Property
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July 10, 2024
7th Circ. Says Foreclosure Limits Man's Fire Coverage Claim
A homeowner did not have an insurable interest in the full value of a home that burned down while in foreclosure, the Seventh Circuit ruled, affirming that recovery was limited to the value of his temporary right to possess the property until 30 days after its judicial sale was confirmed.
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July 10, 2024
Insurer, Property Cos. Settle Lead Poisoning Coverage Suit
An insurer for a Detroit property owner and manager told a Michigan federal court they have settled their coverage dispute over a woman's claims that her 2-year-old girl suffered lead poisoning at the property, which she said was left in a state of disrepair.
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July 10, 2024
Wash. Condo Assoc. Wants Allstate To Cover $9.7M In Repairs
A Washington condominium association is suing Allstate Insurance Co. in federal court, saying it broke their coverage agreement by refusing to cover $9.7 million in repairs for "hidden damage" to the buildings' exteriors.
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July 09, 2024
Insurer Seeks $1.7M For Damaged Concert Gear
An insurer is seeking to recoup over $1.7 million in damages it incurred after concert gear was damaged en route to New York from Belgium, telling a New York federal court Tuesday that a shipping company owed a duty to the cargo's owner to deliver its products safely.
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July 05, 2024
Insurers Allegedly Evaded Kiwanis Foster Home Abuse Claims
Insurers owned by Travelers, AIG and other big-name insurance groups have been accused of dodging their duty to pay a multimillion-dollar judgment resolving child sex abuse survivors' claims against a foster boys home that was run by Kiwanis International, according to a new lawsuit in Washington federal court.
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July 05, 2024
11th Circ. Won't Touch $9.7M College Hurricane Coverage Win
The Eleventh Circuit ruled Friday that a district court unlawfully certified a partial judgment in favor of The Baptist College of Florida for review in a $13 million insurance coverage dispute for hurricane damage costs.
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July 05, 2024
How Reshaped Circuit Courts Are Faring At The High Court
Seminal rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court's latest term will reshape many facets of American society in the coming years. Already, however, the rulings offer glimpses of how the justices view specific circuit courts, which have themselves been reshaped by an abundance of new judges.
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July 05, 2024
Breaking Down The Vote: The High Court Term In Review
The U.S. Supreme Court's lethargic pace of decision-making this term left the justices to issue a slew of highly anticipated and controversial rulings during the term's final week — rulings that put the court's ideological divisions on vivid display. Here, Law360 takes a data dive into the numbers behind this court term.
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July 05, 2024
High Court Flexes Muscle To Limit Administrative State
The U.S. Supreme Court's dismantling of a 40-year-old judicial deference doctrine, coupled with rulings stripping federal agencies of certain enforcement powers and exposing them to additional litigation, has established the October 2023 term as likely the most consequential in administrative law history.
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July 05, 2024
The Sharpest Dissents From The Supreme Court Term
The U.S. Supreme Court's session ended with a series of blockbuster cases that granted the president broad immunity, changed federal gun policy and kneecapped administrative agencies. And many of the biggest decisions fell along partisan lines.
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July 05, 2024
5 Moments That Shaped The Supreme Court's Jan. 6 Decision
When the high court limited the scope of a federal obstruction statute used to charge hundreds of rioters who stormed the Capitol, the justices did not vote along ideological lines. In a year marked by 6-3 splits, what accounts for the departure? Here are some moments from oral arguments that may have swayed the justices.
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July 05, 2024
The Funniest Moments Of The Supreme Court's Term
In a U.S. Supreme Court term teeming with serious showdowns, the august air at oral arguments filled with laughter after an attorney mentioned her plastic surgeon and a justice seemed to diss his colleagues, to cite just two of the term's mirthful moments. Here, we look at the funniest moments of the term.
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July 05, 2024
Real Estate Co. Hits Security Deposit Insurer With $5M Suit
A Texas property management company is suing its insurer for allegedly withholding claim payments partly meant to cover unpaid rent, saying the carrier improperly conditioned the payments on the property manager starting eviction proceedings.
