Property

Expert Analysis

• More Stringent Calif. Claim Law Could Benefit Policyholders

  

  Although a new California statute that imposes additional requirements for policyholder presuit demands — effective Jan. 1 — was ostensibly passed as a bad faith liability shield for insurers, used correctly it may provide a more specific road map for plaintiff recovery, says Shanti Eagle at Farella Braun.

• Hard Insurance Market Will Influence Legal Industry, Economy

  

  As the cost of claims starts to outstrip the value of premiums, insurers are denying more claims and considering scaling back coverage, leading to an influx of legal work and potential holes in the market, says Bruce Hepburn at Mactavish.

• Check This List Twice: 4 Steps To Abate Coverage Concerns

  

  This holiday season give your company the gift of following easy administrative steps to avoid the far-too-common clerical errors that could lead to forfeited insurance coverage, say Vivek Chopra and Mattison Kim at Perkins Coie.

• Lessons On Notice From 7th Circ. Claims-Made Policy Ruling

  

  The Seventh Circuit's recent decision in Hanover Insurance v. R.W. Dunteman contains broad lessons for policyholders — as many claims-made policies include similar aggregation and claims notice provisions as the one at issue — on how to preserve coverage, say Brian Scarbrough and Maura Smyles at Jenner & Block.

• Fla. Insurance Suit Trends To Look Out For After Hurricane Ian

  

  There will likely be tens of thousands of property insurance lawsuits filed in the wake of Hurricane Ian, and carriers and insureds will need to view claims through Florida's Valued Policy Law, the concurrent cause doctrine and anti-concurrent cause provisions, say David Levin and Spencer Leach at Baker Donelson.

• Property Policies Could Cover Organized Retail Crime Losses

  

  Following a recent surge in organized retail crime, policyholders can look to case law that suggests they may be able to skirt property policy loss exclusions if they can produce evidence of theft, says Micah Skidmore at Haynes Boone.

• Policyholders Are Not To Blame For Social Inflation

  

  As part of the controversial assertion that insurers are facing an unprecedented increase in claims costs due to so-called social inflation, a recent Law360 guest article argued that policyholders contribute to social inflation and are therefore responsible for remedying it, but these accusations are unsupported by empirical data, says Benjamin Tievsky at Pillsbury.

• How A Publication Request Helped Shape COVID Case Law

  

  More than a decade after MRI Healthcare v. State Farm was decided in a California state appeals court, the case influenced the early development of COVID-19 business interruption insurance law and shows how counsel can use publication requests to help shape the industry, say Josephine Petrick and Ashley Nakai at Hanson Bridgett.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.