Practice Areas
Insurance
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February 22, 2012
Marsh Settles Coverage Row Over Chemical Cos.' Fuel Loss
Insurance broker Marsh USA Inc. on Wednesday put to rest a dispute in which two chemical companies sought business interruption coverage stemming from a natural gas explosion at a supplier's Western Australia facility, leaving National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh and Ace American Insurance Co. on the hook in the case.
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February 22, 2012
Former WaMu Execs Balk At Plan For D&O Claims
A number of former Washington Mutual Inc. executives objected Wednesday to the bankrupt bank's refusal to set aside cash reserves to cover their existing and potential indemnification claims.
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February 22, 2012
Chubb Doesn't Owe Starwood $10M In Defense Costs: Atty
An attorney for a Chubb Corp. affiliate told a New York state appeals court Wednesday that the insurer shouldn't have to pay Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.'s defense costs for a lawsuit stemming from construction cost overruns at a Florida hotel.
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February 22, 2012
Colony Need Not Defend Insured's Predecessor: 5th Circ.
The Fifth Circuit found Monday that Colony National Insurance Co. does not owe defense costs to lifting equipment manufacturer Manitex LLC in underlying litigation over a crane accident, finding Manitex did not assume its predecessor-in-interest's tort liability to trigger coverage.
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February 22, 2012
Manufacturer, Insurers Denied Quick Wins In Asbestos Row
A Pennsylvania federal judge on Wednesday refused to award summary judgment to General Refractories Co. or its insurers in a long-running dispute over the insurers’ purported duty to defend the manufacturer against underlying asbestos claims.
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February 22, 2012
Insurer Aims To Duck Coverage Of Omeros FCA Suit
Carolina Casualty Insurance Co. sued biopharmaceutical company Omeros Corp. on Tuesday, seeking to avoid covering claims from an underlying False Claims Act action brought by the company's former chief financial officer concerning allegedly fraudulent National Institute of Health grants.
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February 21, 2012
Fla. Catholic University Sues Over Contraception Rule
A Catholic university in Florida on Tuesday sued the Obama administration, claiming the new rule requiring employers to include free contraceptive care in their health plans is unconstitutional, the latest such suit challenging the provision.
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February 21, 2012
Evanston Insurance Tries To Shake Bratz Coverage Suit
Attorneys representing Evanston Insurance Co. told a California federal judge on Tuesday that the insurer doesn't have a duty to defend MGA Entertainment Inc. in its ongoing trade secrets feud with Mattel Inc. over the Bratz doll line.
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February 21, 2012
8th Circ. Revives Best Buy Suit Over DDR Mall Leases
The Eighth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a ruling that Developers Diversified Realty Corp. affiliates violated leases with Best Buy Stores LP by self-insuring part of their shopping centers' liability coverage, but said further litigation is needed to determine their exact liability.
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February 21, 2012
Federal Needn't Cover IBM's ERISA Settlement: NY Court
New York's highest court on Tuesday ruled that an excess insurance policy Federal Insurance Co. issued to IBM Corp. didn't cover the settlement of class claims over the company's alleged violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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February 21, 2012
13 States Back Medicaid Expansion In High Court Brief
California's attorney general and 12 other states defended the constitutionality of the new health care reform law's Medicaid expansion, saying in an amicus brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday that the provision retains the program's long-accepted cooperative structure.
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February 21, 2012
JPMorgan Says Syncora Can't Bring $404M MBS Claims
An attorney for a JPMorgan Chase & Co. affiliate told a New York state judge Tuesday that federal litigation prevented bond insurer Syncora Guarantee Inc. from suing the bank over allegations that Syncora lost $404 million when it insured mortgage-backed securities.
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February 21, 2012
Arch Seeks $17M From Axiom Over Soured Underwriting Deal
Arch Specialty Insurance Co. accused underwriter Axiom Insurance Managers Agency LLC in New York federal court on Friday of breaking an agreement by charging too little to cover policies' actual risks, and seeks at least $17.2 million in damages.
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February 21, 2012
Dewey & LeBoeuf Insurance Leader Decamps To DLA Piper
DLA Piper said Tuesday it had lured William Marcoux, previously a co-chair of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP's insurance sector group, over to its New York office to head the firm's insurance sector transactions and regulation practice.
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February 21, 2012
5-Hour Energy Defense Costs Should Be Shared: Insurer
National Casualty Co. improperly denied coverage when the maker of 5-Hour Energy drinks was sued by a competitor for false advertising and trade libel, leaving Citizens Insurance Co. of America to pay for defense costs that should have been split, Citizens alleges in a complaint filed Friday.
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February 21, 2012
Aetna Fires Back At Blue Cross Over Mich. Antitrust Suit
Aetna Inc. on Friday fired back at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan's attempt to dismiss an antitrust suit claiming that Blue Cross has dominated Michigan's insurance market through exclusionary hospital agreements that have driven up prices and hurt competition.
