Insurance

  • February 28, 2024

    Plastic-Maker Says Insurers Must Cover Worker Death Suit

    Ohio-based manufacturer Encore Plastics took Travelers Property Casualty Co. of America and American Guarantee & Liability Insurance Co. to federal court, claiming both companies are violating their policies by refusing to defend or indemnify it in an underlying suit over one of its workers' death in an industrial accident.

  • February 27, 2024

    La. Comfort Inn Owner Ordered To Arbitrate $2.6M Storm Suit

    A Louisiana federal judge has ordered the owner of a Comfort Inn outside New Orleans to arbitrate a $2.6 million suit against its insurer over coverage for damage from Hurricane Ida, saying its insurance policy compels arbitration.

  • February 27, 2024

    Insurer Gets BIPA Coverage Win After Ill. Appeals Court Ruling

    An Illinois federal judge granted a win to an insurer in a coverage dispute with a condiment company over biometric privacy litigation, changing course Tuesday in response to a state appeals decision concerning an identical policy exclusion.

  • February 27, 2024

    Egg Co. Not Covered For Avian Flu Losses, Minn. Judge Says

    A Markel unit does not owe coverage to an egg supplier for losses it sustained due to an avian flu outbreak in 2022, a Minnesota federal judge ruled Tuesday, finding that a communicable disease exclusion in a site pollution and environmental policy precluded coverage.

  • February 27, 2024

    Company Escapes Coverage Row Over Lethal Ammonia Leak

    A contractor's affiliate whose employee died in an ammonia leak at a North Carolina cold storage facility needn't face claims stemming from the accident, the North Carolina Business Court said in a lawsuit originally brought against three insurers and others over coverage for the leak.

  • February 27, 2024

    Fla. Judge Says Yacht Suit Doesn't Support Punitive Damages

    A Florida federal judge has recommended that punitive damages sought in a bad faith lawsuit against Travelers over failing to properly investigate a damaged yacht claim should be tossed, saying that the allegations don't support the higher standard needed to show malicious behavior or reckless disregard by the insurance company.

  • February 27, 2024

    Insurer Misled Lockheed On Contamination Suit, Court Told

    Lockheed Martin has told a Maryland federal court that its insurer "lured" it into believing for months that it would defend the company against claims that Lockheed's release of various toxic substances contaminated property and injured individuals near its Orlando, Florida, weapons manufacturing facility.

  • February 27, 2024

    Wolverine Can't Get Sanctions Win In PFAS Coverage Fight

    An insurer repeatedly withheld relevant documents from shoewear company Wolverine in a coverage dispute over PFAS chemical injury suits, but the behavior was not egregious and did not cause enough damage to Wolverine's case to merit sanctions, a Michigan special master said Monday.

  • February 27, 2024

    3rd Circ. Won't Reconsider Coverage Ruling For Deli Stabbing

    The Third Circuit declined to review its decision that an insurer for a Philadelphia deli does not owe coverage for a $900,000 settlement reached with a man stabbed on the premises.

  • February 26, 2024

    Atty's Letter Is Not A Claim For Damages, Del. Justices Rule

    An attorney's presuit letter claiming that Syngenta's herbicide Paraquat caused his clients' Parkinson's disease does not constitute a "claim for damages" under the company's insurance policies with a pair of Zurich units, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled Monday.

  • February 26, 2024

    Ex-Bank CFO Cops To $700K Theft And Life Insurance Scam

    An ex-Eastern International Bank chief financial officer has pled guilty to defrauding the bank out of more than $700,000 to pay his personal expenses, and he admitted to opening life insurance policies in the names of bank employees to benefit his wife, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • February 26, 2024

    Colo. Justices To Hear If Insurers Can Withhold Some Payouts

    The Colorado Supreme Court said Monday it will consider whether the state's insurance code allowed Geico, following unsuccessful settlement attempts, to refuse paying noneconomic damages to a policyholder for his underinsured motorist claim, given what Geico said is the "inherently subjective" nature of such damages.

  • February 26, 2024

    Mo. City Asks 8th Circ. To Revisit COVID-19 Coverage Ruling

    A Missouri city urged the full Eighth Circuit Monday to reconsider a panel decision that denied its request for coverage for sales tax revenue losses resulting from shutdowns related to COVID-19, saying the panel misinterpreted the policy's terms and skewed its review in favor of the insurer.

  • February 26, 2024

    Ponzi Schemer To Be Resentenced After High Court Ruling

    A man who pled guilty to running a Ponzi scheme that targeted elderly victims will be resentenced after prosecutors agreed to dismiss an aggravated identity theft count following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that narrowed the type of conduct that triggers the identity theft statute.

  • February 26, 2024

    Teva Tells 1st Circ. Feds Must Clear High Bar In FCA Case

    Teva Pharmaceuticals told the First Circuit on Monday that the federal government should be held to — and cannot meet — a strict causation standard in a False Claims Act kickback case, asking the court to settle a matter of first impression in the circuit.

  • February 26, 2024

    Liberty Cuts Off Drivers' Rentals Too Soon, Suit Claims

    Liberty Mutual systematically and arbitrarily ends replacement transportation coverage after seven days for policyholders whose vehicles are totaled in collisions, in violation of its own policy language, a proposed class action alleges.

  • February 26, 2024

    Texas Justices Say $220M Cobalt Deal Is A Loss Under Policy

    A $220 million settlement that now-bankrupt Cobalt International Energy Inc. reached with a group of investors constitutes a loss under the energy company's insurance policies, but the agreement is not binding on Cobalt's insurers to establish coverage, the Texas Supreme Court ruled.

