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March 11, 2024
Prejudice Rule Applies To Property Claims, Colo. Justices Say
A rule excusing some policyholders for filing late claims applies to occurrence-based, first-party homeowners' property policies, a divided Colorado Supreme Court held Monday, reversing two insurers' wins in a pair of coverage disputes over hail damage.
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March 11, 2024
NC Judge Scraps $8M Verdict In AXA Life Insurance Suit
A North Carolina federal judge wiped out an $8 million jury award for historian and investment firm founder Malcolm Wiener in his lawsuit accusing AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. of sabotaging his insurability with inaccurate health information reporting, finding Wiener had "no baseline" to support the award beyond $1 in nominal damages.
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March 11, 2024
Travelers Owes No Coverage For Mo. Wall Mishap, Judge Says
Travelers has no duty to provide over $1.4 million to a St. Louis area property developer for administrative expenses and loss of rental income stemming from a retaining wall failure, a Missouri federal court ruled Monday, finding such coverage didn't extend to additional insureds on a general contractor's policy.
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March 11, 2024
Atty, Marketing Biz Knock Call To Continue Hurricane Ad Suit
A legal advertising company and an attorney are objecting to a Texas federal judge's recent decision in favor of a woman pressing class claims over legal advertising to Louisiana hurricane victims, arguing that the woman still hasn't shown concrete injury.
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March 11, 2024
Urologist Seeks Coverage For Defective Penile Implants Suit
A urologist's medical device company told a California federal court that two insurers must cover it, the doctor and his practice in an underlying class action alleging that a silicone implant invented for penile enlargement, and the procedure that went with it, left patients with permanent damage.
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March 11, 2024
12 Attys Depart Plunkett Cooney For Own Firm
A dozen Plunkett Cooney PC attorneys based in Michigan have broken away to create their own firm focused on auto insurance liability defense.
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March 11, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Delaware's Court of Chancery became a hot topic in New Orleans last week as litigators and judges at an annual convention acknowledged the First State's corporate law preeminence is under scrutiny. Back home, the court moved ahead on disputes involving Meta Platforms, Abercrombie & Fitch and Donald Trump.
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March 11, 2024
DOL Sends Fiduciary Rule Rewrite To White House
The U.S. Department of Labor transmitted its retirement security proposal that would broaden the definition of who qualifies as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to a White House office for final review over the weekend.
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March 08, 2024
Deadline Drama Briefly Threatens Suit Against Insurer VSP
A California federal judge threatened Thursday to toss Total Vision's antitrust claims accusing eye care insurance giant VSP of hamstringing it, in what appears to be a misreading of the schedule over missed deadlines that were actually pushed back, prompting the threat's retraction the next day.
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March 08, 2024
State Farm Beats Spas' COVID Shutdown Suit At 4th Circ.
The Fourth Circuit sided with State Farm insurance entities Friday in tossing a coverage dispute brought by a class of spa businesses alleging they were owed under "all risk" policies after COVID shutdown orders, with the court holding that recent precedent determined similar policies dealt with physical damage, not business closings.
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March 08, 2024
'It Erases Us': Sex Abuse Survivors Troubled By Wash. Bill
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to sign into law a bill that eliminates time limits for bringing child sex abuse claims in the future, but survivors say they are disappointed by an amendment stripping the bill's retroactivity, saying the legislation doesn't go far enough to hold abusers accountable.
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March 08, 2024
Exclusion Bars Coverage For Ga. Fair E. Coli Suit
Nautilus Insurance Co. has no duty to defend or indemnify a harvest fair accused in an underlying state court suit of exposing two children to E. coli, a Georgia federal court has ruled, saying an infectious disease exclusion unambiguously precludes coverage.
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March 08, 2024
11th Circ. Declines To Hear Building Defect Coverage Dispute
It's too early to determine whether a Florida federal court erred in its coverage determinations in a long-running construction defect insurance dispute, the Eleventh Circuit has ruled, finding that the "purported final judgment here does not dispose of all claims against all parties."
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March 08, 2024
Trump Staves Off $83M Carroll Award With $91M Chubb Bond
Chubb has written Donald Trump a $91.6 million bond so the former president can avoid paying writer E. Jean Carroll $83 million while he appeals a Manhattan federal jury's defamation verdict, according to Friday court filings.
