuit asked the court to rehear her case, arguing among other things that she did not lie to her insurer about renting her home, because she didn't fill out the insurance application.
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April 04, 2024
Trump Fraud Appeal Spotlights Underwriting Irregularities
Donald Trump's ongoing challenge to a $465 million civil fraud judgment for a decadelong valuation fraud conspiracy raises questions about insurance procedures, how underwriters price risk and who is harmed by the alleged fraud perpetrated by the former president and his associates.
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April 04, 2024
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
The Ninth Circuit heard a coverage dispute over an unsuccessful shipwreck salvaging expedition, Delaware's justices agreed to consider whether an ex-Xerox unit tried to defraud insurers into covering a $236 million settlement, and the owner of Washington, D.C., professional sports teams ended its bid for COVID-19 coverage.
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April 04, 2024
A College Professor's Approach To Insurance
A strong education is crucial to address the role insurance plays on both the personal and professional level — something University of Georgia professor Rob Hoyt demonstrates in his classroom. Here, Law360 speaks to Hoyt about how research, teaching and service guide his work.
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April 04, 2024
NY AG Wants Trump Insurer To Guarantee $175M Bond
New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a Manhattan judge Thursday to make sure the California insurer that agreed to post Donald Trump's $175 million bond in his civil business fraud case can actually pay.
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April 04, 2024
Last-Resort Insurers Grapple With Increasing Exposure
Insurance pools meant to serve as backstops for consumers shut out of traditional markets are grappling with increased exposure to natural disasters, according to experts and market data, a trend that observers say is concerning as climate change intensifies storms.
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April 04, 2024
Surfside, Fla., Condo Collapse Victims To Get Additional $4.8M
A Florida judge signed off Thursday on an additional $4.8 million distribution to the victims of the deadly collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium after the receiver overseeing the defunct condominium association told the court the association had fewer financial obligations and tax liabilities than expected.
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April 03, 2024
5th Circ. Remands Roof Tile Row To Texas District Court
State Farm and a couple must further litigate whether there's coverage for hailstorm-related roof repairs under a policy provision covering costs to keep their home up to code, the Fifth Circuit ruled, finding a genuine factual dispute over whether replacement roof tiles interlock with original ones.
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April 03, 2024
Insurer Says Rail Co. Must Pay In $400K Spoiled Chicken Suit
Over $400,000 worth of frozen chicken thighs rotted on the move to Oregon, and an insurer who covered the putrid loss told a South Carolina federal court that the rail company responsible should pay for the screw-up.
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April 03, 2024
Insurer, DC Teams' Owner End Virus Coverage Dispute
The owner of Washington, D.C., professional basketball and hockey teams and its insurer agreed to end their COVID-19 coverage dispute after the owner appealed the dismissal of its coverage claims to the D.C. Circuit.
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April 03, 2024
Auto Insurer Seeks Payback After $2M Car Crash Settlement
A business insurer of a man who crashed a rental car into a motorcyclist while working in Los Angeles should pay something in connection with a $2 million settlement with the injured biker, an auto insurer told a California federal court, seeking to recoup its expenses.
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April 02, 2024
Utility Cos. Must Face Uri MDL Gross Negligence Claims
Transmission and distribution utility providers can't escape allegations they were grossly negligent in cutting off power to Texans during winter storm Uri, a Texas state appeals court ruled Tuesday in an opinion that keeps intact only two claims against the companies in the multidistrict litigation created to handle consumer actions from the severe weather event.
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April 02, 2024
La. Property Owners, Insurers To Arbitrate Hurricane Claims
A Hurricane Ida damage coverage dispute between seven New Orleans-area property owners and their insurers will be stayed pending arbitration, a Louisiana federal judge ruled, agreeing with the insurers that the policy's arbitration agreement is enforceable under the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.
