General Liability
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June 18, 2025
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
The Fourth Circuit affirmed that a homeowner isn't entitled to a premium refund under federal mortgage law, a North Carolina federal court refused to resurrect a hospitality group's pandemic-related coverage suit, and a New York federal court said an insurer can't force another to defend a property owner in an injury lawsuit. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.
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June 18, 2025
Data Center Risks Call For Close Eye During Policy Renewal
Data centers in the United States continue to grow, but the operators have an often unique portfolio of risks that may not fit squarely within the coverage provided by existing insurance products. Here, Law360 speaks with Reed Smith partner Stephen T. Raptis about the potential risks that data center operators may face and how these policyholders should approach renewals to ensure the data center is properly covered.
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June 18, 2025
Loss Of Ga. Immunity Doctrine A Blow To Malpractice Defense
Lawyers in the Peach State are expected to have a tougher time defending against legal malpractice claims now that the Georgia Supreme Court has thrown out an attorney judgment immunity doctrine that was more than 30 years old, rejecting a bid from more than two dozen law firms to keep it alive.
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June 17, 2025
AIG Unit, Air Co. Seek Quick Wins In Herbicide Damage Row
An air services company told a New York federal court that an AIG unit must provide general liability coverage for a lawsuit seeking nearly $2.5 million for grass damage from herbicides, while the unit countered that neither company's general liability policy nor specialty "aerial applicator" policy applies.
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June 17, 2025
Chubb Must Cover Income Losses After Explosion, Co. Says
A refrigeration and air conditioning compressor manufacturer is entitled to tap into its Chubb policy's $34 million in business interruption coverage after it was forced to restrict production at one of its facilities following an explosion, the manufacturer said in a complaint removed to Oklahoma federal court Tuesday.
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June 17, 2025
Insurer Can't Force Another To Cover Worker Injury Suit
An insurer cannot force another to defend a property owner in an underlying worker injury lawsuit through the doctrine of equitable estoppel after both insurers ultimately agreed the policy in question isn't triggered, a New York federal court ruled, finding the policy unambiguous.
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June 13, 2025
Co. Must Pay Travelers $4.5M For Construction Bond Default
A signage company accused of failing to perform agreed upon work at a New York redevelopment project must reimburse Travelers over $4.5 million for settling a contractor's claims made against a performance bond, a Pennsylvania federal court ruled.
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June 12, 2025
Air India Disaster Likely To Pose Massive Insurance Costs
Thursday's deadly Air India disaster could implicate a range of insurance coverage proceedings, but experts said massive costs will likely be shared by multiple insurers in a process that will be shaped in part by investigations into the cause of the crash.
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June 12, 2025
Ohio Law Bars Cities' Negligence Claims Against Hyundai, Kia
A California federal court sided with Hyundai and Kia by finding that an Ohio products liability law bars negligence claims from five Ohio cities in sprawling multidistrict litigation alleging the automakers knowingly sold vehicles with design flaws that resulted in a car theft crime spree.
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June 12, 2025
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
Mandarin Oriental notched a discovery win in its COVID-19 coverage action while appeals courts dealt further defeats in other pandemic-related insurance cases, Uber filed a racketeering lawsuit over sham injury payouts and the Fourth Circuit sided with an insurer in a dispute over stacking policy limits. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.
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June 12, 2025
Fla. Death Damages Row Signals Insurers' Tort Reform Focus
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' veto of a bill that would have repealed limits on noneconomic damages in fatal medical malpractice cases — despite state lawmakers' overwhelming support of the measure — signals broad concerns over how tort reform legislation could impact the insurance industry.
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June 12, 2025
6th Circ. PFAS Ruling Entrusts Coverage Suits To Fed Level
The Sixth Circuit forged its own jurisdictional standard in determining that when coercive and declaratory claims are closely intertwined it's likely an abuse of discretion for a federal court to abstain from adjudication, and experts are praising the decision as a thorough analysis of the appropriateness of exercising jurisdiction over insurance disputes.
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June 12, 2025
Insurer Says $30M Counterclaims Against Builder Not Covered
An insurer says it owes no coverage for nearly $30 million in counterclaims against a construction company that allegedly violated its contract for a Texas project, telling a Tennessee federal court that the counterclaims either didn't involve covered bodily injury or property damage or were otherwise excluded.