  • February 26, 2024

    State Farm Seeks Exit From Aircraft Designer's Explosion Row

    An aircraft design company is not owed coverage for five underlying lawsuits surrounding an explosion at an aeronautical test site that killed one employee, State Farm has told a California federal court, arguing that the underlying actions triggered multiple policy exclusions.

  • February 26, 2024

    New York Life To Pay $19M To Settle Retirement Plan Suit

    Current and former New York Life Insurance workers asked a federal court Monday to approve a $19 million deal in a proposed class action alleging the insurance giant unlawfully kept underperforming proprietary investment options in two employee retirement plans.

  • February 26, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Delaware's Court of Chancery dropped two potentially far-reaching decisions last week: one about founder control at Moelis & Co. and another about TripAdvisor's planned move to Nevada. On top of that, there were new cases involving Citrix Systems, Alcoa Corp., BGC Partners Inc. and Cantor Fitzgerald LP.

  • February 26, 2024

    Insurance Co. Beats Claims Analysts' OT Exemption Suit

    A life insurance company prevailed against disability claim analysts alleging they were wrongfully denied overtime pay, as an Illinois federal judge tossed their suit because the workers are administrative employees exempt from overtime requirements.

  • February 26, 2024

    Estate Correctly Taxed On Insurance Payout, Justices Told

    The U.S. Supreme Court should affirm a decision denying a tax refund to the estate of an owner of a building materials company that used a payout from his $3.5 million life insurance policy to purchase his shares in the business, the federal government argued.

  • February 26, 2024

    Justices Pass On Venue Fight In Erie Indemnity Fees Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the Third Circuit's refusal to transfer a case challenging Erie Indemnity Co. management fees from state court back to federal court, preserving the lower court's precedential ruling that the matter does not qualify as a class action under the Class Action Fairness Act.

  • February 23, 2024

    CFPB Subjects Lender To Supervision In 1st Oversight Flex

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Friday that it has decided to require supervision for one of the nation's largest personal installment lenders, a move that marks the first time the agency has flexed its special risk-based oversight power over a company's objections.

  • February 23, 2024

    La. Hotel Owner Must Arbitrate Hurricane Ida Damage Claims

    A Louisiana federal judge has ordered the owner of an extended-stay hotel near New Orleans to go to arbitration with a group of insurers over coverage for damage caused by Hurricane Ida, finding that the policy under dispute contains a valid arbitral clause.

Expert Analysis

  • Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary

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    The tenor of public disagreement and debate has become increasingly hostile against judges, and though the legislative branch is trying to ameliorate this safety gap, lawyers have a moral imperative and professional requirement to stand with judges in defusing attacks against them and their rulings, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

  • DC Ruling Provides Support For Builders Risk Claim Recovery

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    To deny coverage for builders risk claims, insurers have been increasingly relying on two arguments, both of which have been invalidated in the recent U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia decision, South Capitol Bridgebuilders v. Lexington, say Greg Podolak and Cheryl Kozdrey at Saxe Doernberger.

  • A Deep Dive Into FSOC's Expansion Of Nonbank Oversight

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    The Financial Stability Oversight Council's new nonbank guidance, designed to provide the council with added flexibility in risk response, not only modifies the process for designating nonbanks as systemically important institutions, but also sends a clear signal that the FSOC may assume a more active role in addressing financial stability risks across the economy, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • 9th Circ. ERISA Ruling Informs DOL's New Fiduciary Proposal

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    The Ninth Circuit's reasoning in its recent Bugielski v. AT&T decision illustrates the importance of the U.S. Department of Labor's proposals to expand the reach of Employee Retirement Income Security Act third-party compensation disclosure rules and their effect on investment adviser fiduciaries, says Jeff Mamorsky at Cohen & Buckmann.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Harvard's Broker Fight Shows Active Risk Management Is Key

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    Harvard University’s recently filed suit against its insurance broker for alleged malpractice in handling the Students for Fair Admissions claim illustrates that risk management requires the concerted effort of policyholders, brokers and insurers to protect against disastrous losses, say William McMichael and David Klein at Pillsbury.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: South Korea

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    Numerous ESG trends have materialized in South Korea in the past three years, with impacts ranging from greenwashing prevention and carbon neutrality measures to workplace harassment and board diversity initiatives, say Chang Wook Min and Hyun Chan Jung at Jipyong.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • Illinois Trump Tower Ruling Illuminates Insurance 'Occurrence'

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    In Continental Casualty v. 401 North Wabash Venture, an Illinois appellate court found that Trump Tower was not entitled to insurance coverage for operating its HVAC system without a permit, helping to further define a widely litigated general liability insurance issue — what constitutes an "occurrence," say Robert Tugander and Greg Mann at Rivkin Radler.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • How Shareholder Activists Are Targeting Insurers

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    As shareholder activists take a closer look at the insurance industry, they are pushing insurers to take value-enhancing and climate-related measures — but insurers can prepare by anticipating activist concerns, maintaining robust shareholder engagement, and considering changes in response to the universal proxy rules, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Breaking Down Insurers' Improper Recoupment Efforts

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    In a recent trend, insurance companies have sought to recoup defense costs from their policyholders, but there are four counterarguments that policyholders can deploy to fend off these concerning recoupment efforts, say William Passannante and Nicholas Bradley at Anderson Kill.

  • M&A Ruling Buoys Loss Calculation Method, R&W Insurance

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    The recent Southern District of New York decision in Taylor Precision Products v. Larimer affirms the use of EBITDA as a basis to quantify loss, highlighting the potential shortcomings of a traditional seller indemnity compared to representation and warranty insurance, say Mark Schwartz at Lockton, and William O’Neil and Gretchen Scavo at Winston & Strawn.

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