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March 08, 2024
Coverage Capped At $300K In Crash Suit, 4th Circ. Told
An insurer urged the Fourth Circuit to uphold a lower court's ruling restricting a couple's underinsured motorist coverage to $300,000 following a wreck, arguing that the policy's language prevails over a North Carolina statute and, as such, its payout is offset by three primary insurers' contributions.
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March 07, 2024
5th Circ. Affirms Arbitration In Hurricane Coverage Feud
The Fifth Circuit has ordered the owner of a New Orleans luxury apartment and retail complex to arbitrate a dispute with its domestic surplus lines insurers over coverage for $7 million in hurricane damage, ruling that arbitration is permitted under a carveout in conflicting Louisiana state law.
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March 07, 2024
Insurer, Biz To Face Trial Over $11.8M Wrongful Death Verdict
A Florida federal judge is sending to trial a coverage dispute between a construction and landscaping company and its insurer over an $11.8 million jury verdict for the wrongful deaths of four women after finding that there are questions of fact regarding whether the insurer acted in bad faith.
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March 07, 2024
Mixed Feelings On AI At Cyberinsurance Symposium
Panelists at the Professional Liability Underwriting Society's cyber symposium in New York City on Tuesday and Wednesday were both excited and scared about generative artificial intelligence, acknowledging that it may be used in more complicated cyberattacks yet curious about the possibility the new market could bring.
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March 07, 2024
Pa. Justices To Consider Liability Of Parents Hiding Son's Gun
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania agreed to hear an appeal asking whether the parents of a convicted murderer can be held liable for the victim's family's emotional trauma because their alleged concealment of the murder weapon delayed the discovery of their son's body.
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March 07, 2024
Towers Watson Insurers Off Hook For $90M Merger Coverage
Towers Watson's insurers do not need to cover settlements totaling $90 million in two shareholder suits stemming from the company's merger with Willis, a Virginia federal judge ruled, saying the transaction was barred by a so-called bump-up exclusion.
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March 07, 2024
Bradley Arant Adds Insurance Atty From Barnes & Thornburg
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has strengthened its policyholder insurance coverage team by adding a former Barnes & Thornburg LLP partner based in Atlanta and Tampa, Florida, who has recovered more than $500 million for clients over the past three years, the firm announced Wednesday.
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March 07, 2024
Feds Look To Bar Advice-Of-Counsel Defense From Tax Trial
Federal prosecutors have sought to prevent two attorneys and an insurance agent from relying on advice-of-counsel defenses in their upcoming tax fraud trial, telling a North Carolina federal judge the trio failed to give the court an adequate heads-up about their intended defense.
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March 06, 2024
6th Circ. Orders Do-Over For Insurer's $3.3M Recoupment Row
A Sixth Circuit panel on Tuesday revived a Chubb unit's bid to recoup costs from two other insurers after it helped windshield repair company Safelite pay for its defense against a competitor's suit, saying the lower court must conduct an analysis to determine whether the other carriers were prejudiced by late notice.
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March 06, 2024
J&J Seeks Exit From Suit Over Stelara Exclusivity
Johnson & Johnson told a Virginia federal court Tuesday it shouldn't have to face a proposed class action claiming it has been trying to stifle competition in the market for the immunosuppressive drug Stelara, saying there was no "scheme" to enforce its patents as the suit alleges.
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March 06, 2024
Co. Says Chubb Unit Must Cover $5M Merger Dispute Defense
A holding company subsidiary of Banco Santander told a Delaware federal court that a Chubb unit must contribute to $5 million in legal expenses the company has incurred in defending itself in an underlying class action brought by minority shareholders who objected to a merger with another subsidiary.
Expert Analysis
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In Ga., Promptness Is Key To Setting Aside Default Judgments
The Georgia Court of Appeals' recent vacating of a lower court's decision to set aside a default judgment against Samsung Electronics America is a reminder of the processes and arguments provided by Georgia's statutes for challenging default judgments — including the importance of responding quickly, says Katy Robertson at Swift Currie.
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Twitter Legal Fees Suit Offers Crash Course In Billing Ethics
X Corp.'s suit alleging that Wachtell grossly inflated its fees in the final days of Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition provides a case study in how firms should protect their reputations by hewing to ethical billing practices and the high standards for professional conduct that govern attorney-client relationships, says Lourdes Fuentes at Karta Legal.