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February 17, 2012
Huron, Empire Can't Duck $50M St. Vincent FCA Suit
A New York federal judge on Friday refused to dismiss a suit alleging Huron Consulting Group Inc. and Empire HealthChoice Assurance Inc. overbilled Medicare and Medicaid by $50 million while running St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers into the ground.
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February 17, 2012
Texas High Court To Rehear Workers' Comp Insurer Dispute
Texas' highest court agreed Friday to rehear a dispute involving Texas Mutual Insurance Co. in which it had ruled that claims against workers' compensation insurers for unfair settlement practices could not be made under state insurance law.
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February 17, 2012
NC Gets Health Insurance Waiver While Wis. Misses Bar
Making its final two decisions on waiver requests from states looking to escape the provisions of the health care reform law's medical loss ratio restricting insurance spending, the Obama administration denied Wisconsin while giving North Carolina the green light Thursday.
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February 17, 2012
11th Circ. Seeks Fla. High Court's Input On Insurance Tussle
The Eleventh Circuit on Friday asked the Florida Supreme Court to weigh in on Washington National Insurance Corp.'s appeal of a summary judgment order against it in a class action over the insurer's denial of home health care benefits.
Expert Analysis
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Workers' Comp Insurance: The Most Important Tool
Unless a contractor is exempt from having workers' compensation insurance, its failure to maintain such coverage results in an automatic suspension of its license in California. Two key cases — Wright v. Isaak and Loranger v. Jones — illustrate this point, says Matthew Hicks of Sedgwick LLP.
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Insurance Coverage For Cyber-Risky Business
As courts continue to highlight the absence of coverage for data loss under standard commercial general liability policies, and as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission focuses on disclosure of cyber-security risk information, the market for stand-alone cyber-security policies continues to grow, says Jean-Paul Jaillet of Choate Hall & Stewart LLP.
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A Troublesome Twist In Texas Workers' Comp Decision
Due to the Supreme Court of Texas' decision in Port Elevator-Brownsville v. Casados, insurance companies providing workers' compensation coverage to staffing customers in Texas now must worry about how much uncompensated exposure they may have for injuries to temporary agency workers, says George Reardon of Littler Mendelson PC.
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Law School, Meet Litigation PR ...
The single most important thing law schools can do to manage their reputations in the face of litigation is apply the lessons learned from Wall Street during the recent financial crisis and strive for transparency in all communications. One need only look to Goldman Sachs’ woes or the struggles of Jon Corzine’s MF Global as examples of the catastrophic results of a campaign based on anything but complete honesty, says Spencer Baretz of Hellerman Baretz Communications.
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Advancing Policyholder Rights In Utah
A decision by the Utah Supreme Court regarding reimbursement to an insurer of amounts paid in excess of a liability policy's limits underscores the need for policyholders to exercise caution before agreeing to any reserved right by an insurer handling the defense or indemnity of an underlying claim, say Michel Yves Horton, Paul Zevnik and Richard Pearl of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.
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Deposition Is Not The Best Solution To Denial
Since Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. v. Glenn, a substantial body of case law has developed addressing when plaintiffs in Employee Retirement Income Security Act benefit claim litigation should be permitted to explore insurer conflict considerations — with some courts taking the problematic step of granting requests to depose those responsible for the benefit denial, says Deidre Grossman of Littler Mendelson PC.
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Exploring Coverage For Fracking-Related Losses
Despite how groundless allegations of fracking-related harm may prove, plaintiffs’ lawyers around the country are already lining up for what they consider to be the next wave of tort litigation. Companies engaged in fracking operations are well advised to carefully review all potentially applicable insurance policies to protect their business enterprise, says Jared Zola of Dickstein Shapiro LLP.
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Case Study: In Re Brooke Corp.
In Northern Capital Inc. v. The Stockton National Bank — In re Brooke Corp. — the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas addressed a conduit defense in the context of a participated loan. While Brooke would appear to be good news for lead lenders in participated loans, two cautionary notes are appropriate, says Robert Lapowsky of Stevens & Lee.
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Taking A Bite Out Of Denied Food-Recall Claims
Given the striking increase of illness and fatality arising from contaminated food in 2011 and the resulting case law indicating that the insurance industry's response to affected companies is often "claim denied," companies in the food industry should carefully analyze the available policies to determine the extent of the coverage they purchase, says Robert Chesler of Lowenstein Sandler PC.
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Beware Of Cookie-Cutter Claims Analyses
When an insurer assigns a forensic accountant to a claim, beware: It is not for the benefit of a policyholder in order to reach a dispassionate result, but to force the result into a preconceived template with which the insurer is comfortable, says Marvin Milton of Swerling Milton Winnick Public Insurance Adjusters Inc.