General Liability

  • June 02, 2025

    Seattle Owner Questions Insurer's $8.5M Water Damage Denial

    A Seattle building owner urged a Washington federal court to grant it a partial early win in a coverage dispute over $8.5 million in water damage, telling the court that under state law, none of the four exclusions its insurer cited when denying coverage are applicable to the water intrusion loss.

  • June 02, 2025

    Insurance Experts Examine AI's Challenges For Underwriting

    Academics, attorneys and insurance industry officials took a look at the myriad ways artificial intelligence could affect the "insurance value chain," as one conference panelist put it, across claims, litigation and underwriting, including the coverage of AI-related occurrences themselves.

  • June 02, 2025

    Insurer Not Liable For $8.5M Florida Condo Defect Damages

    A Florida federal judge freed an insurer from paying any of the $8.5 million in damages connected to shoddy work at a Florida condo, finding there wasn't an allocation accounting for which claims were covered and which claims were not in an agreement between the condo and a contractor. 

  • May 30, 2025

    Townhome Org. Seeks Confirmation Of Storm Damage Award

    A townhome association's insurer has no legal basis to withhold payments under a $2.7 million appraisal award for costs connected to a 2022 storm, the association told a Minnesota federal court Friday in a bid for an early win in its suit.

  • May 30, 2025

    Insurer's Hail Claim Denial Not Unreasonable, 10th Circ. Says

    A commercial property owner failed to show that its insurer unreasonably denied coverage for a hail damage claim under Colorado law or violated insurance industry standards by relying on an expert report, the Tenth Circuit said in an unpublished opinion Friday.

  • May 29, 2025

    Insurer Waived Arbitration For Many Reasons, NJ Panel Rules

    An insurer waived its right to arbitration for many reasons, a New Jersey appellate panel affirmed, finding a pier owner's coverage dispute concerning underlying litigation brought against it by public utilities blaming it for a fluid leak in the Hudson River must head to trial.

  • May 29, 2025

    Q&A: What's The Deal With Insurance-Linked Securities?

    The use of insurance-linked securities has boomed in recent years, helping increase overall global reinsurance capacity and allowing investors to participate in reinsurance transactions without having to become licensed reinsurers themselves. Here, Law360 talks to Nicholas Berry, a London-based partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, on the mechanics of ILS transactions and why he thinks this alternative asset type is here to stay.

  • May 29, 2025

    FDA Changes May Put CGL Policies In Play, Experts Say

    Changing regulations at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under the Trump administration may make food contamination risks a higher concern for certain policyholders, and insureds should closely review their commercial general liability and product recall policies for potential coverage, experts say.

  • May 29, 2025

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    Towers Watson's insurers don't have to cover shareholder litigation, the Fifth Circuit said its hands were tied concerning fire damage arbitration, North Carolina's highest court allowed a homeowner who didn't read his policy to continue his agency negligence case and a Georgia couple say two personal injury firms misled them. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.

  • May 28, 2025

    Insurers Get Meta MDL Coverage Fight Kicked Back To Del.

    A California federal judge has ruled that Meta Platforms' sprawling dispute with dozens of insurers over coverage for personal injury multidistrict litigation belongs in Delaware state court, where two Hartford Insurance Group units first sued, rejecting Meta's claims Hartford acted in bad faith in suing in Delaware, along with other arguments.

  • May 28, 2025

    Insurer Questions Coverage Of Ohio Tenant Harassment Case

    An Ohio insurer filed a federal lawsuit arguing on Wednesday that it is not obligated to defend or indemnify Athens County, Ohio, landlords accused in a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit of allowing sex discrimination and harassment against female tenants at at least one rental property for years.

  • May 28, 2025

    Insurer Fights Coverage Of Patent Suit Against Dental Co.

    An insurer told a Michigan federal court it is not obligated to defend or indemnify a dental products company in an underlying patent infringement case, arguing that the claims fall outside the scope of the commercial liability coverage.