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June 12, 2025
TATA AIG Leads Insurance Cover For Air India Crash
TATA AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd. is the lead insurer for hull and liability on the Air India flight that crashed just after take off in Ahmedabad, India on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
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June 11, 2025
Chubb Unit Underpaid Hydroelectric Plant Losses, Suit Says
A Chubb unit underpaid a renewable energy plant operator for losses sustained after several water flow barriers malfunctioned, the assignee of the operator told a New York federal court, saying the insurer paid less than half of the $5.6 million it owed.
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June 11, 2025
Insurer Says Day Care's $1M Child Injury Verdict Not Covered
A day care's insurer told an Alabama federal court it has no duty to cover a $1 million judgment against the center after a jury found it liable for leaving a woman's child in a van during a field trip, citing an exclusion for bodily injury arising from "any auto."
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June 11, 2025
Uber Says Fla. Firm, Drivers Staged Wrecks For Profit
Uber told a Florida federal court Wednesday that at least five of its drivers faked accidents and colluded with healthcare providers and a Florida law firm to file sham litigation against the ride-hailing platform and its insurer, costing millions of dollars in legal defense and settlements.
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June 11, 2025
Insurer Says Law Firm Mishandled Pesticide Exposure Suit
An insurer is claiming it is owed at least $625,000 from a law firm hired to defend a poultry farm against a suit over toxic pesticide exposure, alleging in federal court that it was forced to settle the suit above policy limits due to the firm's negligence and malpractice.
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June 10, 2025
IT Co. Urges 1st Circ. To Affirm It's Blameless For Data Breach
An information security technology company urged the First Circuit on Tuesday to affirm that it isn't liable for a 2018 data breach that exposed confidential information of more than 277,000 of the medical device maker's patients, arguing that the insurer assignee of the device maker had no valid points.
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June 10, 2025
Insurer Seeks Exit From Missouri Tree-Cutting Dispute
An insurer that separately insured a farm and a man accused by the farm of trespassing on its property and cutting down "valuable trees" told a Missouri federal court it should owe no coverage to the man, pointing to an exclusion for damage to vegetation.
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June 09, 2025
8th Circ. Affirms Travelers Doesn't Owe $1.4M For Wall Failure
A Missouri property developer can't recover from Travelers $1.4 million for lost rental income and soft costs after a retaining wall failure caused delays at an apartment construction project, the Eighth Circuit ruled Monday.
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June 09, 2025
Hinshaw Welcomes Insurance Litigator To New Orleans Team
Hinshaw & Culbertson has added a partner from Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz to its global insurance services practice in New Orleans, where she will represent insurance companies and other entities, the 500-lawyer firm announced Monday.
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June 09, 2025
City Says Insurer Owes $9M For Wrongful Incarceration Deal
An insurer for a North Carolina city improperly denied coverage for an underlying suit brought by a Black man who was wrongfully imprisoned for 44 years and is now on the hook for a $9.3 million settlement payment, the city argued in a suit removed to federal court.
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June 06, 2025
Contractor Says Insurer Owes $2M For Caltrans Bridge Losses
A Zurich Insurance Group unit cannot use exclusions to avoid covering more than $2 million in losses a contractor incurred after losing steel casings while constructing a bridge foundation near a Northern California city for the state Department of Transportation, according to a lawsuit removed to federal court.
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June 06, 2025
Other Carrier Must Cover $1.1M Injury Award, Insurer Says
A chiropractor's insurer must pay a $1.1 million award entered against him and the clinic where he works in a suit over injuries that a woman sustained during treatment, the clinic's insurer told a New York federal court, saying the other carrier's policy provides primary coverage.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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Del. 3M Ruling Risks Upending Corporate Insurance Programs
A Delaware court's findings last week in the 3M earplug insurance litigation that a parent company's defense fee payments don't count toward a subsidiary's self-insured retention and that an insurer's duty to pay defense costs doesn't attach to multidistrict litigation merit closer scrutiny in light of the modern corporate form and the fundamental objectives of MDLs, say Julie Hammerman and Gary Thompson at Thompson HD.