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General Liability

  • March 19, 2025

    NC Captive Insurer's Owner Can't Shirk Self-Dealing Claims

    North Carolina's business court has largely rejected a majority shareholder's efforts to curtail claims he seized control of a captive insurance company only to run it into the ground, finding the suit sufficiently ties him to unpaid premiums that dried up the insurer's sole source of revenue.

  • March 19, 2025

    Law360 Announces The Members Of Its 2025 Editorial Boards

    Law360 is pleased to announce the formation of its 2025 Editorial Advisory Boards.

  • March 18, 2025

    BetterHelp Demands Insurer Assist In $7.8M FTC Payment

    Online counseling company BetterHelp told a California federal court that its insurer must cover a $7.8 million Federal Trade Commission payment and must defend it in underlying litigation brought by consumers who claim the company violated laws via its collection, use and disclosure of private health information.

  • March 17, 2025

    Insurer Stands Alone Before $8.5M Condo Defect Judgment

    The insurer for a contractor can't get help from third-party insurers to pay an $8.5 million judgment for alleged shoddy workmanship on a 2005 condo project because a settlement agreement released them from all claims, a Florida federal judge said Monday.

  • March 14, 2025

    Williams Kastner Accused Of Malpractice After $128M Payout

    An insurer wouldn't have been forced to pay 64 times its policy limit after a deadly crane collapse in Seattle were it not for its attorneys at Williams Kastner, the carrier told a Washington state court, accusing its counsel of malpractice that caused it to pay $128 million.

  • March 14, 2025

    Calif. Insurance Chief OKs State Farm Rates Pending Hearing

    The California Department of Insurance on Friday provisionally approved State Farm's request for an emergency rate hike following the Los Angeles fires, including a nearly 22% increase for homeowners, saying final approval will be contingent on the insurer justifying its request at a hearing.

  • March 14, 2025

    5th Circ. Reverses Insurer's Bar Assault Coverage Win

    The Fifth Circuit reversed on Friday a decision finding a bar's insurer had to pay only $1 million of a $3.2 million judgment because a settlement demand letter was too vague, saying the lower court should have declined to hear the case and must toss it on remand.

  • March 13, 2025

    Canada's New PM Seen As Leader Conscious Of Climate Risk

    As the former central banker Mark Carney assumes leadership over Canada's government, experts are pointing to his comments on climate change risks to insurers as a watershed moment in appreciating the financial risks of a warming planet.

  • March 13, 2025

    Coverage Bars Fla. Worker Who Died In Fall, Insurer Says

    A Michigan-based insurance company has asked a Florida federal court to declare that it doesn't owe coverage in a claim stemming from a condominium worker's death after falling five stories, asserting that its policy doesn't cover the death if it occurred during the scope of the employer's business.

  • March 13, 2025

    Ohio Co. Can't Get New Trial After Scrapped $18M Award

    An Ohio startup on Thursday lost its latest bid to revive an $18.3 million jury verdict it won against TransUnion for allegedly holding its source code hostage after ending a business deal.

  • March 13, 2025

    Meet The State Rep. Working To Bring Firearm Insurance To Ill.

    As state and local governments consider the ways in which insurance can be used to regulate firearm use, Rep. Bob Morgan is leading the charge in Illinois, creating a task force to bring insurance experts and other related leaders together to formulate liability insurance for firearm owners. Here, Law360 speaks with Morgan as he works to discover whether a stand-alone policy or special endorsement can be used by individuals to promote safer firearm practices within the state.

  • March 13, 2025

    Chubb Units Say Insurer Must Share $15M Explosion Costs

    Another insurer must help cover the nearly $15 million two Chubb units spent settling injury claims against the owner and operator of a gas-processing plant that faced 15 underlying lawsuits stemming from a fatal explosion, the units told a Louisiana federal court.

  • March 13, 2025

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    Progressive's $48 million settlement for underpaying New York drivers was finalized, insurers escaped covering opioid litigation and claims, Viacom and National Amusements Inc. got to continue their quests for coverage of shareholder litigation, and California state legislators discussed insurance rates after the wildfires.