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July 05, 2024
Judge Rips High-Rise's 'Remarkable' $8.5M Coverage Pursuit
An Illinois federal judge smacked down an $8.5 million coverage bid from the former owners of Chicago's historic Pittsfield building after finding they "boldly and repeatedly" misrepresented the extent of repair costs, instead ordering them to repay Travelers.
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July 05, 2024
The Firms That Won Big At The Supreme Court
This U.S. Supreme Court term featured high-stakes oral arguments on issues including gerrymandering, abortion and federal agency authority, and a hot bench ever more willing to engage in a lengthy back-and-forth with advocates. Here's a look at the law firms that argued the most cases and how they fared.
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July 03, 2024
Coffey Modica Promotes 2 Partners, 1 Counsel In NY
New York litigation boutique Coffey Modica LLP announced the promotion of two attorneys to partner, including the firm's first hire in 2021, as well as the elevation of another lawyer to counsel.
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July 03, 2024
Curtains Fall Rapidly For COVID-19 Loss Coverage
Just as Metallica's bid for COVID-19 cancellation coverage failed, the bell has tolled for policyholder coverage suits across the nation, as businesses seeking payback from insurers for the havoc wreaked by the global pandemic have run out of options for coverage in many states. Here, Law360 takes a look at what the future holds for pandemic-related coverage.
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July 03, 2024
Top General Liability Rulings From The First Half of 2024
The first six months of 2024 brought big wins for carriers involved in an opioid-related coverage dispute at the federal level, while state justices offered clarity for policyholders in claims-made commercial general liability policy interpretation and for a claimant's ability to pursue action against insurers. Here, Law360 breaks down the top commercial general liability rulings from the first half of the year.
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July 03, 2024
High Court's Regulatory Rulings Unsettle Coverage Risks
The U.S. Supreme Court's decisions that empower the courts at the expense of federal regulators' enforcement powers have unsettled the regulatory risks companies are used to, raising uncertainty for how professional and specialty line insurance coverage will adapt.
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July 03, 2024
After Chevron Deference: What Lawyers Need To Know
This term, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference, a precedent established 40 years ago that said when judges could defer to federal agencies' interpretations of law in rulemaking. Here, catch up with Law360's coverage of what is likely to happen next.
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July 03, 2024
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
An insurer won a coverage dispute over a $3.2 million injury verdict stemming from a bar fight, Texas' largest nonprofit health system failed to differentiate its pandemic business loss claims from other cases, and a petroleum company was denied coverage for multidistrict litigation over gas additives.
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July 02, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Rethink Hospitality Co.'s Virus Coverage Suit
The Ninth Circuit said Tuesday it would not rehear an international restaurant and nightclub operator's COVID-19 property insurance coverage appeal against a Liberty Mutual unit.
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July 01, 2024
W.Va. Homeowner's Depreciation Suit Survives Dismissal
A West Virginia federal court declined to toss a homeowner's lawsuit accusing an insurer, broker and loss adjuster of unlawfully depreciating the value of his home after a flood, determining that the homeowner met the pleading standards to defeat dismissal.
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July 01, 2024
Aldi Unit, Warehouse Settle Suit Over Rodent-Ravaged Sweets
A New Jersey federal court has permanently tossed a suit brought by an Aldi branch and its insurer seeking payback from a warehouse operator after rodents feasted on hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of chocolate stored there, signing off on a settlement.
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June 28, 2024
Chevron's End Is Just The Start For Energized Agency Foes
By knocking down a powerful precedent that has towered over administrative law for 40 years, the U.S. Supreme Court's right wing Friday gave a crowning achievement to anti-agency attorneys. But for those attorneys, the achievement is merely a means to an end, and experts expect a litigation blitzkrieg to materialize quickly in the aftermath.
