Specialty Lines
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June 20, 2024
Nationwide Wins Mich. Combined Filing Tax Fight On Appeal
Nationwide entities can file as a unitary business in Michigan to share tax credits across their group members, the state Court of Appeals ruled Thursday, overturning a state tax tribunal decision that said insurance companies were required to file separate returns.
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June 18, 2024
'Reckless' Behavior Centered In Climate Coverage Suit Args
Attorneys for a Sunoco subsidiary and AIG offered sharply differing views to Hawaii's top court Tuesday in oral arguments over whether reckless behavior would trigger the oil company's liability coverage in a novel suit over coverage for underlying climate change claims.
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June 18, 2024
Insurer Countersues In Penile Implant Coverage Dispute
An insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify a urologist, his medical device company or his practice in a proposed class action over a penile enlargement implant and procedure, the company told a California federal court, saying the underlying suit doesn't seek bodily injury damages that would trigger coverage.
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June 17, 2024
No Coverage For Family Shareholder Row, 2nd Circ. Affirms
A Liberty Mutual unit had no duty to defend Paraco Gas Corp. and two of its executives in a family shareholder dispute, the Second Circuit affirmed Monday, finding that all claims in the underlying suit fell within the policy's contract exclusion.
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June 14, 2024
11th Circ. Shows Insurers Preference In D&O Coverage Row
The Eleventh Circuit appeared poised to affirm a Florida district court's finding that the successor of an insurance services firm is not owed coverage for underlying shareholder-related litigation under 2017 claims-made policies because the claims are connected to ones made under a 2016 policy.
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June 14, 2024
Insurer Seeks Quick Exit In Casino $130M COVID Loss Suit
The insurer of a casino operator with properties on the Las Vegas strip and beyond told a Nevada federal judge to toss a $130 million COVID-19 pandemic loss coverage suit, arguing it had already paid $1 million — the only benefits due under the all-risk policy.
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June 13, 2024
Top Specialty Lines Decisions From The First Half Of 2024
The first half of this year brought notable pro-policyholder rulings in specialty insurance disputes on the applicability of contract exclusions and related-acts provisions, but also some rulings giving insurers a leg up when it comes to choice-of-law clauses in maritime insurance contracts and bump-up exclusions. Here, Law360 breaks down the top specialty lines decisions so far in 2024.
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June 13, 2024
Youth Org. Not Covered For Ex-Worker's Claim, 6th Circ. Rules
A sexual misconduct exclusion bars a youth advocacy organization's bid for coverage of an ex-employee's claim that they were sexually harassed and assaulted by a supervisor, the Sixth Circuit affirmed Thursday, saying the organization's failure to raise certain arguments before the district court was fatal to its appeal.
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June 13, 2024
High Court Sticks To Status Quo In Insurance-Packed Term
The U.S. Supreme Court embraced an insurance-packed docket in its current term, tackling thorny coverage issues head on or indirectly, hewing close to the status quo in decisions whose impact will be felt by insurers and policyholders across the industry. Here, Law360 reviews the top insurance-related decisions issued this term.
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June 13, 2024
Prudential Investors Get Final OK On $35M Settlement
A New Jersey federal judge on Thursday granted final approval to a $35 million class action settlement between Prudential Financial Inc. and shareholders who alleged the company hid the risks associated with the purchase of thousands of life insurance policies.
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June 13, 2024
NJ Justices Create New Liability Rule For Property Owners
The New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday voted 4-3 to craft a new rule stating that owners of commercial vacant lots have a duty to maintain the public sidewalks abutting the lots, and reinstated a woman's trip-and-fall injury suit.
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June 13, 2024
Calif. Insurance Chief Proposes Key Tradeoff In Reform Bid
Insurers in California will need to weigh whether the financial benefits of using new risk models to price policies is worth increasing their risk exposure in some of the state's most fire-prone areas following newly proposed rules from state insurance regulators.
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June 13, 2024
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
The Eighth Circuit pondered whether Geico was responsible for an HPV infection, a Michigan court said lies could eliminate a dead man's payout, a Texas roofer was told that public adjusting wasn't a free-speech matter, and House of Cards' California suit withstood an insurer's attempt to knock it down.