  • March 12, 2025

    Mo. Court Finds Exclusion Bars Mallinckrodt Opioid Coverage

    A group of insurers have no coverage obligations under certain policies issued to drugmaker Mallinckrodt as a trust created from the company's first bankruptcy seeks to resolve underlying opioid claims with the help of insurance benefits, a Missouri state court ruled, finding a "your products" exclusion applicable.

  • March 12, 2025

    Mich. Justices Fret About Insurer Fallout In Benefits Case

    The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed receptive to an insurance pool's argument that it does not owe coverage to a municipality for canceling a retirement benefit, asking about the potential for a major impact on the industry were it to affirm an adverse ruling.

  • March 12, 2025

    Publix Policies Don't Cover Opioid Claims, Court Says

    Insurers for Publix have no duty to defend or indemnify the supermarket chain in dozens of public nuisance lawsuits related to the opioid crisis, a Florida federal court said Wednesday, following Publix's renewed request that the court enter a final judgment so it could proceed with appeal.

  • March 12, 2025

    Chipwich Maker Blames Broker For $4.5M Recall Loss

    The maker of Chipwich ice cream sandwiches told a Connecticut state court that its broker negligently failed to secure product recall insurance, causing a preventable loss of $4.5 million to the company, after desserts were destroyed because of potential listeria contamination.

  • March 11, 2025

    Captive Insurer Shareholders Can't Target Owner, Court Told

    The majority owner of a now-defunct North Carolina captive insurer wasn't personally obligated to pay premiums for nursing homes reportedly under his control, his counsel told a state court judge in seeking to pare down a self-dealing suit lobbed by the minority shareholders.

  • March 11, 2025

    Property Co. Says Insurer Must Pay $10M For Judgment

    The insurer for builders of a luxury mixed-use development in Oakland, California, must cover more than $10 million after a judgment was entered against the entities in an underlying suit brought by a property company asserting negligence and trespass claims, according to a complaint removed to federal court Tuesday.

  • March 11, 2025

    Lyft Driver Says Up To $1M In UIM Benefits Owed Over Crash

    A Lyft Inc. driver who said he was severely injured in a head-on collision while completing a ride is accusing the ride-hailing giant and its insurer of failing to provide him up to $1 million in underinsured motorist coverage, even though he said Lyft promised such coverage to its drivers.

  • March 11, 2025

    Insurer Says AIG Unit Must Cover Water Contamination Suit

    An AIG unit can't rely on its policy's pollution exclusion to bar coverage for a Texas water utility accused of providing contaminated water to residents, the utility's other insurer told a federal court, saying the court has already rejected the application of the exclusion in a related case.

  • March 10, 2025

    Colo. Justices To Review Insurers' Noncooperation Defense

    The Colorado Supreme Court will consider whether a pair of insurance companies can defeat a man's bad-faith lawsuit by arguing his failure to turn over medical information about a surgery before his auto accident breached a contractual duty, according to an order Monday granting two petitions for review.

  • March 10, 2025

    Insurer May Be Liable For Coverage Of School Abuse Suits

    A Washington federal judge said an insurer may still be liable for covering underlying claims of physical and sexual abuse against staff at a boarding school for troubled youth on the state's Cypress Island, because one policy year unlike others was missing an endorsement requiring connection to a particular location.

  • March 10, 2025

    4th Circ. Reverses $10M Coverage Cap For Aluminum Co.

    The Fourth Circuit on Monday reversed a lower court's ruling capping an aluminum supplier's total recovery for losses related to a fire at $10 million, saying a molten material endorsement in the company's all-risk policies is ambiguous.

  • March 10, 2025

    Freight Co. Says Cellphone Dealer Ignoring Discovery Bids

    A freight coordination company said it has no choice but to ask a North Carolina federal court to sanction a cellphone dealer who sued it after a truckload of devices was stolen, claiming that it hasn't received adequate discovery responses.

