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General Liability

  • May 13, 2025

    State Farm's Emergency Rate Hike Request Approved In Calif.

    California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced Tuesday that he had adopted a judge's recommendation to approve State Farm General Insurance Co.'s request for an emergency rate increase for property insurance in the state, following January wildfires that have already cost California insurers $12.1 billion.

  • May 13, 2025

    Builder Says Zurich Owes $2.6M For Bronx School Damage

    A contractor said a Zurich unit owes it at least $2.6 million for costs incurred after a construction site collapse at a Bronx school, telling a New York federal court the insurer failed to timely adjust its claim and wrongfully refused to pay out any funds for the loss.

  • May 12, 2025

    Murder Is Not Assault, Drywall Co. Says In Indemnification Bid

    A drywall company told a Texas federal judge that Knight Specialty Insurance Co. cannot use an assault and battery exclusion to escape its obligation to defend the company after one of its employees murdered a woman, saying Monday "murder is different than assault or battery."

  • May 12, 2025

    Will Justices Finally Rein In Universal Injunctions?

    The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to address for the first time Thursday the propriety of universal injunctions, a tool federal judges have increasingly used to broadly halt presidential orders and policy initiatives, and whose validity has haunted the high court's merits and emergency dockets for more than a decade.

  • May 12, 2025

    United Health Inks $9.3M Deal In Cancer Treatment Denial Suit

    United Healthcare has agreed to pay up to $9.3 million to end a proposed class action alleging it refused to cover a proton beam cancer radiation treatment by incorrectly deeming the therapy experimental, according to a Massachusetts federal court filing.

  • May 12, 2025

    Broker Wants To Trim Chipwich Maker's $4.5M Recall Suit

    An insurance broker asked a Connecticut state court to trim a suit seeking $4.5 million for losses that the maker of Chipwich ice cream sandwiches alleges it incurred because of insufficient product recall coverage, saying the company can't sustain its breach of contract claim.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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."

  • 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.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape

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    Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.

  • NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

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    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.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons

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    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.

  • 3 Coverage Tips As 2nd Circ. 'Swipes Left' On Tinder Claim

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    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.

  • What To Know About Insurance Coverage For Antitrust Risks

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    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.

  • Rise Of Transpo Contractors Brings Insurance Disputes

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    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.

  • Finding Coverage For Online Retail Privacy Class Actions

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    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.

  • What We Know From Early Cyberinsurance Rulings

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    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.

  • Notable Q2 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    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.

  • Insurance Lessons From 11th Circ. Ruling On Policy Grammar

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    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.

  • 6 Factors That Can Make For A 'Nuclear' Juror

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    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.

  • Illinois BIPA Reform Offers Welcome Relief To Businesses

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    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.

  • Ore. Insurance Litigation Is Testing The Bounds After Moody

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    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.