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June 13, 2024
Insurer Calls Convicted Mogul's $633M IOU 'Worthless' Ruse
Convicted insurance mogul Greg Lindberg has offered a "worthless" $633 million promise as a ruse to end an insurance company's bid to collect a $524 million arbitration award, a North Carolina federal court heard this week.
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June 13, 2024
Bond Denial Upheld For Army Construction Project
An Illinois federal judge affirmed an arbitration award relieving two insurers of covering a $1.8 million bond issued to a subcontractor retained for a U.S. Army construction project, upholding the arbitrator's finding that the status of the project wasn't accurately represented at the time of bond procurement.
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June 13, 2024
Insurance Cases Remain High Despite 2023 Downturn
Though insurance litigation in federal district courts took a slight dip in 2023, diverging from the upward trend that insurance cases have exhibited since 2016, the number of cases initiated last year remained the second-highest number filed over a 10-year span, according to a report by Lex Machina.
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June 12, 2024
8th Circ. Judge Calls Car Sex 'Clearly Foreseeable' In HPV Suit
An Eighth Circuit judge said Wednesday that having sex in a vehicle is "clearly foreseeable," challenging Geico's contention that such activity does not constitute normal use of an automobile in a coverage suit over a woman's claim that she contracted HPV during sexual encounters in a policyholder's car.
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June 12, 2024
Judge Won't Trim $18M Shareholder Settlement Coverage Suit
A Pennsylvania federal judge declined to toss certain bad faith allegations against an insurer accused of wrongfully denying coverage for an $18 million settlement between an asset management company and a group of shareholders, adopting a magistrate judge's recommendation that the company sufficiently alleged its claim of bad faith.
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June 11, 2024
Precedent Favors Nationwide In Mich. Tax Fight, Judge Says
A Michigan Court of Appeals judge said Tuesday that the state's tax agency was asking the court to turn its back on recent precedent to hold that Nationwide entities couldn't file as a unitary business to share insurance tax credits across their group members.
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June 11, 2024
Travelers Says No Coverage For Investment Bank's Bond Row
A Travelers unit said it doesn't owe directors and officers coverage to an investment bank accused of misleading bondholders into investing in a sports complex development project, telling an Illinois federal court the policy bars coverage for claims arising from the bank's performance of services for a client.
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June 11, 2024
Brach Eichler Adds Insurance Pro From Garces Grabler In NJ
Brach Eichler has continued a recent boom in its litigation team with the hire of a no-fault insurance expert from personal injury giant Garces Grabler & LeBrocq PC in New Jersey who also brings expertise as a former in-house attorney for GEICO.
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June 10, 2024
Ex-LA Chinatown Bank CFO Gets 3 Years For Embezzlement
The former chief financial officer of a bank based in Los Angeles' Chinatown has been sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to bank fraud for embezzling more than $700,000 from his employer.
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June 10, 2024
High Court On Ch. 11, New Bank Rules, Alex Jones Ch. 7 Shift
The U.S. Supreme Court said an insurance company has "party in interest" standing to intervene in a Chapter 11 case, the U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog "modernized" its agreement for banks holding debtor funds, and recent motions could pivot Alex Jones and his media company's Chapter 11s to Chapter 7 liquidations.
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June 10, 2024
AM Best Boosts Reinsurance Market Outlook To 'Positive'
AM Best revised its outlook on the global reinsurance market Monday from "stable" to "positive," pointing to "robust" profit margins and a well-capitalized market amid a backdrop of higher interest rates, which AM Best said are not expected to decrease anytime soon.
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June 07, 2024
'House of Cards' Makers May Proceed With Coverage Suit
The companies that produced the Netflix series "House of Cards" can proceed with their coverage suit over losses sustained during production of the final season after allegations of sexual misconduct against the show's lead, Kevin Spacey, came to light, a California state court said.
Expert Analysis
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Private Equity Firms Shouldn't Overlook Cybersecurity Risks
Given the operational, financial and reputational costs at stake, and the growing threat of cybercrime, cybersecurity should be central to deal making, internal governance and post-acquisition management for private equity firms, say Ray Bogenrief and William Ridgway at Skadden.
