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Insurance
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May 16, 2012
Aon Accused Of Subpar Coverage After Fatal Plant Blast
Facing mounting legal bills after a deadly explosion at a Connecticut power plant site in 2010, a group of energy companies and contractors filed suit Monday against Aon, alleging the insurance giant failed to meet its contractual obligation to provide adequate coverage for defense costs.
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May 16, 2012
Travelers Must Cough Up Docs In Mine Pollution Coverage Row
An Alabama federal judge on Wednesday granted mining giant Drummond Co.'s request to compel certain documents from Travelers Casualty & Surety Co. in a coverage battle over litigation costs related to pollution from the company's coke production operations.
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May 16, 2012
Insurers Can't Sink Shipbuilder's $10M Tugboat Damage Claim
An Alabama federal judge on Tuesday ruled against a group of insurance carriers, including Northern Assurance Co. of America, saying they'd have to pick up the tab on up to $10 million worth of damages to a tugboat owned by a Mobile, Ala., shipbuilder.
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May 16, 2012
Texas Refiner Loses Appeal Of $5M Verdict For Hurt Worker
A Texas appeals court on Tuesday upheld a jury’s $5.4 million verdict against Pasadena Refining System Inc. in a lawsuit brought by a contractor burned while making repairs at its refinery, but held that PRSI was covered under an insurance policy held by the contractor's employer.
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May 16, 2012
Prudential Policies Useless, Defense Contractor Workers Claim
A proposed class of former defense contractor employees sued their employers and Prudential Insurance Co. of America in New Jersey federal court Monday, accusing the companies of selling them policies it knew they couldn't use because of a wartime exclusion.
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May 16, 2012
Lloyd's Says It Won't Pay Tab For Allied's Fraud Defense
Lloyd’s of London underwriters filed suit Tuesday seeking to escape footing the bill for Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corp.’s defense against a government lawsuit accusing it of lending fraud that left federal mortgage insurers to cover $834 million in defaulted loans.
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May 16, 2012
Powerful Foes Could Doom Arbitrator Bill In NY Senate
Worried that consumers aren't getting a fair shake, the New York State Assembly on Wednesday passed a measure that would force the state's private arbitrators to detail their business ties, but the proposal will face a tough battle in the Senate as the insurance industry and others line up against it.
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May 16, 2012
FEMA Takes Up Enviro Impact Of Flood Insurance Program
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is set to begin work on an environmental impact statement evaluating the environmental effects of the National Flood Insurance Program and improvements that could be made in the future, FEMA announced Wednesday.
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May 16, 2012
HHS Outlines Benchmarks For State Health Exchanges
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday unveiled a blueprint outlining how states can build health care exchanges where consumers can comparison shop for medical coverage.
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May 16, 2012
GOP Says SIFI Rule Won't Fit Insurers, Other Nonbanks
House Republicans said Wednesday that the Federal Reserve's proposal for regulating nonbank financial firms that could pose systemic risk hewed too close to rules for banks and did not properly take into account how insurers and other different types of companies operate.
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May 16, 2012
Funeral Provider Looks To Bury Missouri Under Litigation
A preneed funeral contract provider caught up in an insurance fraud scandal took aim at Missouri on Tuesday, claiming that the state should be the one held legally responsible for an alleged scheme that cost consumers and funeral homes $600 million.
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May 16, 2012
Senate Advances Bill On Same-Sex Benefits For Gov't Workers
On the heels of President Barack Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage, a Senate committee Wednesday advanced bipartisan legislation that would grant additional health benefits to domestic partners of federal employees.
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May 16, 2012
Bishops Threaten Suit Over Contraception Coverage Rule
Catholic leaders on Tuesday renewed their call for the Obama administration to scrap a rule requiring employers to include free contraceptive care in health plans that they claim is unconstitutional, and threatened to sue the government to block its implementation.
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May 15, 2012
Tishman Seeks 2nd Circ. Knockout Of 7 WTC Liability Suit
Tishman Construction Corp. on Monday urged the Second Circuit to affirm that it can't be held liable for negligence by Consolidated Edison Co. of New York Inc. and its insurers over the collapse of 7 World Trade Center following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
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May 15, 2012
ProMedica Knew Of FTC Merger Probe, Insurer Tells 6th Circ.
A unit of OneBeacon Insurance Group Ltd. told the Sixth Circuit on Monday that it wasn't obligated to cover defense costs in antitrust litigation challenging a merger involving ProMedica Health System Inc. because ProMedica failed to report the potential claim on time.
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May 15, 2012
Assured Guaranty Sues GMAC, Ally Over $56M Losses
Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. on Friday hit GMAC Mortgage LLC along with Ally Financial Inc., its beleaguered mortgage unit Residential Capital LLC and others in a lawsuit accusing the firms of misrepresenting the quality of securitized mortgage loans for which it had to pay out $55.7 million in claims.
