General Liability

Expert Analysis

• Insurance Ruling Clarifies Excess Coverage For Opioid Suits

  

  A Pennsylvania federal court's ruling this week in Giant Eagle v. American Guarantee Insurance, reversing an earlier finding that two excess insurers had duties to defend opioid injury suits, provides invaluable assurance to excess carriers that opioid defendants can’t use immense defense costs as a basis to leapfrog their primary coverage, says Adam Fleischer at BatesCarey.

• Indoor Air Pollution Fix Will Require New Laws, New Tech

  

  The COVID-19 pandemic, an aging population and changing workplace dynamics all foretell more exposure to indoor air pollutants, so a multidisciplinary policy approach combining technology, insurance, funding and regulation will be needed to improve indoor air quality and health, says Ann Al-Bahish at Haynes and Boone.

• Cannabis Legalization's Effects On Insurance Industry

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  Resolution of the legal uncertainty presented by the dueling federal and state approaches to cannabis will pave the way for legal cannabis businesses to access the insurance protections the industry needs for everything from workers' compensation to auto insurance to general liability, says Christy Thiems at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

• Biden Admin.'s Climate Strategy Should Include Insurance Innovations

  

  To successfully meet the Biden administration's climate-related goals, the federal government must fill gaps in state regulation of environmental insurance, and help create an insurance framework that incentivizes and facilitates carbon impact reduction in four key areas, say Michael Hill and Paul Tetenbaum at Blue Dot Climate Insurance.

• Where Health Care Enforcement Is Headed Under Biden

  

  Early actions by President Joe Biden's administration signal a robust health care enforcement environment in which federal agencies will aggressively scrutinize pandemic-related and Medicare Advantage fraud, nursing homes, and medical technology, and False Claims Act activity will likely increase, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

• Key Considerations For Litigation Settlement Trustees

  

  Robert Weiss and David Vanaskey at Wilmington Trust describe some of the core considerations for trustees that administer settlements resulting from mass tort and class action litigation, based on their experience working on the Volkswagen diesel emissions settlement.

• 3 Key Environmental Takeaways From Biden's First 30 Days

  

  President Joe Biden has heavily prioritized environmental policy during his first month in office, with three key themes emerging that will immediately change enforcement practices and affect regulated industries, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

• What Airports Need To Know About PFAS Risks

  

  As Congress, federal regulators and litigants express increasing concern over the dangers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, airports are in the spotlight as likely sites of PFAS contamination — so airport management and boards should take steps now to prepare for regulation and litigation, say Renée Martin-Nagle and David Rockman at Eckert Seamans.

• Time For Cos. To Walk The Walk On Environmental Justice

  

  With the Biden administration pledging to consider environmental justice across all agencies and in all federal decisions, companies must candidly assess their operations in order to make sure their statements on environmental justice are backed by measurable results, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

• Economic Loss Is Key To Pandemic Insurance Suits

  

  Decades of case law distinguishing between economic loss and property damage may support commercial property insurance policyholders in litigation with insurers who argue that COVID-19-related losses do not constitute physical damage, says Micah Skidmore at Haynes and Boone.

• State AGs' 2020 Actions Offer Hints At 2021 Priorities

  

  A review of state attorney general actions in 2020 addressing consumer concerns including data privacy, product safety and marketplace competition can help companies prepare for the expected regulatory enforcement wave in 2021, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

• 10 Most Significant Insurance Coverage Decisions Of 2020

  

  Though COVID-19 was unquestionably the biggest insurance story of 2020, the most noteworthy decisions of the year had definitive impact on issues like injury-in-fact triggers and concurrent causation, says Randy Maniloff at White and Williams LLP.

• 5 Major Drug And Medical Device Developments In 2020

  

  In addition to the increased activity and scrutiny COVID-19 brought to the drug and device industries in 2020, major developments included the continued momentum of snap removal and renewed U.S. Supreme Court interest in the scope of state courts' jurisdiction, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.