Expert Analysis
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A Recovery Option For Lenders With Planes Stuck In Russia
For aircraft lessors considering insurance coverage litigation to recover for losses of equipment leased to Russian airlines, negotiating an assignment of rights may provide a faster pathway to recovery, say David Klein and Jose Lua-Valencia at Pillsbury.
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Policyholders Should Also Want To Fight Social Inflation
Effectively combating the ills of social inflation — the upward creep in insurance litigation and expected payouts — requires all stakeholders, not just insurers, to recognize the mutual interests between insurers and the risk pool of insureds, says Bryant Green at Zelle.
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Property Claim Ruling Rightly Backs Texas Removal Policy
The Fifth Circuit’s recent decision in Advanced Indicator v. Acadia Insurance, allowing the insurer to remove a property damage suit to federal court, ensures that abusive practices related to weather claims will continue to be thwarted per an important chapter of the Texas Insurance Code, says Karl Schulz at Cozen.
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Trends And Opportunities In Canada's Insurance M&A Market
Laurie LaPalme and Derek Levinsky at Dentons discuss the results of a survey regarding Canada's insurance mergers and acquisitions market, and their expectations for the next year in this space — including an increased focus on accident and sickness insurance, and technology-focused assets.
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4 Themes From Policyholder Wins In COVID Coverage Cases
As COVID-19 business interruption coverage lawsuits wind their way through state and federal courts, the broader trends emerging from the policyholder victories can assist insureds and their counsel with strategic litigation decisions, says Nicholas Insua at Reed Smith.
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Capturing Insurance Coverage For Climate Change Suits
As municipalities increasingly file suits seeking damages from oil companies in connection with climate change, the companies should consider filing actions to forestall insurer denials of commercial general liability coverage based on theories of novelty or inapplicable pollution exclusions, say attorneys at Haynes and Boone.
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After Climate Rulings, Insurers May Go On Coverage Offense
As climate change lawsuits progress, coverage litigation quickly follows — as evidenced by two recently filed suits, Aloha Petroleum v. National Union Fire Insurance and Everest Premier Insurance v. Gulf Oil — and insurers will likely become more proactive in seeking to limit their exposure, say Jose Umbert and Hernan Cipriotti at Zelle.
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Indirect Hurricane Ian Losses Could Be Covered By Insurance
Even companies indirectly affected by Hurricane Ian — for instance, by losses in their supply chain — should review their commercial property policies as they might benefit from specific insurance clauses covering these types of losses, says William Wagner at Taft.
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Lessons From 1st COVID Biz Interruption Policyholder Verdict
Robyn Anderson at Lathrop examines what made Baylor College of Medicine's recent COVID-19 business interruption case a success in Texas state court, and considers whether this first win on behalf of an insured is an outlier or a sign of more to come.
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State COVID Insurance Rulings Highlight Errors In Dismissals
Recent California and Vermont decisions in favor of policyholders, along with a $48 million jury verdict in Texas, underscore the error that courts are making by dismissing COVID-19 business interruption lawsuits at the pleading stage without consideration of the facts and evidence in each case, say Joseph Niczky and Michael Levine at Hunton.
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Fla. Evidence Code Update Lowers Burden For Image Use
Florida's recent evidence code change permits judicial notice of images and certain other graphics, a hugely meaningful development for litigants across a wide range of practice areas, though the effect will likely be immediately felt in property insurance cases, say Eve Cann and David Levin at Baker Donelson.
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Courts Are Not Shifting On COVID Biz Interruption Stance
Although a recent Law360 guest article suggested that the pendulum is about to swing in favor of policyholders seeking business interruption coverage for pandemic-related losses, the larger body of appellate case law — applying the laws of 25 states — continues to find no coverage, say attorneys at Dentons.
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What Snap Removal Debate Means For Insurance Disputes
A potential circuit split regarding the permissibility of snap removal to federal court, which allows defendants to circumvent the forum defendant rule, is particularly a concern in insurance cases due to the difficulty of removing such cases, and the perception that some state courts are more favorable to policyholders, says Greg Mann at Rivkin Radler.