Specialty Lines

Expert Analysis

• Recent Rulings May Support False Claims Act Coverage

  

  Following a banner year for U.S. Department of Justice recoveries in False Claims Act cases and with FCA investigations likely to grow, companies and executives facing FCA exposures may find support in recent policyholder-friendly decisions for both their underlying defense and related insurance claims, says Geoffrey Fehling at Hunton.

• Anticipating Cyberinsurance Wartime Exclusion Questions

  

  Amid threats that Russia and Moscow-sponsored groups may increase malicious cyberattacks, businesses can mitigate risk by analyzing how war and hostilities exclusions apply to their insurance policies and maintaining a comprehensive record of government cyberattack warnings, say Steven Stransky at Thompson Hine, David Finz at Alliant and Rick Yocum at TrustedSec.

• Check Your Policy Fine Print For Cyberwarfare Coverage

  

  Given increasing risks of cyberwarfare following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and with a recent policyholder-friendly ruling in Merck v. ACE from a New Jersey state court, those insured should take notice of certain insurers' expansive changes to war exclusions to broadly include cyberattacks, say Philip He and Colin Kemp at Pillsbury.

• How To Negotiate Better D&O Coverage For Antitrust Matters

  

  In light of the Federal Trade Commission's recent indication that it will ramp up antitrust enforcement, Geoffrey Fehling and Christopher Dufek at Hunton discuss several issues corporate policyholders should review when placing and renewing directors and officers insurance coverage.

• New 'Bad Faith' Claim Law Holds NJ Insurers Accountable

  

  New Jersey’s recently enacted Insurance Fair Conduct Act, giving policyholders a bad faith cause of action for claims involving uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, is an important step toward countering unfair insurer advantage and expanding consumer protections, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

• Insurance Implications Of Texas '8 Corners' Rulings

  

  Two recent Texas Supreme Court opinions resolve a long-pending question by reaffirming the so-called eight-corners rule as the primary means for determining an insurer's duty to defend, which should provide greater consistency between future state and federal decisions, says Susan Kidwell at Locke Lord.

• Why I'll Miss Arguing Before Justice Breyer

  

  Carter Phillips at Sidley shares some of his fondest memories of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer both inside and out of the courtroom, and explains why he thinks the justice’s multipronged questions during U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments were everything an advocate could ask for.

• Examining Event Cancellation Coverage As COVID Lingers

  

  Recent pandemic-related postponements from the NBA, NFL and Grammys, coupled with COVID-19 being excluded from new event cancellation policies, highlight the need for event organizers to explore cancellation risks and how specialty coverage can serve as a tool for mitigation, say Jorge Aviles and Andrea DeField at Hunton.

• What Cos. Should Know About D&O Policy Landscape In 2022

  

  Directors and officers liability insurance issues are likely to evolve this year against the backdrop of a new COVID-19 variant, rising inflation and other developments, particularly with regard to antitrust-related enforcement, special purpose acquisition companies, pandemic-related liability and cybersecurity, says Christina Lincoln at Robins Kaplan.

• Securing Coverage For Investors' Political Risk Claims In 2022

  

  While recent world events highlight the need for foreign investors to protect themselves from losses related to political instability, businesses should be aware of the ways political risk insurers may seek to deny or delay payment of claims, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.

• 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.

• 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.

• D&O Insurance Lessons From The Rise And Fall Of Theranos

  

  After the fall of Theranos and the recent criminal conviction of founder Elizabeth Holmes, startups seeking to protect their directors and officers from exposure to personal liability should consider how eye-popping company valuations and other changes to the startup landscape will affect their D&O policies, say Lilit Asadourian and Kathryn Bayes at Reed Smith.