Insurance

  • 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.

  • February 23, 2024

    The New BIPA? Attys Warn GIPA Is A 'Live Grenade'

    After notable appellate victories in biometric privacy cases, Illinois plaintiffs have seized upon a previously little-used law protecting workers' genetic privacy, leaving defense attorneys wondering if history will repeat itself and open companies to potentially explosive liability. 

  • February 23, 2024

    4th Circ. Won't Rethink Adviser's Defamation Coverage Denial

    A Fourth Circuit panel declined to reconsider its decision that an investment adviser is not owed coverage under her firm's professional liability policy for an underlying defamation lawsuit.

Expert Analysis

  • Online Purchase Insurance: Regulatory Issues To Watch For

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    Before offering insurance on consumer transactions, otherwise known as embedded insurance, merchants and insurance producers should be aware of a few regulatory issues and have a multistate compliance strategy in place, say Fred Garsson and Kara Pike at Saul Ewing.

  • To Survive Scrutiny, Banks Should Craft Careful D&O Policies

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    With banks and their boards facing intensified — and potentially costly — scrutiny after this spring’s bank failures, risk managers can prepare for potential shareholder demands, lawsuits or regulatory probes by designing a robust and targeted directors and officers coverage program, say Jose Lua-Valencia and Jesse Vazquez at Pillsbury.

  • Insurance Insights From 5th Circ. Blue Bell Coverage Ruling

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent ruling that denied Blue Bell insurance coverage for the defense costs incurred from a shareholder lawsuit underscores the importance of coordination of different coverages and policies across programs, and the potential perils of seeking recovery for losses under nontraditional policies, say Geoffrey Fehling and Casey Coffey at Hunton.

  • Courts Can Overturn Deficient State Regulations, Too

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    While suits challenging federal regulations have become commonplace, such cases against state agencies are virtually nonexistent, but many states have provisions that allow litigants to bring suit for regulations with inadequate cost-benefit analyses, says Reeve Bull at the Virginia Office of Regulatory Management.

  • BIPA, Meta Pixel Suits Could Reshape Cybersecurity Litigation

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    Businesses and attorneys should watch several pending electronic privacy cases that revolve around disclosure of protected personal information and health data, which may shape how courts handle damages and class actions in the future of cybersecurity litigation, say Kelly Johnson and Melanie Condon at Goldberg Segalla.

  • Tales From The Trenches Of Remote Depositions

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    As practitioners continue to conduct depositions remotely in the post-pandemic world, these virtual environments are rife with opportunities for improper behavior such as witness coaching, scripted testimony and a general lack of civility — but there are methods to prevent and combat these behaviors, say Jennifer Gibbs and Bennett Moss at Zelle.

  • The Legal Issues Flying Around The Evolving Drone Market

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    As the number of drone registrations is expected to more than double over the next three years, the industry faces new risks and considerations related to privacy, Fourth Amendment, criminal, evidentiary, First Amendment, and insurance litigation, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Insurance Coverage For ChatGPT Legal Fiasco: A Hypothetical

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    William Passannante at Anderson Kill draws on the recent case of an attorney sanctioned by the Southern District of New York for submitting a ChatGPT-authored brief to discuss what the insurance coverage for the attorney's hypothetical claim might look like.

  • Insurance Implications Of High Court Affirmative Action Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling striking down affirmative action admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina will likely result in more litigation related to hiring practices, with implications for insurance coverage, meaning policyholders must remain wary of exclusions and other potential roadblocks, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Legal Considerations For Calif. Rental Vehicle Data Collection

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    The legal implications under California’s Rental Passenger Vehicle Transactions Law must be thoroughly understood and navigated carefully, and rental companies operating in the state should consider some key factors before installing tracking devices in their vehicles, says Hannah Ji-Otto at Baker Donelson.

  • Level Up Lawyers' Business Development With Gamification

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    With employee engagement at a 10-year low in the U.S., there are several gamification techniques marketing and business development teams at law firms can use to make generating new clients and matters more appealing to lawyers, says Heather McCullough at Society 54.

  • Mallory Ruling Leaves Personal Jurisdiction Deeply Unsettled

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    In Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway, a closely divided U.S. Supreme Court recently rolled back key aspects of its 2017 opinion in Daimler AG v. Bauman that limited personal jurisdiction, leaving as many questions for businesses as it answers, say John Cerreta and James Rotondo at Day Pitney.

  • What The ESG Divide Means For Insurers And Beyond

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    The debate around ESG is becoming increasingly polarized, with some states passing legislation that prohibits the use of ESG factors and others advancing affirmative legislation, highlighting the importance for insurers and other companies to understand this complex legal landscape, say Scott Seaman and Bessie Daschbach at Hinshaw.

  • Consider Self-Help To Trigger Additional-Insured Status

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    A New Jersey federal court recently affirmed that owners and contractors can use self-help by filing third-party claims for indemnification against subcontractors, triggering coverage from a subcontractor's insurance by asserting that an employee's injuries resulted from the subcontractor's fault or the employee's own negligence, say Allen Wolff and Ethan Middlebrooks at Anderson Kill.

  • 5 Ways Firms Can Rethink Office Design In A Hybrid World

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    As workplaces across the country adapt to flexible work, law firms must prioritize individuality, amenities and technology in office design, says Kristin Cerutti at Nelson Worldwide.

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