Specialty Lines
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April 09, 2024
Ch. 11 Judge Tosses Calif. Drug Co.'s Bid To Stay Investor Suit
A Delaware bankruptcy judge declined Tuesday to apply the automatic stay in DMK Pharmaceuticals' Chapter 11 case to a shareholder's appeal of a Delaware Chancery Court decision before the state's top court, finding the reorganization wouldn't be severely impacted if the debtor tapped an insurance policy to fund its defense.
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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
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
Ex-Frontier Communications CEO Gets $21.8M Placeholder
Frontier Communications must pay a $21.8 million litigation placeholder to ensure money is available to pay any future judgment in favor of its former CEO Leonard Tow in a feud over company-funded life insurance payments, a Connecticut Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday.
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April 08, 2024
Ex-NBA Player Sues BCBS Over 'Outrageous' Care Denial
Former NBA player Rodney Rogers, who was paralyzed in 2008 after retiring, has accused Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina of exhibiting "outrageous" disregard for his medical needs by denying him life-saving in-home nursing assistance.
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April 05, 2024
SXSW Insurer Asks 5th Circ. To Rethink Coverage Ruling
The insurer of Texas music festival South by Southwest has asked a Fifth Circuit panel to rehear its case seeking to avoid covering a class action by ticket holders who didn't get refunds when the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
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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
Del. Justices Eye Atty Conduct In Medicaid Fraud Verdict
The Delaware Supreme Court handed insurers a victory when it agreed to review a ruling setting aside a favorable verdict for the carriers in a coverage dispute over an ex-Xerox unit's $236 million Medicaid fraud-related settlement, but carrier counsel's conduct may present challenges moving forward, according to a civil procedure expert.
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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
2nd Circ. Vacates Logistics Co.'s $1.8M Damaged Cargo Win
A New York federal court erred by rejecting a Chubb unit's reimbursement bid for an over $1.8 million damaged drug shipment, the Second Circuit ruled Thursday, finding a genuine factual dispute on whether the logistics company in charge was a "contracting carrier" under an international treaty governing air shipments.
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April 03, 2024
Colo. Judge Unpersuaded By Insurer's 3rd Dismissal Bid
A Colorado federal judge recommended keeping alive an insurer's lawsuit seeking a declaration that it doesn't owe $4 million in coverage to a climbing equipment manufacturer and its primary insurer over a recalled product, calling a third dismissal bid a "wasted effort."
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April 03, 2024
Insurer Wants $38M For Covering Unfinished Road Jobs
An insurance company has asked a federal court to force companies connected to an insolvent contractor to hand over more than $38 million to compensate for costs it covered for unfinished jobs.
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April 03, 2024
Mayo Clinic Stuck Workers With Hefty Medical Bills, Suit Says
A medical claims administrator steered Mayo Clinic health plan participants toward out-of-network healthcare providers and then forced them to foot the bulk of the bill, a proposed class action filed in Minnesota federal court said.
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April 03, 2024
OpenText Belongs In Merger Suit Coverage Row, Insurer Says
OpenText belongs in a dispute over coverage for a class action alleging Covisint's shareholders got a bad deal when it merged with OpenText in 2017, Covisint's insurer told a Michigan federal judge, arguing OpenText has a vested interest because it may have indemnification obligations if no coverage exists.
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April 02, 2024
Del. Justices Agree To Review Ex-Xerox Unit Coverage Row
The Delaware Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to review a lower court's decision to set aside a jury verdict finding that an ex-Xerox unit tried to defraud its insurers into providing coverage for a portion of a $236 million Medicaid fraud-related settlement with Texas.
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April 02, 2024
Consultant, Insurer's Pesticide Coverage Row Headed To Trial
A dispute over coverage must continue following a $1.8 million judgment against a pesticide consulting company blamed for negligent pest control of a wheat crop, an Arizona federal judge ruled, denying an insurer's quest for an early win.
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April 01, 2024
7th Circ. Affirms $672K Payout In Illinois Delivery Driver Crash
A Seventh Circuit panel on Monday affirmed an Illinois federal court's decision awarding a delivery driver $672,000 from an insurer following his 2017 work-related crash with an underinsured motorist.