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May 15, 2012
Travelers Escapes Coverage Fight Over Fax Ad Class Action
An Ohio magistrate judge on Tuesday recommended that Travelers Property Casualty Co. be allowed to duck defense and settlement costs for two companies sued for sending businesses junk fax advertisements because the Travelers policy contained an unsolicited communications exclusion.
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May 15, 2012
Ex-Sedgwick Insurance Lawyer Joins Hogan Lovells In Calif.
Hogan Lovells has added former Sedgwick LLP insurance litigator Vanessa Wells to its Silicon Valley office, where she will continue working on class actions that involve pricing, as well as rate cases before the California Department of Insurance, the firm announced Tuesday.
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May 15, 2012
MBIA's $5B Breakup Based On False Figures, Banks Say
New York state regulators' approval of bond insurer MBIA Inc.'s $5 billion restructuring must be reversed because it was based on inaccurate financial information, an attorney for Bank of America Corp. and Societe Generale SA told a New York state judge Tuesday.
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May 15, 2012
UnitedHealth Seeks 3rd Circ. Win Over Coverage Denials
UnitedHealth Group Inc., the nation’s second-largest health insurer, asked the Third Circuit on Friday to uphold dismissal of a proposed class action challenging the company’s refusal to reimburse care provided under employee retirement plans.
Expert Analysis
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Rethinking Common Wisdom Of 'Wage And Hour' Insurance
Although the best strategy to avoid a devastating wage and hour class action is to carefully review your employment practices with a qualified attorney, an often overlooked component of a company’s protection from the financial consequences of such a claim is its insurance policies, say Barry Buchman, Kami Quinn and Jason Rubinstein of Gilbert LLP.
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'Managing' LLC Liability Under Ore. Workers' Comp Law
The Oregon Court of Appeals has held that the exclusive remedy provision of Oregon’s workers’ compensation law does not shield an employer limited liability company's managing member from a negligence claim by the LLC’s injured worker. But the court began its analysis by incorrectly framing the issue and ignoring the distinction between members of a member-managed LLC and members of a manager-managed LLC, says Doug Batey of Stoel Rives LLP.
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Fla.'s 'Captive'-ating New Insurance Legislation
The Florida Legislature has passed an omnibus insurance bill that contains many provisions relating to various types of insurance, one of the most important of which is captive insurance. The new law allows the state of Florida to become a major player in the industry — enabling the formation of new captive insurers in the state, competing with the 30-plus other states for such business, says Beth Vecchioli of Carlton Fields PA.
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Document Review Considerations
An e-discovery review usually requires significant manpower and a certain level of expertise to be done properly, and many in-house legal departments turn to litigation support and discovery management providers as an alternative for first-pass document review. Regardless of who performs it, proper preparation and planning in advance of a review is the key to its success, says Stacy Jackson of IE Discovery.
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Raising A Stink: Pollution Exclusion Applies To Odors
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has ruled that, because they unambiguously caused harm, noxious odors emanating from a pig farm are pollutants as defined by the insured's general liability policies’ pollution exclusions. In future cases decided under Pennsylvania law, the nature of the injury or damage will be crucial in determining whether a particular substance is a “pollutant," says Stevi Raab of Sedgwick LLP.
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Where Rubber Hits Road: Examples Of Alternative Fees
Creating new approaches to fee agreements is something to embrace rather than fear — and when structured and managed correctly, it can be financially advantageous. Take, for example, fixed-fee arrangements, result-based billing and portfolio billing, say Bill Rudnick and Keith Maziarek of DLA Piper.
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Addressing Pollution Exclusion In Va.
The Supreme Court of Virginia has held that pollution exclusion endorsements in first-party property policies barred coverage for the insured's product losses caused by contamination resulting from a manufacturing mishap. The decision squarely rejects a key argument often made by policyholders that pollution exclusions should be limited to outdoor, hazardous waste contamination claims, say Laura Foggan, Jeremiah Galus and Samuel Gedge of Wiley Rein LLP.
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Clearing The Way For ERISA Trust Suits In 3rd Circuit
The Third Circuit has vacated a district court's dismissal of a lawsuit against John Hancock Life Insurance Co., allowing three participants to pursue their excessive 401(k) fees suit directly against the company and its affiliates. Given its history, the Third Circuit’s opinion is not particularly surprising, but it does clear a potential obstacle to similar lawsuits in that jurisdiction, says Emily Hootkins of Alston & Bird LLP.
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The Costs Of A Potential Blue Cross Conspiracy
Two recent lawsuits allege that Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association entities in North Carolina and Alabama have violated federal and state antitrust laws by engaging in concerted action with other BCBS plans nationwide. If the plaintiffs’ allegations of market allocation are true, the cases may have significant implications for providers, say attorneys with King & Spalding LLP.
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What Triggers First-Party Coverage: Facts, Not Fear
In the case of mad cow disease, if the renewed media attention that began in April 2012 causes suppliers to sustain a business income loss due solely to the fear or stigma that beef is contaminated, first-party property policies will likely not provide coverage absent actual alteration of the beef. Fear — real or imaginary — will not trigger coverage, say William Webster and Ann Ketchen of Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi LLP.