General Liability
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September 11, 2025
McDonald's Loses Bid To Force Insurer To Cover Legal Fees
An Illinois federal judge ruled Wednesday that Homeland Insurance Co. of New York doesn't have to cover the costs McDonald's incurred defending a former employee's violent workplace claims, saying the psychological harm that worker suffered doesn't amount to a physical, bodily injury that would have triggered coverage under the policy.
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September 11, 2025
Nationwide, Travelers Settle 'Hot Tub Lung' Coverage Dispute
Nationwide and Travelers told a California federal judge they have reached a settlement in a lawsuit over coverage for a condominium association facing claims from a resident alleging he needed a double lung transplant due to contaminants from a hot tub and pool.
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September 11, 2025
Insurer, Firearms Co. Drop Ghost Gun Coverage Dispute
A firearms retailer and its insurer have resolved a dispute over coverage for three underlying government suits alleging that the company contributed to gun violence by selling unfinished components used to assemble so-called ghost guns, according to a New York federal court filing.
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September 11, 2025
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
A New York federal court analyzed policy limits and retentions over abuse claims against the Archdiocese of New York, the First Circuit ordered an insurer to defend a class action over allegedly faulty heating oil, and insurers notified the Fifth Circuit of a potential settlement in their hurricane arbitration appeal.
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September 11, 2025
Berkshire Co. Says Insurers Owe $22M For Antitrust Judgment
A Berkshire Hathaway-owned construction supplier said its insurers must pay for a $22.2 million judgment against it in a competitor's antitrust suit, telling a Colorado federal court that policies issued by Liberty Mutual, Swiss Re and Allianz units cover claims based on the publication of disparaging material.
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September 10, 2025
NY Distillery Secures Coverage For Whiskey Barrel Damage
A distillery in New York's Hudson Valley can get coverage for the loss of 52 barrels of aged whiskey under a policy provision providing additional coverage for damage caused by an "abrupt collapse," a federal court ruled, saying the distillery's interpretation of the term was more reasonable than its insurer's.
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September 10, 2025
Liberty Says Subcontractor's Insurer Must Defend Injury Row
A subcontractor's insurer must defend and indemnify companies insured by a Liberty Mutual unit on a primary basis in a worker's injury lawsuit, the unit argued to a New York federal court.
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September 09, 2025
No CGL Coverage In Medical Negligence Row, NM Court Says
A Travelers unit that issued a commercial general liability policy to an orthopedic clinic owes no coverage to the clinic and two of its physicians in an ongoing medical negligence lawsuit, a New Mexico federal court ruled, finding an exclusion barring claims arising from "professional health care services" applicable.
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September 09, 2025
Woman Says Co.'s Auto Insurer Owes $7.5M Crash Judgment
A woman injured in a crash with a food service distributor's employee said the company's insurer must pay for a $7.5 million judgment entered in her favor, telling a Connecticut federal court Tuesday that the carrier failed to protect its insureds.
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September 09, 2025
1st Circ. Says Insurer Must Defend Heating Oil Class Action
An insurer for a heating oil company must defend the company in a Massachusetts class action accusing it of damaging customers' heating equipment by adding too much biodiesel to its heating oil, the First Circuit ruled, finding the company's provision of the oil to customers constituted separate occurrences.
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September 09, 2025
Crate & Barrel's Insurer Owes Primary Coverage In Injury Suit
Crate & Barrel's insurer has the primary duty to defend and indemnify a company that subleased a commercial space to the retailer and the owner of the Lower Manhattan property in an underlying personal injury suit, a New York federal court ruled, handing a win to the sublessor's insurer.
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September 08, 2025
London Insurers Owe Full Coverage Limits To NY Archdiocese
Certain underwriters at Lloyd's of London and other London market insurers must pay their full applicable policy limits under policies issued to the Archdiocese of New York, a state court ruled Monday in the archdiocese's suit seeking coverage for thousands of sexual abuse claims.
