General Liability

Expert Analysis

• Consider Self-Help To Trigger Additional-Insured Status

  

  A New Jersey federal court recently affirmed that owners and contractors can use self-help by filing third-party claims for indemnification against subcontractors, triggering coverage from a subcontractor's insurance by asserting that an employee's injuries resulted from the subcontractor's fault or the employee's own negligence, say Allen Wolff and Ethan Middlebrooks at Anderson Kill.

• Why 7th Circ.'s BIPA Insurance Analysis Is Significant

  

  The Seventh Circuit's ruling in Citizens v. Wynndalco is the first appellate opinion on one of the three major exclusions raised by insurers faced with a duty to defend alleged violations of the Biometric Information Privacy Act and could foreshadow future BIPA opinions favoring policyholders, say John Vishneski and Adrienne Kitchen at Reed Smith.

• What 6th Circ. Ruling May Portend For PFAS Coverage Cases

  

  The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Admiral Insurance v. Fire-Dex, rejecting the insurer's attempt to avoid coverage, shows that federal courts may decline to resolve novel PFAS state-law issues, and that insurers may have less confidence than originally intimated in the applicability of the pollution exclusion to PFAS claims, say attorneys at Hunton.

• Insurance Considerations For State Biometric Privacy Claims

  

  As Connecticut and Colorado join the growing number of states that have enacted biometric data privacy acts auguring significant damages, in-house counsel thinking about insurance coverage for privacy liability should consider several key factors including clarity of exclusions, say Peter Halprin and Tae Andrews at Pasich.

• 5th Circ. Ruling Aids Insureds In Contractual Exclusion Rows

  

  The Fifth Circuit's recent insurance decision in Windermere Oaks v. Allied World, in favor of coverage, provides policyholders with guidance on how to distinguish between contractual and noncontractual claims when insurers deploy broadly worded liability exclusions to deny coverage, say Max Louik and David Ledet at Reed Smith.

• 2nd Circ. Reinsurance Ruling Correctly Applied English Law

  

  Contrary to a recent Law360 guest article's argument, the Second Circuit correctly applied English law when it decided in Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania v. Equitas that concurrent reinsurance certificates required the reinsurer to cover loss in accordance with the law of the policy's governing jurisdiction, say Peter Chaffetz and Andrew Poplinger at Chaffetz Lindsey.

• ALI, Bar Groups Need More Defense Engagement For Balance

  

  The American Law Institute and state bar committees have a special role in the development of the law — but if they do not do a better job of including attorneys from the defense bar, they will come to be viewed as special interest advocacy groups, says Mark Behrens at Shook Hardy.

• 2nd Circ. Reinsurance Ruling Misconstrues English Law

  

  The Second Circuit's finding in Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania v. Equitas Insurance, that London-based reinsurer Equitas owed coverage for losses outside the policy period, stems from that court's misinterpretation of English law on reinsurance policy construction, says Christopher Foster at Holman Fenwick.

• 4 Emerging Risks For US Insurance Markets

  

  Both insureds and insurers in the U.S. must be aware of significant inbound exposures — including the issues arising from opioids, climate change and artificial intelligence — that could lead to continued volatility in insurance markets, say Aidan McCormack and Wes Reichart at DLA Piper.

• How Mich. Bill Could Reshape State's Insurance Landscape

  

  A recently introduced Michigan Senate bill would bar insurers from delaying, denying or failing to pay a claim unless there is a reasonable basis found in the policy, but its requirement calling for written standards for claims adjusting could create liability issues for large insurers, says Emily Coyle at Plunkett Cooney.

• PFAS Coverage Litigation Strategy Lessons For Policyholders

  

  While policyholders' efforts to recover insurance proceeds for PFAS-related costs are in the early stages, it appears from litigation so far that substantial coverage should be available for PFAS-related liabilities, including both defense costs and indemnity payments in connection with those liabilities, say Benedict Lenhart and Alexis Dyschkant at Covington.

• Exxon Ruling Highlights Additional Insured Coverage Conflict

  

  Despite the Texas Supreme Court's recent decision in Exxon Mobil v. National Union, finding that contractual minimum insurance requirements cannot be used as a ceiling to bar umbrella coverage, the case nevertheless illustrates insurers' aggressive tactics to reduce the scope of additional insured coverage, say David Kroeger and Steven Tinetti at Jenner & Block.

• Tackling Long-Tail Legacy Liability Risk: A Defendant's Toolkit

  

  Johnson & Johnson was recently rebuffed in its efforts to employ the "Texas Two-Step," which is likely to affect this increasingly popular method to isolate and spin off large asbestos and talc liabilities, but companies have multiple options to reduce long-tail legacy liability risk, says Stephen Hoke at Hoke LLC.