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BIPA Ruling Furthers Mixed Signals On Insurance Coverage
A recent Illinois appellate ruling in Remprex provides another perspective on the issue of insurance coverage for Biometric Information Privacy Act lawsuits, but its reach will be limited, as it did not cover the three exceptions that have been the focus of related federal court decisions, says Charles Insler at HeplerBroom.
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What Texas Misrepresentation Ruling Means For Insurers
The Texas Supreme Court's recent decision in American National Insurance v. Arce, confirming that insurers must prove intent to deceive in order to rescind coverage based on material misrepresentation, solidifies additional burdens for insurers to consider during both the underwriting and claims adjudication processes, say Josh Pedelty and Javon Johnson at Husch Blackwell.
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Less Cyber Coverage, More Compliance Risk For Cos.
Despite recent favorable court decisions recognizing cyber coverage under various policies, policyholders face a challenging road ahead due to insurers' new policy exclusions and regulators' new reporting requirements and increased penalties, say Luma Al-Shibib and Steven Pudell at Anderson Kill.
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Climate Reporting Regs Mean New Risks To Insure
As regulators in the U.S., U.K. and beyond implement new climate-related investment and disclosure requirements for corporations, decision makers should investigate whether their insurance policies offer the right coverage to respond to the legal and regulatory risks of this increased scrutiny, says David Cummings at Reed Smith.
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Md. Abuse Law Makes Past Liability Coverage Review Vital
Maryland is the first state to allow an indefinite lookback period for previously time-barred lawsuits by victims of child sexual abuse against public and private entities — and lawsuits brought under the new law likely will implicate coverage under insurance policies issued over the past 80 years or longer, say Michael Levine and Olivia Bushman at Hunton.
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FTX Proceedings Highlight D&O Issues Amid Bankruptcy
A Delaware bankruptcy judge’s recent refusal of Samuel Bankman-Fried's request to access FTX's directors and officers coverage serves as a reminder of the interplay of bankruptcy law and D&O insurance policies, and some best practices for policyholders when pursuing D&O coverage during bankruptcy, say Geoffrey Fehling and Justin Paget at Hunton.
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5 Tips For Filing Gov't Notices After Insurance Producer M&A
As insurance producer acquisition activity picks up in 2023, requiring a daunting process of notifying information changes to each Department of Insurance where the entity is licensed, certain best practices will help buyers alleviate frustration and avoid administrative actions and fines, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.
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Insureds' Notice Pleading May Be Insufficient In Federal Court
A recent New Jersey federal court ruling in Bauman v. Hanover Insurance held that bare-bones notice pleading was insufficient and dismissed the policyholder's coverage complaint, a reminder that courts may require more than an expression of general disagreement with an insurance company's denial letter to proceed with the case, says Eugene Killian at The Killian Firm.
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5th Circ. Offers Expert Opinion Guidance For Insurance Cases
A recent Fifth Circuit decision in Majestic Oil v. Lloyd's of London provides insight into how Texas' concurrent causation doctrine could affect insurance cases where the cause of damage is at issue, and raises considerations for litigants faced with new or revised expert reports after the deadline has passed, say Brian Scarbrough and Cianan Lesley at Jenner & Block.
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DUI Liability Ruling Affirms SC Isn't Direct Action-Friendly
The Supreme Court of South Carolina's recent decision in Denson v. National Casualty not only clarifies the state's jurisprudence surrounding private rights of action and negligence per se, but also tacitly reinforces that South Carolina is not a direct-action state, say Anna Cathcart and Turner Albernaz at Phelps Dunbar.
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Employment-Related Litigation Risks Facing Hospitality Cos.
A close look at recent hospitality industry employment claims highlights key issues companies should keep an eye out for, and insurance policy considerations for managing risk related to wage and hour, privacy, and human trafficking claims, say Jan Larson and Huiyi Chen at Jenner & Block.
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A Look At Florida's Aggressively Pro-Insurer Tort Reform
Florida's new tort reform law is an unwarranted gift to insurance companies that seeks to strip policyholders of key rights while doing little to curb excessive litigation, say Garrett Nemeroff and Hugh Lumpkin at Reed Smith.