General Liability
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May 09, 2025
W.Va. Justices Say UIM Coverage Needn't Always Be Offered
West Virginia does not require commercial auto insurers to offer underinsured motorist, or UIM, coverage for all vehicles they insure, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled, answering a question from the Fourth Circuit in a dispute over a policy insuring both owned and "non-owned" vehicles.
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May 09, 2025
Insurers Urge 1st Circ. To Undo Oil Co. Coverage Ruling
Insurers for a heating oil company asked the First Circuit to reverse a decision forcing them to defend the company and several executives in a class action alleging damage caused by fuel containing elevated levels of biodiesel, saying the company's "purposeful business choices" do not constitute an occurrence.
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May 08, 2025
10th Circ. Urged To Undo Insurers' Pollution Exclusion Win
A New Mexico property owner urged the Tenth Circuit to rethink its ruling that separate pollution exclusions in its commercial general liability policies entirely removed two insurers' duty to defend underlying environmental contamination claims, arguing the appeals court overlooked a significant principle under settled New Mexico insurance law.
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May 08, 2025
Insurer Owed Reimbursement In Worker Injury Coverage Row
A Washington federal court on Thursday ordered a subcontractor's insurer to reimburse a general contractor's insurer for more than $280,000 after both insurers helped settle an underlying worker injury lawsuit, finding the subcontractor's insurer owed additional insured coverage to the general contractor.
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May 08, 2025
Alaska Fishery Insurance Co-Ops Cast Wide Coverage Net
The Alaska House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill permitting commercial fishers to form insurance cooperatives, a move that allows all eligible boat owners the ability to obtain coverage from a source that understands the industry for a reasonable price, representatives said. Here, Law360 speaks with Reps. Louise Stutes and Kevin McCabe about what to expect.
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May 08, 2025
9th Circ. Says Oil Co. Marine Policy Doesn't Cover $8M Award
Lloyd's underwriters don't owe coverage for an $8.1 million award to the employer of a deckhand who was injured by defective mooring at a natural gas extraction platform, the Ninth Circuit held, saying coverage wasn't triggered under the platform owner's charterers legal liability policy.
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May 08, 2025
Insurer Drops Coverage Fight Over NC Truck Stop Shooting
An insurer and a security guard service company have settled a coverage dispute over underlying negligence lawsuits involving a fatal shooting that occurred at a North Carolina truck stop, according to a notice filed in federal court.
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May 07, 2025
UnitedHealth Hid Biz Impact Of CEO's Killing, Investor Says
UnitedHealth Group concealed how public scrutiny of its coverage policies and backlash from the killing of its CEO was harming its business, leading to plummeting stock prices when the insurer lowered its 2025 earnings outlook, according to a proposed investor class action filed Wednesday in New York federal court.
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May 07, 2025
Zurich Wants Midtrial Win In Fluor $300M Bad-Faith Case
Insurer Zurich urged a federal judge Wednesday to find midtrial that former policyholder Fluor has failed to prove up a case for bad-faith refusal to settle regarding a $300 million lead pollution payout, saying there's been no evidence Zurich ever received a proper offer.
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May 07, 2025
Politics, Tech Issues Top Concerns At Chicago Risk Event
Insurance and risk professionals around the country gathered in Chicago to discuss potential perils and opportunities for the future, with talks often centering on President Donald Trump's administration, technological developments and statutory reform of the legal system.
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May 07, 2025
Chubb Can't Get Archdiocese's Abuse Coverage Suit Trimmed
A New York state court refused Wednesday to toss the Archdiocese of New York's claims for bad faith and violations of the state's deceptive trade practices law in a suit seeking coverage from Chubb units for thousands of sexual abuse lawsuits.
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May 07, 2025
Mich. Justices Mull 'Straddle Policies' In No-Fault Cases
The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday considered whether insurance policies that straddle the date no-fault reforms went into effect should be subjected to post-reform increased limits for liability and scheduled medical care reimbursement rates.
