Property
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April 10, 2024
'Let's Get Physical': Pa. Justices Tune In To COVID-19 Coverage
One of late singer Olivia Newton-John's greatest hits struck a chord with a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice Wednesday as he considered whether insurers should cover business losses stemming from government shutdown orders during the COVID-19 pandemic
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April 10, 2024
Ex-Trump Finance Chief Weisselberg Jailed For Perjury
A New York state judge on Wednesday sentenced former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg to five months in jail for lying under oath in the attorney general's civil fraud case against Donald Trump and his business associates, imprisoning a close ally of the former president on the eve of his hush-money trial.
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April 09, 2024
9th Circ. Says Hotel, Restaurant Virus Losses Not Covered
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday said two groups of Washington state restaurants and hotels can't claim COVID-related business losses under their insurance policies because they failed to show they physically lost functional use of their properties as a result of the virus.
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April 09, 2024
4th Circ. Tosses Duty To Defend Case Over Oil Co.'s Objection
The Fourth Circuit said Tuesday that a West Virginia oil and gas company lacked standing to continue an appeal that was originally brought by a green grower, which had sought coverage from its insurer for an underlying $4 million land use dispute with the extractor.
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April 09, 2024
Insurance Firm Will Pay $4M To End Calif. Wage Class Action
A California federal judge gave the green light to a $4 million class action settlement resolving allegations that an insurance and risk management company didn't closely track workers' hours, which resulted in underpayment for over 2,100 workers.
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April 09, 2024
Trump Opposes NY Monitor Probe After Exec's Perjury
Attorneys for Donald Trump argued against allowing a court-appointed monitor of the Trump Organization to look into supposed discovery lapses in the New York attorney general's civil business fraud case related to a perjury plea by the company's former longtime Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg.
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April 09, 2024
Embattled Houston Law Firm Files Ch. 11
Insurance law firm MMA Law Firm on Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Texas bankruptcy court, weeks after a federal judge declined to toss a suit seeking class damages over the Houston firm's allegedly illegal efforts to solicit clients in hurricane-related property damage cases.
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April 08, 2024
AIG Acted In Bad Faith In Hurricane Dispute, Homeowners Say
Owners of a $95 million oceanfront mansion near Miami told jurors Monday that AIG should be punished for acting in bad faith in handling a claim for damage from Hurricane Irma, saying the company repeatedly prioritized maximizing profits at the expense of customer service.
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April 08, 2024
Texas School District Not Immune In Arbitration Row
A Texas school district isn't immune from a lawsuit by its insurers seeking to appoint an umpire in a $10 million hurricane damage dispute, a New York federal court ruled Monday, finding the district doesn't meet the standards set under the 11th Amendment.
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April 08, 2024
Conn. Law Firm Demands Insurer Pay More For Leak In Office
A Connecticut law firm and a real estate company have accused their insurer of failing to fully cover damage from a leak at their New Haven offices despite a $2.2 million policy in a suit removed to Connecticut federal court by the insurer.
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April 08, 2024
Insurer Fights 3rd Circ. Bid To Revive Crash Coverage Suit
An insurer has urged the Third Circuit to affirm that a Pennsylvania couple couldn't claim it had acted in bad faith by failing to immediately cover the husband's brain injuries from a crash with an underinsured motorist.
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April 05, 2024
NJ Recycler's Fire Damage Suit To Remain In NJ, Judge Rules
A New Jersey federal judge declined to move a paper recycler's fire coverage dispute to New York, but did agree to toss one of its claims against its insurer, finding the recycler's declaratory judgment and breach of contract claims were duplicative.
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April 05, 2024
Conn. Court Limits Payouts For Underinsured Motorist Policies
Siding with Safeco Insurance Co. and overturning a lower court's calculations, the Connecticut Appellate Court on Friday cemented the insurance industry's ability to escape underinsured motorist claims by injured policyholders whose coverage equals that of drivers at fault, even when at-fault drivers' insurers divvy up smaller payments.