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April 01, 2024
Clifford Chance Adds 2 Insurance, Antitrust Experts In NY
Clifford Chance LLP has picked up two attorneys for its expanding insurance and antitrust groups, adding a specialist in private equity with more than 15 years of experience and a property and casualty loss expert.
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April 01, 2024
Insurer Defends Gas Station Cleanup Exclusion To 11th Circ.
An insurer has asked the Eleventh Circuit to reject a Florida gas station owner's bid to make it pay for contamination caused by a leaking underground fuel tank, telling the appeals court the station's policy doesn't cover an incident discovered well before the policy went into effect.
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March 29, 2024
9th Circ. Critical Of Treasure Hunter's Insurance Appeal
A Ninth Circuit panel expressed doubt Friday that a treasure hunter could get an insurer to pay him a $7.5 million settlement over a soured shipwreck salvaging expedition, suggesting his ex-partners' refusal to hand over vital maps was an intentional act to keep him from striking gold — not an accident covered by insurance.
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March 29, 2024
Green Energy Credit Sales Spur Surge In Tax Insurance
A new way for project owners to monetize clean energy tax credits by selling them for cash has turbocharged demand for insurance policies to cover various risks tied to the transactions, which can often be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
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March 28, 2024
Baltimore Bridge Collision Raises Massive Insurance Fallout
A container ship collision that destroyed Baltimore's landmark Francis Scott Key Bridge caused a level of death, injury, destruction and economic harm that will likely cost the insurance sector billions of dollars and leave many without closure or compensation for years.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Flawed NY Insurance Law Needs Amendments
The New York Comprehensive Insurance Disclosure Act, recently signed by the governor, imposes a multitude of problematic disclosure obligations on defendant-insureds, which the Legislature should — and likely will — seriously consider modifying or eliminating, says Richard Mason at MasonADR.
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Beyond Insurance: Mitigating Cyber Risk In 2022
As insurers move to higher premiums and less coverage for cyberattacks, companies should consider restructuring their risk mitigation strategies for the upcoming year to lessen their reliance on insurance support for data security issues, say professionals at StoneTurn.
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Justices May Hesitate To Review Calif. Fraud Coverage Case
In Adir International v. Starr Indemnity, the policyholders are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review their challenge of a California law prohibiting insurers from defending insureds in certain consumer protection claims, but the court may not be ready to decide the issue at this time, says Greg Mann at Rivkin Radler.
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NY Case Shows Insurance Possibility For SEC Disgorgements
Directors and officers insurers almost invariably deny coverage for payments described as disgorgements in settlement agreements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, but the recent decision of New York's highest court in J.P. Morgan v. Vigilant demonstrates how policyholders can negotiate an insurable settlement with the SEC, say Stephen Weisbrod and Tamra Ferguson at Weisbrod Matteis.
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JP Morgan Ruling May Have Broad Insurance Implications
The New York Court of Appeals' recent decision in J.P. Morgan Securities v. Vigilant Insurance — that settlement funds paid to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission did not constitute a penalty for insurance purposes — could have far-reaching application in other types of insurance litigation where plaintiffs could be characterized as seeking equitable relief, say Robert Shulman and Cristen Rose at Paley Rothman.
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Insurance Tips For Mitigating DOJ Cyber Initiative Risks
For companies and executives involved in False Claims Act actions alleging cybersecurity failures like those envisioned by the U.S. Department of Justice's new cyber fraud initiative, certain insurance policies could help defray the substantial costs of defense and even settlement liability, say attorneys at Hunton.
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M&A Rulings Provide Guidance On 'Bump-Up' Claim Coverage
As M&A activity continues to surge, several recent federal court decisions can guide companies in structuring their insurance programs and assessing whether so-called bump-up claims arising from particular M&A transactions may be covered, say Robin Cohen and Orrie Levy at Cohen Ziffer.
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BIPA Ruling Should Aid Insurers In Privacy Claims
Massachusetts Bay Insurance v. Impact Fulfillment Services, a recent decision by a North Carolina federal court finding that a Biometric Information Privacy Act claim was precluded under an insurance exclusion, represents a potentially significant win for insurers due to its broadly applicable contract interpretation, say Joshua Polster and Conor Mercadante at Simpson Thacher.
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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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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.