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May 07, 2025
Boarding School Not Covered In Sex Abuse Suit, Insurer Says
An insurer for a private boarding school told a Massachusetts federal court it owes no coverage to the school and its former head for a civil lawsuit accusing a former teacher of sexually abusing students, pointing to separate exclusions barring coverage for abuse and known wrongful acts.
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May 07, 2025
Liberty Mutual Must Pay $1.3M Crash Verdict, Woman Says
A woman who won a $1.3 million verdict against a Liberty Mutual insured over a car crash said the insurer is now on the hook for the award, telling a Connecticut federal court the insurer could and should have resolved the suit within policy limits.
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May 06, 2025
Insurer Denies Coverage For Amtrak Employee Slip-And-Fall
An insurer told an Illinois federal court that Amtrak has no coverage for an underlying slip-and-fall injury lawsuit brought by an employee, because it's not an additional insured under its policy and the underlying litigation cannot be covered because of a workers' compensation exclusion, among other reasons.
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May 05, 2025
Class Cert. Partially Granted In Auto Insurance Discount Case
A California federal court partially granted class certification Monday over policyholders' claims that a group of insurers violated the state's rule on good driver discounts.
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May 02, 2025
NJ Panel Affirms $2.6M Coverage Payout In Cleanup Case
A New Jersey appeals court on Friday upheld a lower court's decision finding that under Massachusetts law an insurer owed a BASF entity only $2.6 million in coverage for underlying environmental remediation costs after the lower court found a prior, larger coverage calculation it had adopted was "palpably incorrect."
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May 02, 2025
NC Farmers Say Fight With Crop Insurer Must Stay In Court
A suit by six tobacco farmers lodging tort claims against their crop insurer should proceed in state court, they told a North Carolina appeals court, arguing that an arbitration provision in their policy applies only to disputes over a coverage determination.
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May 01, 2025
Public Fire Model Could Boost Calif. Insurance Oversight
Developing a public wildfire model in California could help provide a transparent benchmark for insurance regulators to better understand fire risk and evaluate rates, but experts warn that challenges remain as the federal government eyes cuts to key climate monitors.
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May 01, 2025
Insurance Pros Stress Disaster Mitigation In Senate Hearing
A panel of insurance experts stressed in front of a U.S. Senate committee Thursday the importance of mitigation efforts, such as strengthening building codes and hardening homes, as the experts discussed how prices in the property insurance market have soared because of recent natural disasters across the country.
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May 01, 2025
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
The Fourth Circuit upheld Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc.’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, insurers for the Suquamish Tribe further urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review their tribal jurisdiction dispute and the Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a McDonald’s franchisee’s bid for coverage. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.
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May 01, 2025
Trucker Chases Down Mich. Appeals Court Win In Injury Suit
A trucker who was hit in his sleeper cab and then ran after the semi-truck that he believed caused the incident, jumping on its running board till he was thrown, may be entitled to insurance benefits, Michigan appellate judges said, reversing most of a lower court's judgment.
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May 01, 2025
Foster Care Insurance Costs Surge Amid Abuse Claims
Foster care agencies have faced increased costs of general liability insurance and with insurers hesitant to write policies for these entities in certain states, experts point to the need for legislative reform and regulation all while trying to prevent further trauma for children.
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May 01, 2025
Bank Says Insurer Owes $1.8M In Vandalism Coverage
A bank accused a Berkshire unit and its insurance agent of underpaying coverage for property damage from "vandalism and/or theft," saying that while it's received roughly $105,000 in coverage to date, the insurer has yet to pay nearly $1.8 million.
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May 01, 2025
Pierson Ferdinand Adds Insurance Group With New Atty
The rapidly growing firm of Pierson Ferdinand LLP announced Thursday that it tapped a new partner who was previously with Carlton Fields to launch an international insurance regulatory team practice along with another Los Angeles-based attorney.