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April 05, 2024
Pa. Supreme Court Snapshot: COVID Coverage Starts Spring
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court's April lineup will prepare the justices to deliver highly anticipated guidance on whether business losses stemming COVID-19 pandemic orders should be covered by insurance and if Pittsburgh can compel rental-property owners to register and undergo training.
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April 05, 2024
Chinese Insurer Awarded Nearly $15M Over Hotel Theft Suit
A California federal judge awarded a Chinese insurer nearly $15 million in damages after a man accused of conspiring to fraudulently claim ownership of New York City's JW Marriott Essex House Hotel and other luxury properties failed to appear in the action.
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April 04, 2024
Homeowner Asks 9th Circ. To Rethink Fire Coverage Ruling
A woman who was prevented from coverage of a 2021 house fire by the Ninth Circuit asked the court to rehear her case, arguing among other things that she did not lie to her insurer about renting her home, because she didn't fill out the insurance application.
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April 04, 2024
Trump Fraud Appeal Spotlights Underwriting Irregularities
Donald Trump's ongoing challenge to a $465 million civil fraud judgment for a decadelong valuation fraud conspiracy raises questions about insurance procedures, how underwriters price risk and who is harmed by the alleged fraud perpetrated by the former president and his associates.
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April 04, 2024
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
The Ninth Circuit heard a coverage dispute over an unsuccessful shipwreck salvaging expedition, Delaware's justices agreed to consider whether an ex-Xerox unit tried to defraud insurers into covering a $236 million settlement, and the owner of Washington, D.C., professional sports teams ended its bid for COVID-19 coverage.
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April 04, 2024
A College Professor's Approach To Insurance
A strong education is crucial to address the role insurance plays on both the personal and professional level — something University of Georgia professor Rob Hoyt demonstrates in his classroom. Here, Law360 speaks to Hoyt about how research, teaching and service guide his work.
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April 04, 2024
NY AG Wants Trump Insurer To Guarantee $175M Bond
New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a Manhattan judge Thursday to make sure the California insurer that agreed to post Donald Trump's $175 million bond in his civil business fraud case can actually pay.
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April 04, 2024
Last-Resort Insurers Grapple With Increasing Exposure
Insurance pools meant to serve as backstops for consumers shut out of traditional markets are grappling with increased exposure to natural disasters, according to experts and market data, a trend that observers say is concerning as climate change intensifies storms.
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April 04, 2024
Surfside, Fla., Condo Collapse Victims To Get Additional $4.8M
A Florida judge signed off Thursday on an additional $4.8 million distribution to the victims of the deadly collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium after the receiver overseeing the defunct condominium association told the court the association had fewer financial obligations and tax liabilities than expected.
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April 03, 2024
5th Circ. Remands Roof Tile Row To Texas District Court
State Farm and a couple must further litigate whether there's coverage for hailstorm-related roof repairs under a policy provision covering costs to keep their home up to code, the Fifth Circuit ruled, finding a genuine factual dispute over whether replacement roof tiles interlock with original ones.
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April 03, 2024
Insurer Says Rail Co. Must Pay In $400K Spoiled Chicken Suit
Over $400,000 worth of frozen chicken thighs rotted on the move to Oregon, and an insurer who covered the putrid loss told a South Carolina federal court that the rail company responsible should pay for the screw-up.
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April 03, 2024
Insurer, DC Teams' Owner End Virus Coverage Dispute
The owner of Washington, D.C., professional basketball and hockey teams and its insurer agreed to end their COVID-19 coverage dispute after the owner appealed the dismissal of its coverage claims to the D.C. Circuit.
Expert Analysis
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Insurers Should Honor Astroworld Coverage Obligations
While insurers may be eager to shift blame on Astroworld showrunner Travis Scott for conditions that resulted in 10 deaths and dozens of injuries, arguments suggesting the tragedy shouldn't be covered appear baseless in light of the facts and the law, says Benjamin Massarsky at Miller Friel.