Expert Analysis

  • Superfund Site Reopenings Carry Insured Risk, Opportunity

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's reported plans to reopen certain Superfund sites citing the presence of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances raise notable liability concerns, but may also present unique opportunities for policyholders under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, say attorneys at Haynes and Boone.

  • 3 AI Regulation Developments Insurers Must Follow

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    Insurance regulators continue to actively develop regulations and guidance on the use of artificial intelligence, so insurers should be aware of recent developments from the Colorado Division of Insurance, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the New York Department of Financial Services, say attorneys at Willkie.

  • Harvard's Broker Fight Shows Active Risk Management Is Key

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    Harvard University’s recently filed suit against its insurance broker for alleged malpractice in handling the Students for Fair Admissions claim illustrates that risk management requires the concerted effort of policyholders, brokers and insurers to protect against disastrous losses, say William McMichael and David Klein at Pillsbury.

  • Illinois Trump Tower Ruling Illuminates Insurance 'Occurrence'

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    In Continental Casualty v. 401 North Wabash Venture, an Illinois appellate court found that Trump Tower was not entitled to insurance coverage for operating its HVAC system without a permit, helping to further define a widely litigated general liability insurance issue — what constitutes an "occurrence," say Robert Tugander and Greg Mann at Rivkin Radler.

  • How Shareholder Activists Are Targeting Insurers

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    As shareholder activists take a closer look at the insurance industry, they are pushing insurers to take value-enhancing and climate-related measures — but insurers can prepare by anticipating activist concerns, maintaining robust shareholder engagement, and considering changes in response to the universal proxy rules, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Breaking Down Insurers' Improper Recoupment Efforts

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    In a recent trend, insurance companies have sought to recoup defense costs from their policyholders, but there are four counterarguments that policyholders can deploy to fend off these concerning recoupment efforts, say William Passannante and Nicholas Bradley at Anderson Kill.

  • Insurers Should Prepare For 'Black Swan' Climate Disasters

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    As rapid climate change results in increased risk of casualties and property loss from rare, severe weather events, the insurance industry should take five crucial steps toward evolving and continuing operations, including advanced analytic techniques and investments in alternative energy sources, say Stephen Brown and Irena Maier at Wilson Elser.

  • How Ill. Supreme Court Could Shape Statutory Violation Cases

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    In Fausett v. Walgreens, the Illinois Supreme Court will take up the question of whether a violation of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act satisfies the injury-in-fact requirement, and any outcome could significantly change the litigation landscape in Illinois, say Donald Patrick Eckler and Joshua Zhao at Freeman Mathis.

  • 3 Quirks Of New Jersey Insurance Coverage Law

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    There are a multitude of state-specific requirements and nuances that make New Jersey insurance law unique, including in the areas of duty to defend, reservation of rights and bad faith, say attorneys at Goldberg Segalla.

  • Conn. Insurers Should Note Stricter Market Exit Oversight

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    The Connecticut Insurance Department recently issued a bulletin that reflects a unique and stricter approach to insurers' market withdrawals and reductions in property and casualty business, making clear that it will not assess compliance based on an insurer's intent, but on the effect of the insurer's actions, says Elizabeth Retersdorf at Day Pitney.

  • Extreme Weather And Renewable Project Insurance Coverage

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    The regularity and severity of extreme weather events driven by climate change are putting renewable energy projects increasingly at risk — so project owners, contractors and investors should understand the issues that can arise in these situations when seeking recovery under a builder's risk insurance policy, say Paul Ferland and Joshua Tumen at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Potential Relief For Nevada Insureds Is On The Horizon

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    A proposed regulation recently issued by the Nevada Division of Insurance would severely restrict the state's new law prohibiting burning-limits policies, enacting welcome changes to address businesses' concerns that the law will make it harder to obtain cost-effective liability insurance, says Sheri Thome at Wilson Elser.

  • Suits Likely Over Nevada Law Limiting Claimant Injury Exams

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    A new Nevada law placing barriers on the mental or physical examinations that defendants use to evaluate claimants' injuries will likely spur waves of litigation to reconcile it with existing rules and practice, says Michael Lowry at Wilson Elser.