Expert Analysis
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NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3
In a relatively light few months for banking legal updates in New York, the state Department of Financial Services previewed its views on banking sector artificial intelligence use via insurer guidance, and an anti-money laundering enforcement action underscored the importance of international monitoring processes, say Eric McLaughlin and Dana Bayersdorfer at Davis Polk.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy identifies practice tips from four recent class certification rulings involving denial of Medicare reimbursements, automobile insurance disputes, veterans' rights and automobile defects.
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3 Coverage Tips As 2nd Circ. 'Swipes Left' On Tinder Claim
The Second Circuit's recent opinion in Match Group v. Beazley Underwriting, overturning Tinder's victory on its insurer's motion to dismiss a coverage action, reinforces three best practices policyholders purchasing claims-made coverage should adhere to in order to avoid late-notice defenses, say Lynda Bennett and Alexander Corson at Lowenstein Sandler.
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What To Know About Insurance Coverage For Antitrust Risks
With all the regulatory activity surrounding antitrust and unfair competition claims, as highlighted by last month's D.C. federal court decision that Google is a monopolist, businesses must not only ensure compliance, but also understand their potential insurance coverage when such claims arise, says Micah Skidmore at Haynes Boone.
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Rise Of Transpo Contractors Brings Insurance Disputes
As more independent contractors are contracted and subcontracted in the delivery industry, companies must be prepared to defend claims from drivers who are injured on the job as they are often seeking to establish an employment relationship with one of the entities in the chain, says Nathan Milner at Goldberg Segalla.
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Finding Coverage For Online Retail Privacy Class Actions
Following recent court rulings interpreting state invasion of privacy and electronic surveillance statutes triggering a surge in the filing of privacy class actions against online retailers, companies should examine their various insurance policies, including E&O and D&O, for defense coverage of these claims, says Alison Gaske at Gilbert LLP.
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What We Know From Early Cyberinsurance Rulings
Recent cyber disruption incidents, like the Crowdstrike outage and the CDK Global cyberattack this summer, highlight the necessity of understanding legal interpretations of cyberinsurance coverage — an area in which there has been little litigation thus far, say Peter Halprin and Rebecca Schwarz at Haynes Boone.
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Notable Q2 Updates In Insurance Class Actions
Mark Johnson and Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler discuss the muted nature of the property and casualty insurance class action space in the second quarter of the year, with no large waves made in labor depreciation and total-loss vehicle class actions, but a new offensive theory emerging for insurance companies.
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Insurance Lessons From 11th Circ. Ruling On Policy Grammar
The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in ECB v. Chubb Insurance, holding that missing punctuation didn't change the clear meaning of a professional services policy, offers policyholder takeaways about the uncertainty that can arise when courts interpret insurance policy language based on obscure grammatical canons, say Hugh Lumpkin and Garrett Nemeroff at Reed Smith.
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6 Factors That Can Make For A 'Nuclear' Juror
Drawing from recent research that examines the rise in nuclear verdicts, Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies identifies a few juror characteristics most likely to matter in assessing case risk and preparing for jury selection — some of which are long-known, and others that are emerging post-pandemic.
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Illinois BIPA Reform Offers Welcome Relief To Businesses
Illinois' recent amendment to its Biometric Information Privacy Act limits the number of violations and damages a plaintiff can claim — a crucial step in shielding businesses from unintended legal consequences, including litigation risk and compliance costs, say attorneys at Taft.
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Ore. Insurance Litigation Is Testing The Bounds After Moody
Despite the Oregon Supreme Court’s attempt to limit application of its 2023 decision in Moody v. Oregon Community Credit Union, which for the first time awarded extracontractual damages stemming from alleged negligent claims handling, recent litigation shows Oregon insurance companies face greater exposure, says Sarah Pozzi at Cozen O’Connor.
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What's In NYDFS Guidance On Use Of AI In Insurance
Matthew Gaul and Shlomo Potesky at Willkie summarize the New York Department of Financial Services' recently adopted circular letter on the use of artificial intelligence in insurance underwriting and pricing, and highlight the material changes made to it in response to comments on the draft circular letter.