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Revisiting Loss Calculations For Business Interruption Claims
As business interruption insurance claims from COVID-19 and other recent catastrophes flood the courts, David Yohai and Heather Weaver at Weil examine two common judicial approaches to calculating losses, survey their outsize effect on an insured's recovery, and discuss how the influx of new decisions will change the landscape.
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The Hazards Of Female Lawyers Being 'Office Moms'
Female attorneys are frequently credited with being the "office moms" who do critical but undervalued work — from bringing birthday cakes to serving on diversity committees — but as lawyers return to offices, now is a good time for employers to rectify the gender imbalance that disadvantages women, say Ninth Circuit Judge Margaret McKeown and Fine Kaplan partner Roberta Liebenberg.
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Ransomware Case Signifies Shift In Cyber Insurers' Stance
The pleadings in a recently settled California federal court case, Boardriders v. Great American Insurance, show that cyber insurers are taking an adversarial approach to ransomware-related claims in the wake of increasing attacks, so policyholders should anticipate new policy language, claim-payment avoidance and more, say Lynda Bennett and Michael Scales at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Pa. Ruling Leaves Auto Policy Stacking Questions
Following the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's recent decision in Donovan v. State Farm, implicitly confirming the validity of a household vehicle auto policy exclusion with a proper inter-policy stacking waiver, it is unclear what the court expects insurers to do about stacking waivers, say Christopher Woodward and Allison Krupp at Marshall Dennehey.
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Cyber Rulings Aren't Helping COVID Biz Interruption Cases
Where policyholders have recently tried to draw comparison between the loss of property use from a COVID-19 shutdown order and the loss of data use from a ransomware attack, they have found courts unsympathetic to these arguments for business interruption insurance coverage, say Jane Warring and Kristian Smith at Zelle.
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Insurance Commissioner's Agenda: NY On Industry Diversity
My Chi To, executive deputy superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services Insurance Division, discusses steps her agency is taking to promote diversity, equity and inclusion within the insurance industry and suggests practices for companies to consider adopting.
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How Dealmakers Can Bridge M&A Differences In US, Europe
As business continues to heat up globally, differing practices and norms in mergers and acquisitions can lead to misunderstandings between U.S. and European dealmakers, but a comparison of documentation structures and processes can help avert these complications, say Piotr Korzynski and Piotr Jaskiewicz at Baker McKenzie.
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Insurance Considerations Amid Increased Use Of Drones
The growing use and rapidly evolving regulation of drone technology across industries raise tricky insurance coverage questions and increase exposure to third-party liability and first-party loss, say attorneys at Covington & Burling.
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9th Circ. COVID Coverage Ruling Misapplies Burden Of Proof
The Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Mudpie v. Travelers Casualty Insurance, dismissing a COVID-19 insurance coverage claim, incorrectly applied the burden of proof to the policyholder instead of the insurer, disregarding the crucial differences between third-party liability and first-party all-risks insurance policies, says Lee Epstein at Flaster Greenberg.
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No Signs Of Turning, Tide Of Insurer COVID Wins Persists
The trend of COVID-19 business interruption decisions favoring insurers continues to hold strong — any commentary to the contrary is striking a narrative that is not borne out by reality, say attorneys at Dentons.
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How Law Firms Can Rethink Offices In A Post-Pandemic World
Based on their own firm's experiences, Kami Quinn and Adam Farra at Gilbert discuss strategies and unique legal industry considerations for law firms planning hybrid models of remote and in-office work in a post-COVID marketplace.
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5th Circ. Ruling Aids Policyholder Deductible Calculations
In its recent McDonnel Group v. Starr Surplus Lines Insurance decision, the Fifth Circuit held that the policy's flood deductible language was ambiguous, providing a win for policyholders and a helpful mathematical interpretation for insureds with similar deductible language in their property insurance policies, says Tae Andrews at Miller Friel.