Expert Analysis
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Tracking Class Certification Changes, 1 Year After TransUnion
In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court's TransUnion v. Ramirez decision, defense lawyers have invoked it as support for denying class certification or decertifying classes — but an analysis suggests that the main impact of the ruling has simply been closer scrutiny of class definitions by district courts, say James Morsch and Jonathan Singer at Saul Ewing.
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What's At Stake In Fla. Insurance Appraisal Case
The Florida Supreme Court's decision in Weston Property & Casualty Insurance v. Riverside Club Condominium Association, determining whether trial courts should have discretion to sequence appraisal and fraud in insurance disputes, will influence how claims are handled on a national basis, say attorneys at Reed Smith.
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Hurricane Insurance Prep Is Key For Fla. Condos And HOAs
As this year's hurricane season gets underway, Florida associations for homeowners, condos and communities should review their insurance policies and protocols in advance of potential inclement weather, says Kelly Corcoran at Ball Janik.
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Property Insurance Coverage Can Hinge On 'Riot' Or 'Protest'
As protests erupt across the U.S. in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, Alycen Moss and Elliot Kerzner at Cozen O'Connor examine important property insurance questions that depend on whether a gathering of people is classified as a protest or a riot.
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Lessons From Calif. Liability Claim Recoupment Ruling
A recent California federal court decision in Evanston Insurance v. Winstar Properties illustrates the perils of insurer recoupment and underscores the importance of assessing recoupment rights, if any, throughout the claims process, say Geoffrey Fehling and Veronica Adams at Hunton.
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Recent Decisions Are Eroding All-Risk Insurance Coverage
All-risk insurance coverage is under siege by insurers' broad interpretations of established exclusions, and recent decisions in New Jersey and New Hampshire have shown that courts may not protect coverage despite the policies' text and intent, says Nicholas Insua at Reed Smith.
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Exploring Calif. Wildfire Insurance's Legislative Landscape
As California wildfire season approaches, elected officials and insurance companies continue to face the task of finding long-term solutions, including an increasingly important role for mitigation efforts by individual homeowners and business owners in order to protect their property, say Jan Larson and Jenna Conwisar at Jenner & Block.
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COVID Coverage Cases Conflict With Insurer Documentation
A look at three court cases highlights a gap between successful insurer arguments made in litigation about policy text and the insurance industry's own understanding of the potential for property damage and business interruption coverage of virus- and disease-related claims, say professors at UConn, the University of Nevada and Queen's University.
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Pandemic Losses Do Not Trigger Biz Interruption Coverage
Although Law360 has reported that there may be hope for policyholders seeking property insurance coverage for pandemic-related losses, basic contract principles and overwhelming case law show the opposite, say attorneys at Dentons.
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2 Calif. Insurance Decisions Question Boundaries Of Fortuity
Last month, California state and federal courts revisited fortuity issues in two decisions that show how the occurrence requirement and the California Insurance Code's prohibition on coverage for an insured's willful acts can be exceedingly difficult to apply to lawsuits alleging novel legal theories, say Jodi Green and Sophia von Bergen at Miller Nash.
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Insurer Best Practices For NY Climate Risk Compliance
Insurers should view the New York Department of Financial Services' guidance on managing financial risks from climate change as a bellwether for state and federal regulation and should use the time before this summer's compliance deadline to prepare and implement an appropriate response strategy, say Jim Wrynn and Robert Stephens at FTI Consulting.
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Assessing NFT Insurance Coverage Options And Gaps
Because non-fungible tokens do not come bundled with insurance policies, and until NFT-specific insurance policies become more common, NFT owners should proactively protect against risk by drawing upon existing frameworks, despite potential coverage gaps, say Brian Scarbrough and Edward Crouse at Jenner & Block.
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Crypto And NFTs Could Change The Future Of Real Estate
As they grow increasingly popular, cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens may shape how real estate transactions are conducted and open the market to many new investors, but these changes are not without risk, says Hugo Alvarez at Cole Scott.