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Ore. Warranty Ruling Complicates Insurance Classification
The Oregon Court of Appeals' recent TruNorth v. Department of Consumer and Business Services holding that a service contract — commonly referred to as an extended warranty — covering commercial property is subject to the state's consumer service contract laws raises regulatory questions for contract obligors, sellers and administrators, say attorneys at Locke Lord.
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ABA's Money-Laundering Resolution Is A Balancing Act
While the American Bar Association’s recently passed resolution recognizes a lawyer's duty to discontinue representation that could facilitate money laundering and other fraudulent activity, it preserves, at least for now, the delicate balance of judicial, state-based regulation of the legal profession and the sanctity of the attorney-client relationship, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
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1st Circ. Harvard Ruling Provides Primer On Policy Provisions
In its recent finding of no coverage for Harvard due to the school's failure to give Zurich American Insurance timely notice of its claim, the First Circuit provides a good analysis of the distinctions between occurrence and claims-made policies, including the rationale for differences in notice provisions, says Andrew Paliotta at Cozen O'Connor.
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A Festival Of Litigation Could Arise From 'Electric Zoo' Fiasco
Over Labor Day weekend, thousands of electronic dance music fans were displeased with the organization of the New York City-based Electric Zoo festival, which quickly elicited comparisons to the 2017 Fyre Festival — and three kinds of litigation could ensue from the debacle, say attorneys at Seiden Law.
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Law Firm Professional Development Steps To Thrive In AI Era
As generative artificial intelligence tools rapidly evolve, professional development leaders are instrumental in preparing law firms for the paradigm shifts ahead, and should consider three strategies to help empower legal talent with the skills required to succeed in an increasingly complex technological landscape, say Steve Gluckman and Anusia Gillespie at SkillBurst Interactive.
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Opinion
9th Circ.'s Latest UBH Ruling Ignores Case's Core Issue
The Ninth Circuit’s recent decision to vacate its earlier opinion in Wit v. United Behavioral Health frustratingly disregards the case’s key issue of benefits coverage for mental health treatment, and illogically elevates an insurer's discretionary authority over the medically necessary needs of patients, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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Nev. Insurance Law May Mean Turmoil In Liability Market
Nevada's new law prohibiting insurers from issuing or renewing defense-within-limits liability policies in the state could cause professional liability insurers to withdraw certain products or prohibitively increase premiums — and while an emergency regulation allows for exceptions, the situation remains fluid, says Joshua Leach at Atheria Law.
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SEC's New Rules Likely Will Affect Cyber, D&O Insurance
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently adopted cybersecurity incident disclosure rules that could create new challenges that affect how public companies assess the risk of securities, corporate governance and cyber-related lawsuits, which may implicate novel insurance coverage issues, say attorneys at Reed Smith.
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Potential Marijuana Status Change Would Shift Industry Risks
Cannabis companies and their insurers should pay close attention to how the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' move toward marijuana reclassification plays out, and the potential for a shakeup in the landscape for cannabis regulation at the state and federal levels, says Ian Stewart at Wilson Elser.
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Key Provisions In Florida's New Insurer Accountability Act
Florida's recent bipartisan Insurer Accountability Act introduces a range of new obligations for insurance companies and regulatory bodies to strengthen consumer protection, and other states may follow suit should it prove successful at ensuring a reliable insurance market, say Jan Larson and Benjamin Malings at Jenner & Block.
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The Basics Of Being A Knowledge Management Attorney
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Michael Lehet at Ogletree Deakins discusses the role of knowledge management attorneys at law firms, the common tasks they perform and practical tips for lawyers who may be considering becoming one.
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Texas Storms Drive Coverage Litigation And Key Rulings
Given the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events across Texas, first-party coverage claims continue to dominate high-profile litigation in the state, bringing significant recent decisions on attorney fees, appraisal, allocation and other important insurance topics, says Laura Grabouski at Holden Litigation.
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To Hire And Keep Top Talent, Think Beyond Compensation
Firms seeking to appeal to sophisticated clients and top-level partners should promote mentorship, ensure that attorneys from diverse backgrounds feel valued, and clarify policies about at-home work, says Patrick Moya at Quaero Group.