  • May 27, 2025

    Pharma Co. Says Chubb Failed To Pay Covered Defense Costs

    A New Jersey pharmaceutical company said Chubb owes nearly $6.5 million in outstanding defense costs related to a multibillion-dollar arbitration dispute over the manufacture of an antiviral drug, according to a suit removed to federal court Tuesday.

  • May 27, 2025

    Property Co. Not Covered In Condo Fire Suits, Insurer Says

    A property management company isn't covered for suits claiming it hired an unlicensed contractor whose work caused a fire at a condo complex, an insurer told a Florida federal court, saying coverage isn't available under a commercial general liability policy and is limited under a professional liability policy.

  • May 23, 2025

    Mich. Justices To Hear Appeal Over Auto Policy Rescission

    The Michigan Supreme Court agreed to hear a dispute over whether an appeals court correctly held that a Progressive unit could rescind a woman's auto policy because of misrepresentations in her insurance application after a trial court ruled the insurer had to reform the policy instead.

  • May 23, 2025

    Atty, Stepdaughter Face $600K Workers' Comp Fraud Charges

    The Orange County District Attorney's Office has charged a California attorney and his stepdaughter with conspiring to defraud a police department she was employed at by filing fraudulent workers' compensation payments.

  • May 23, 2025

    Judge Tells Boat Crash Widow To Replead $66M Insurer Suit

    A Florida federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by the widow of the victim of a fatal boat crash seeking to get insurers to pay $66 million judgments but told the widow to replead her claims without the bad faith allegations to streamline discovery in the first stage of the litigation.

  • May 23, 2025

    Mich. Justices Agree To Hear Insurer's PIP Benefits Appeal

    The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to review a split lower court's finding that an auto insurer must provide personal injury protection, or PIP, benefits to a policyholder's son who was injured in an out-of-state tractor-trailer crash.

  • May 23, 2025

    Furniture Cos. Say Insurer Owes For $10M Flood Losses

    Two metro Detroit furniture stores accuse an insurer of breach of contract after it refused to cover more than $10 million in collective damages caused by flooding from a ruptured city water supply line in a case removed to Michigan federal court.

  • May 22, 2025

    Affirmative AI Coverage Challenges Specialty Insurance Lines

    Boutiques and major insurers alike have recently issued long-anticipated affirmative coverage for artificial intelligence risks, a divisive bet on the increased need for explicit protection and pricing of the technology's specific risks, even as existing policies offer many similar protections.

  • May 22, 2025

    Virus Coverage Revival Loss Shows Import Of Judicial Finality

    A North Carolina federal court's ruling that Golden Corral can't set aside a judgment against its bid for pandemic-related coverage despite recent policyholder success in the state Supreme Court highlighted the importance of judicial finality, while marking the difference between state and federal courts weighing insurance issues.

  • May 22, 2025

    Mich. Justices To Review Nationwide's Unitary Tax Filing Win

    The Michigan Supreme Court agreed Thursday to weigh an appeal by the state's tax agency of a decision that said Nationwide entities could file their taxes as a unitary group to share tax credits among its members.

  • May 22, 2025

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    The U.S. Supreme Court passed on insurer challenges to tribal jurisdiction in COVID-19 coverage cases, a Washington federal court approved Symetra's $32.5 million overcharging settlement, legal malpractice claims outpace inflation and a condo association's timing in serving an insurer helped it avoid removal to Florida federal court.

  • May 21, 2025

    Zurich Gets Default Win In $4.6M Contractor Coverage Spat

    Zurich American Insurance Co. doesn't owe coverage to two subcontractors accused of bungling work on a Georgia natural gas plant, a federal judge has ruled, granting the insurer a default win in its suit seeking to nullify a $4.6 million claim.

  • May 21, 2025

    Insurer Demands Shipper Pay $480K For Spoiled Crabmeat

    An insurer asked a New York federal court on Wednesday to force a Taiwanese shipper to pay over $480,000 for crabmeat that the carrier alleged was spoiled en route from the Philippines to Norfolk, Virginia.