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September 08, 2025
Phone Dealer, Freight Co. Settle Suit Over Stolen Shipment
PCS Wireless LLC and RXO Capacity Solutions LLC have reached a settlement in the cellphone dealer's lawsuit over a stolen shipment and a contentious discovery dispute, according to a joint notice filed in a North Carolina federal court.
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September 08, 2025
Texas Couple Fights Firm's Sanctions Bid In Crash Data Suit
A Houston couple who accused a law firm and a since-dismissed Progressive unit of conspiring to share car crash victims' private information told a Texas federal court that their suit is "neither frivolous, unreasonable, nor improper" as they pushed back against the law firm's sanctions request.
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September 05, 2025
Liberty Mutual Unit Avoids Rental Coverage Suit
A Massachusetts federal court on Friday tossed claims against Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. in a proposed class action over premature termination of rental car coverage, saying the insurer was not party to the policies issued by another Liberty Mutual unit.
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September 04, 2025
Insurer Refuses Farm Co. Coverage In $2.7M Land Dispute
A Hawaiian farm company isn't owed coverage for a $2.7 million lawsuit alleging it engaged in a conspiracy to sell a lot that one of the company's members had reserved to a company managed by a separate member, the farm company's general liability insurer told a federal court.
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September 04, 2025
Progressive Class Cert. Reversals Point To Claim Individuality
Progressive Insurance secured another class certification reversal in a lawsuit over certain adjustments the insurer makes when calculating the actual cash value of a totaled vehicle, and one of the carrier's attorneys praised the Fourth Circuit for finding that the issues at hand are individualistic in nature. King & Spalding LLP's Jeffrey Cashdan spoke to Law360 about that victory and two others for the carrier in the circuit courts.
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September 04, 2025
Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage For HOA Stormwater Suit
An insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify a homeowners association against claims that its stormwater drainage system caused flooding and damage to nearby properties, a Georgia federal court ruled, saying a pollution exclusion bars coverage.
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September 04, 2025
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
The Delaware Supreme Court refused to take up a midcase appeal in Mattel's suit over coverage for unsafe sleeper claims, the Eighth Circuit affirmed an apartment complex's $27 million award against Travelers and the Fifth Circuit heard arguments over a group of domestic insurers' bid to arbitrate hurricane damage claims. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.
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September 04, 2025
Chinese Insurers Leading Race To Cover Renewable Energy
The global renewable insurance market grew from $5.65 billion in 2020 to $8 billion in 2024, with insurers from China underwriting most premiums in recent years, analysis from a campaign group shows.
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September 02, 2025
Progressive Owes No Coverage For Truck Transport Mishap
A Progressive Insurance unit has no duty to defend or indemnify a transportation company facing an injury lawsuit alleging that a disabled truck rolled into oncoming interstate traffic while a worker was loading it onto a trailer, an Alabama federal court ruled Tuesday.
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September 02, 2025
Care Facility Not Covered In Patient Death Suits, Insurer Says
An insurer said it has no duty to defend or indemnify a long-term nursing care facility in four wrongful death suits, telling an Illinois federal court that general liability and professional liability coverage is barred by a number of policy exclusions.
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August 29, 2025
Del. Justices Say Mattel Sleeper Suit Not Ripe For Review
The Delaware Supreme Court has declined to step in and review a pretrial order in an insurance dispute in which Mattel Inc. and Fisher-Price Inc. seek coverage of settlements in suits over infant injuries, saying a review at this time would not terminate the case, and that there's no reason not to wait for it to be resolved at the trial court.
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August 28, 2025
Katrina's Insurance Lessons Ever Relevant 20 Years Later
Hurricane Katrina's landfall in New Orleans 20 years ago was an unprecedented catastrophe that resulted in financial consequences and insurance lessons that are more relevant today than ever, as fossil fuel-induced climate change promises more intense storms, experts say.
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August 28, 2025
Crop Insurance Changes Bring Needed Funding Boost
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency implementation of enhancements to federal crop insurance programs under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes a funding boost to programs, but leaves some industry experts hoping there's more legislation to come.
Expert Analysis
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7th Circ. Insurance Ruling Resolves Major Jurisdictional Issue
The Seventh Circuit recently confirmed in StarStone Insurance v. Chicago that attorney fees and costs paid as part of a settlement are covered — while unexpectedly raising and answering a question of first impression about federal jurisdiction over foreign entities, says Lara Langeneckert at Barnes & Thornburg.
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State Farm Rate Hike Portends Intensifying Insurance Crisis
The California Department of Insurance's unprecedented emergency approval of a 17% rate increase for State Farm General Insurance, the first interim rate relief granted before completing full actuarial justification, represents a regulatory watershed and establishes precedent that could fundamentally reshape insurers' response to climate-driven market instability, says Daniel Veroff at Merlin Law Group.
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3 Corporate Deposition Prep Tips To Counter 'Reptile' Tactics
With plaintiffs counsel’s rising use of reptile strategies that seek to activate jurors' survival instincts, corporate deponents face an increased risk of being lulled into providing testimony that undercuts a key defense or sets up the plaintiff's case strategy at trial, making it important to consider factors like cross-examination and timing, say attorneys at Dentons.
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Indemnity Lessons From Mass. Construction Defect Ruling
The Massachusetts high court's decision in Trustees of Boston University v. CHA, holding that a bespoke contractual indemnity provision means that a construction defect claim is not subject to Massachusetts' statute of repose, should spur design and construction professionals to negotiate limited provisions, says Christopher Sweeney at Conn Kavanaugh.
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Statistics Tools Chart A Path For AI Use In Expert Testimony
To avoid the fate of numerous expert witnesses whose testimony was recently deemed inadmissible by courts, experts relying on artificial intelligence and machine learning should learn from statistical tools’ road to judicial acceptance, say directors at Secretariat.
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Ore. High Court Ruling Widens Construction Defect Coverage
A recent Oregon Supreme Court decision, Twigg v. Admiral Insurance, dispels the myth that a contractor's liability for defective work is uninsurable if pursued as a breach of contract, say attorneys at Stoel Rives.
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Measuring The Impact Of Attorney Gender On Trial Outcomes
Preliminary findings from our recent study on how attorney gender might affect case outcomes support the conclusion that there is little in the way of a clear, universal bias against attorneys of a given gender, say Jill Leibold, Olivia Goodman and Alexa Hiley at IMS Legal Strategies.
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Oft-Forgotten Evidence Rule Can Be Powerful Trial Tool
Rule 608 may be one of the most overlooked provisions in the Federal Rules of Evidence, but as a transformative tool that allows attorneys to attack a witness's character for truthfulness through opinion or reputation testimony, its potential to reshape a case cannot be overstated, says Marian Braccia at Temple University Beasley School of Law.
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Ruling On Pollutants And Indemnity Offers Insurers Mixed Bag
Both insurers and policyholders can reap benefits from a Georgia federal court's recent declaratory judgment decision, which broadly defined pollutants, but also deemed the duty to indemnify not yet ripe for adjudication, says Jena Emory at Morris Manning.
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What Disparate Impact Order Means For Insurers' AI Use
A recent executive order seeking to bar disparate impact theory conveys a meaningful policy shift, but does not alter the legal status of federal antidiscrimination law or enforceability of state laws, such as those holding insurers accountable for using artificial intelligence in a nondiscriminatory matter, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.
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4 Ways To Leverage A Jury's Underdog Perceptions
Counsel should consider how common factors that speak to their client's size, power, past challenges and alignment with jurors can be presented to try and paint their client as a sympathetic underdog, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.
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Why Hiring Former Jurors As Consultants Can Be Risky
The defense team's decision to hire former juror Victoria George in the high-profile retrial of Karen Read shines a spotlight on this controversial strategy, which raises important legal, ethical and tactical questions despite not being explicitly prohibited, says Nikoleta Despodova at ND Litigation.
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How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients
Attorneys can lean on key principles from a psychotherapeutic paradigm known as the "Internal Family Systems" model to help manage triggered clients and get settlement negotiations back on track, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.