Property

Expert Analysis

• Courts Should Heed Contract Law In COVID-19 Physical Loss

  

  While a recent Law360 guest article urged courts to adopt the particle theory of coverage in deciding COVID-19-related property loss and damage claims, this approach ignores the intent, function and language of commercial insurance policies — not to mention the science itself, say Adam Fleischer and Elisabeth Ross at BatesCarey.

• Insurance Brokers Should Expect Wave Of E&O Claims

  

  Policyholders' unsuccessful COVID-19 business interruption suits and the pandemic-related move to remote work will likely result in a plethora of errors and omissions claims brought against insurance agents and brokers, as evidenced by recently filed cases, says Peter Biging at Goldberg Segalla.

• COVID Insurance Rulings Are Misinterpreting 'Physical Loss'

  

  Recent court decisions interpreting "direct physical loss" clauses to deny COVID-19 business interruption recovery where the subject property has not been structurally altered contradict the purpose of all-risks insurance, the ordinary meaning of the operative policy language and pre-pandemic case law, says ​​​​​​​Lee Epstein at Flaster Greenberg.

• Revamping Law Firm Marketing Lists — With Partner Buy-In

  

  Jackson Lewis’ Paige Bowser shares lessons from the firm's recent overhaul of an outdated email marketing database, including tips for getting partners on board, ensuring compliance with privacy laws and augmenting outreach strategies.

• Courts Should Defer To Science On COVID-19 Physical Loss

  

  As litigation of pandemic-related business interruption claims continues nationwide, the insurance carriers and courts adopting the most conservative interpretation of "physical loss or damage" — the basic trigger for business interruption coverage — are making erroneous assumptions about a complex physical phenomenon, says Micah Skidmore at Haynes and Boone.

• The Murky World Of Legal Rankings Gets Some Clarity In NJ

  

  New Jersey's new, stringent approach to legal rankings will make accolade advertising more transparent, benefiting both attorneys and clients and offering legal marketers a new set of best practices amid evolving standards, say Penny Paul at Lowenstein Sandler and Susan Peters at Greybridge.

• Embracing ESG: Cigna Counsel Talks Employee Wellness

  

  Building employee well-being into corporate environmental, social and governance priorities required our legal team to focus more closely on cross-functional collaboration within the company and increased communication with our board of directors and shareholders, says Julia Brncic at Cigna.

• Hybrid Work Models Are Key To Gender Parity In Law Firms

  

  To curb the historically high rates of attrition among female lawyers, Roberta Liebenberg at Fine Kaplan and Stephanie Scharf at Scharf Banks suggest firms must normalize hybrid work schedules, and they recommend best practices to promote engagement among all attorneys, regardless of where they work.

• An Insurer's Guide To Policyholder Bankruptcy

  

  Given the increased likelihood of policyholders filing bankruptcy petitions in the wake of the pandemic, insurance professionals must be aware of five basic principles when dealing with an insured in bankruptcy, says Eric Fitzgerald at Goldberg Segalla.

• Attorneys Beware: Zoom Depositions Are Likely Inadmissible

  

  As legal proceedings have moved online in light of the pandemic, lawyers may mistakenly believe that recorded Zoom video depositions can be entered as evidence, but without certain safeguards, the testimony is unlikely to be accepted by courts, says Phillip Zisook at Schoenberg Finkel.

• NJ Policyholders Could Still See Recovery For COVID Losses

  

  Although New Jersey state and federal courts have decided the majority of dispositive motions in COVID-19 business interruption insurance cases in favor of insurers, policyholders retain a plausible path to recovery depending on the nature of their loss and the precise policy language at issue, say Lee Epstein and Matthew Goldstein at Flaster Greenberg.

• COVID Rulings May Support Ransomware Insurance Denials

  

  A recent spate of pandemic-related insurance decisions — where federal courts found that a temporary inability to use property doesn't qualify as physical loss or damage for coverage purposes — may be used as favorable precedent by cyber insurers denying ransomware loss claims for temporary inability to access data, say Thomas Caswell and Peter Kelly Golfman at Zelle.

• 3 Risk Management Lessons From Pandemic Insurance Wars

  

  As appellate decisions in COVID-19 business interruption insurance claims continue to clarify the state of the law, there are some things that policyholders' lawyers and risk managers can do in the meantime to help prepare for future unforeseen events affecting coverage, says Peter Halprin at Pasich.