Expert Analysis

  • 5 Insurance Types For Mitigating Tariff-Related Trade Losses

    Author Photo

    The potential for significant trade-related losses as a result of increased tariffs may cause companies to consider which of their insurance policies, including marine, builders risk, trade credit, and directors and officers, could provide coverage to alleviate the financial impact, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Home Depot Ruling Tolls Death Knell For 'Silent Cyber'

    Author Photo

    The Sixth Circuit's recent ruling that Home Depot's insurers did not have to cover costs from a data breach hammered one more nail in the coffin of silent cyber, where coverage is sought under standard property or commercial general liability policies that were not intended to insure cyberattack claims, say attorneys at Zelle.

  • Texas Case Shows Why Juries Are Well-Suited To COVID Suits

    Author Photo

    The original jury verdict in Baylor College of Medicine v. Lloyd's, currently on appeal to the Texas Supreme Court after being overturned by an appellate panel, illustrates why COVID-19 business interruption claims with their case-specific facts need to be decided by juries, not by judges using a one-size-fits-all approach, says Jeremy Lawrence at Farella Braun.

  • Filial Consortium Claims' Future After Conn. High Court Ruling

    Author Photo

    While the Connecticut Supreme Court recently ruled for defendants in rejecting parents’ attempt to recover loss of companionship damages in a severe child injury case, there is still potential for the plaintiffs bar to lobby for a law that would allow filial consortium claims, Glenn Coffin at Gordon Rees.

  • In-House Expert Testimony Is Tricky, But Worth Considering

    Author Photo

    Litigation counsel often reject the notion of designating in-house personnel to provide expert opinion testimony at trial, but dismissing them outright can result in a significant missed opportunity, say David Ben-Meir at Ben-Meir Law and Martin Pitha at Lillis Pitha.

  • Tracking Changes To AI Evidence Under Federal Rules

    Author Photo

    As the first quarter of 2025 draws to a close, important changes to the Federal Rules of Evidence regarding the use of artificial intelligence in the courtroom are on the horizon, including how to handle evidence that is a product of machine learning, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Key Insurance Issues Likely To Arise From NY Superfund Law

    Author Photo

    The recently enacted New York Climate Change Superfund Act imposes a massive $75 billion in liabilities on energy companies in the fossil fuel industry, which can be expected to look to their insurers for coverage, raising a slew of coverage issues both old and new, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • What To Know About NAIC's Risk-Based Capital Task Force

    Author Photo

    Attorneys at Debevoise outline key details of the Risk-Based Capital Model Governance Task Force, which was recently launched by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, including the task force's objectives, and potential implications for insurers and their investment strategies.

  • How To Create A Unique Jury Profile For Every Case

    Author Photo

    Instead of striking potential jurors based on broad stereotypes or gut feelings, trial attorneys should create case-specific risk profiles that address the political climate, the specific facts of the case and the venue in order to more precisely identify higher-risk jurors, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

  • AG Watch: Texas Is Entering New Privacy Enforcement Era

    Author Photo

    The state of Texas' recent suit against Allstate is the culmination of a long-standing commitment to vigorously enforcing privacy laws in the state, and while still in the early stages, it offers several important insights for companies and privacy practitioners, says Paul Singer at Kelley Drye.

  • What To Know About Insurance Coverage For Greenwashing

    Author Photo

    As the number of public and private lawsuits relating to greenwashing dramatically grows, risk managers of companies making environmental claims should look to several types of insurance for coverage in the event of a suit, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • Managing Anti-Corporate Juror Views Revealed By CEO Killing

    Author Photo

    After the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson laid bare deep-seated anti-corporate sentiments among the public, companies in numerous industries will have to navigate the influence of related juror biases on litigation dynamics, say Jorge Monroy and Keith Pounds at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • Notable Q4 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

    Author Photo

    In a continuation of trends in property and casualty insurance class actions, last quarter insurers struggled with defending the merits and class certification of sales tax and fee suits, and labor depreciation cases, but succeeded in dismissing privacy class actions at the pleading stages, says Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler.