Property

  • June 20, 2024

    'AI Washing' Actions Mark New Frontier In Coverage Disputes

    Recent regulatory actions and shareholder suits over alleged misrepresentations of artificial intelligence use, or what is known as AI washing, may be the first wave of a surge of claims that will hit professional and management liability insurance lines.

  • June 20, 2024

    Attys See Huge Financial, Legal Stakes In Hawaii Climate Suit

    A novel Hawaiian case over whether an AIG insurer needs to pay a Sunoco subsidiary’s legal fees to beat claims it contributed to climate change has huge stakes for carriers and policyholders as they increasingly tussle over the cost of Earth-warming emissions.

  • June 20, 2024

    Calif. Justices Give Insureds Certainty On Policy Exhaustion

    The California Supreme Court's clarification that an insured can look to first-layer excess policies as soon as primary coverage for that period is exhausted has favorable implications for policyholders, experts say, yet questions remain as a lower court weighs whether excess insurers must contribute to a primary insurer's coverage.

  • June 20, 2024

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    The California Supreme Court opened the door to excess coverage for a policyholder's asbestos injury suits, the Hawaii Supreme Court questioned whether reckless behavior could trigger a Sunoco subsidiary's liability coverage, and the Second Circuit affirmed a Liberty Mutual unit's coverage win in a family shareholder dispute. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.

  • June 20, 2024

    Fla. Property Owner, Insurer Settle $1.2M Ian Coverage Fight

    A QBE Insurance unit and a property owner settled their coverage dispute over the owner's claims it suffered roughly $1.2 million in losses due to Hurricane Ian, the parties told a Florida federal court.

  • June 20, 2024

    Novel Vermont Polluter Law Raises Insurance Liability Issues

    A new Vermont law requiring fossil fuel companies to fund projects ameliorating the negative effects of climate change could raise questions about what constitutes a covered occurrence and how pollution exclusions may apply, while also igniting choice-of-law disputes, experts say.

  • June 20, 2024

    Nationwide Wins Mich. Combined Filing Tax Fight On Appeal

    Nationwide entities can file as a unitary business in Michigan to share tax credits across their group members, the state Court of Appeals ruled Thursday, overturning a state tax tribunal decision that said insurance companies were required to file separate returns.

  • June 20, 2024

    Ill. Panel Says Insurer Off Hook For 23 Carbon Monoxide Suits

    An insurer doesn't need to defend a design firm against 23 allegations that its negligent work led numerous children and others to suffer injuries from carbon monoxide exposure, an Illinois appeals court panel found, affirming a lower court's ruling.

  • June 18, 2024

    'Reckless' Behavior Centered In Climate Coverage Suit Args

    Attorneys for a Sunoco subsidiary and AIG offered sharply differing views to Hawaii's top court Tuesday in oral arguments over whether reckless behavior would trigger the oil company's liability coverage in a novel suit over coverage for underlying climate change claims.

  • June 18, 2024

    Condo's Historic Location Doesn't Bar Bombing Coverage

    The insurer for a Nashville, Tennessee, condominium owners association cannot use a historic structures exclusion to dodge covering the repair costs associated with damage caused by a bombing on Christmas Day 2020, a federal court ruled Tuesday.

  • June 18, 2024

    Insurers Must Keep Defending Heating Oil Co. In Class Suit

    Two Crum & Forster units must continue defending a heating oil company and several executives in a class action claiming the company provided oil with elevated levels of biodiesel that caused property damage, a Massachusetts federal court ruled, saying the policies' "failure to supply" provisions do not limit or exclude coverage.

  • June 14, 2024

    Insurer Seeks Quick Exit In Casino $130M COVID Loss Suit

    The insurer of a casino operator with properties on the Las Vegas strip and beyond told a Nevada federal judge to toss a $130 million COVID-19 pandemic loss coverage suit, arguing it had already paid $1 million — the only benefits due under the all-risk policy.

  • June 13, 2024

    Top Specialty Lines Decisions From The First Half Of 2024

    The first half of this year brought notable pro-policyholder rulings in specialty insurance disputes on the applicability of contract exclusions and related-acts provisions, but also some rulings giving insurers a leg up when it comes to choice-of-law clauses in maritime insurance contracts and bump-up exclusions. Here, Law360 breaks down the top specialty lines decisions so far in 2024.

  • June 13, 2024

    Youth Org. Not Covered For Ex-Worker's Claim, 6th Circ. Rules

    A sexual misconduct exclusion bars a youth advocacy organization's bid for coverage of an ex-employee's claim that they were sexually harassed and assaulted by a supervisor, the Sixth Circuit affirmed Thursday, saying the organization's failure to raise certain arguments before the district court was fatal to its appeal.

  • June 13, 2024

    High Court Sticks To Status Quo In Insurance-Packed Term

    The U.S. Supreme Court embraced an insurance-packed docket in its current term, tackling thorny coverage issues head on or indirectly, hewing close to the status quo in decisions whose impact will be felt by insurers and policyholders across the industry. Here, Law360 reviews the top insurance-related decisions issued this term.

  • June 13, 2024

    Prudential Investors Get Final OK On $35M Settlement

    A New Jersey federal judge on Thursday granted final approval to a $35 million class action settlement between Prudential Financial Inc. and shareholders who alleged the company hid the risks associated with the purchase of thousands of life insurance policies.

  • June 13, 2024

    NJ Justices Create New Liability Rule For Property Owners

    The New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday voted 4-3 to craft a new rule stating that owners of commercial vacant lots have a duty to maintain the public sidewalks abutting the lots, and reinstated a woman's trip-and-fall injury suit.

  • June 13, 2024

    Calif. Insurance Chief Proposes Key Tradeoff In Reform Bid

    Insurers in California will need to weigh whether the financial benefits of using new risk models to price policies is worth increasing their risk exposure in some of the state's most fire-prone areas following newly proposed rules from state insurance regulators. 

  • June 13, 2024

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    The Eighth Circuit pondered whether Geico was responsible for an HPV infection, a Michigan court said lies could eliminate a dead man's payout, a Texas roofer was told that public adjusting wasn't a free-speech matter, and House of Cards' California suit withstood an insurer's attempt to knock it down.

  • June 13, 2024

    Insurer Calls Convicted Mogul's $633M IOU 'Worthless' Ruse

    Convicted insurance mogul Greg Lindberg has offered a "worthless" $633 million promise as a ruse to end an insurance company's bid to collect a $524 million arbitration award, a North Carolina federal court heard this week.

  • June 13, 2024

    Insurance Cases Remain High Despite 2023 Downturn

    Though insurance litigation in federal district courts took a slight dip in 2023, diverging from the upward trend that insurance cases have exhibited since 2016, the number of cases initiated last year remained the second-highest number filed over a 10-year span, according to a report by Lex Machina.

  • June 12, 2024

    8th Circ. Judge Calls Car Sex 'Clearly Foreseeable' In HPV Suit

    An Eighth Circuit judge said Wednesday that having sex in a vehicle is "clearly foreseeable," challenging Geico's contention that such activity does not constitute normal use of an automobile in a coverage suit over a woman's claim that she contracted HPV during sexual encounters in a policyholder's car. 

  • June 12, 2024

    $18.8M Theft Coverage Suit Must Be Heard In State Court

    A Texas federal judge ruled that a lawsuit brought against an insurer over $18.8 million in theft and vandalism at a Georgia shopping center belongs in state court, refusing to create diversity by removing a plaintiff. 

  • June 11, 2024

    Precedent Favors Nationwide In Mich. Tax Fight, Judge Says

    A Michigan Court of Appeals judge said Tuesday that the state's tax agency was asking the court to turn its back on recent precedent to hold that Nationwide entities couldn't file as a unitary business to share insurance tax credits across their group members.

  • June 11, 2024

    Restaurant Owner Seeks $414K For Deductible Overpayment

    The owner of two Florida restaurants is seeking reimbursement of over $400,000, telling a federal district court Tuesday that it overpaid a claim deductible for damage stemming from Hurricane Ian after its insurer misapplied the appropriate endorsement.

Expert Analysis

  • Storm Insurance Considerations For Cos. New To Florida

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    As more and more businesses migrate to Florida, commercial property owners and tenants should carefully consider specific contract terms in order to avoid insurance issues and litigation in the event of storm damage, say Philippe Lieberman and Marko Cerenko at Kluger Kaplan.

  • Business Insurance Considerations Amid Conflict In Ukraine

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    As the conflict in Ukraine continues to wreak havoc on global business operations and supply chains, companies should carefully assess all the various types of insurance coverage that may mitigate corporate losses, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Recent State Rulings Buck Trend In COVID Insurance Disputes

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    For the last two years, policyholders have been mostly unsuccessful in arguing that commercial property policies should cover losses suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a trio of recent state court decisions suggests that the pendulum may swing in policyholders' favor, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • NY Waterborne Property Ruling Is A Warning To Policyholders

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    A New York state court's recent decision in Mill Basin v. Markel, adopting an expansive interpretation of a waterborne exclusion, is a reminder to policyholders that courts may rule against them even when case law and insurance principles are seemingly in their favor, say Catherine Doyle and Caroline Meneau at Jenner & Block.

  • 2 Reasons Why Ill. Virus Coverage Ruling Is Significant

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    An Illinois federal court's recent decision in Dental Experts v. Massachusetts Bay Insurance is especially useful due to the scarcity of relevant pandemic-related business interruption case law involving first-party policies, and because it clarifies how the cause test should be applied in similar cases, say Christopher Kuleba and Adrienne Kitchen at Reed Smith.

  • Tracking Class Certification Changes, 1 Year After TransUnion

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court's TransUnion v. Ramirez decision, defense lawyers have invoked it as support for denying class certification or decertifying classes — but an analysis suggests that the main impact of the ruling has simply been closer scrutiny of class definitions by district courts, say James Morsch and Jonathan Singer at Saul Ewing.

  • What's At Stake In Fla. Insurance Appraisal Case

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    The Florida Supreme Court's decision in Weston Property & Casualty Insurance v. Riverside Club Condominium Association, determining whether trial courts should have discretion to sequence appraisal and fraud in insurance disputes, will influence how claims are handled on a national basis, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Hurricane Insurance Prep Is Key For Fla. Condos And HOAs

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    As this year's hurricane season gets underway, Florida associations for homeowners, condos and communities should review their insurance policies and protocols in advance of potential inclement weather, says Kelly Corcoran at Ball Janik.

  • Property Insurance Coverage Can Hinge On 'Riot' Or 'Protest'

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    As protests erupt across the U.S. in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, Alycen Moss and Elliot Kerzner at Cozen O'Connor examine important property insurance questions that depend on whether a gathering of people is classified as a protest or a riot.

  • Lessons From Calif. Liability Claim Recoupment Ruling

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    A recent California federal court decision in Evanston Insurance v. Winstar Properties illustrates the perils of insurer recoupment and underscores the importance of assessing recoupment rights, if any, throughout the claims process, say Geoffrey Fehling and Veronica Adams at Hunton.

  • Recent Decisions Are Eroding All-Risk Insurance Coverage

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    All-risk insurance coverage is under siege by insurers' broad interpretations of established exclusions, and recent decisions in New Jersey and New Hampshire have shown that courts may not protect coverage despite the policies' text and intent, says Nicholas Insua at Reed Smith.

  • Exploring Calif. Wildfire Insurance's Legislative Landscape

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    As California wildfire season approaches, elected officials and insurance companies continue to face the task of finding long-term solutions, including an increasingly important role for mitigation efforts by individual homeowners and business owners in order to protect their property, say Jan Larson and Jenna Conwisar at Jenner & Block.

  • COVID Coverage Cases Conflict With Insurer Documentation

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    A look at three court cases highlights a gap between successful insurer arguments made in litigation about policy text and the insurance industry's own understanding of the potential for property damage and business interruption coverage of virus- and disease-related claims, say professors at UConn, the University of Nevada and Queen's University.

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