General Liability
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January 17, 2025
Âé¶¹´«Ã½360 Names Firms Of The Year
Eight law firms have earned spots as Âé¶¹´«Ã½360's Firms of the Year, with 54 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, steering some of the largest deals of 2024 and securing high-profile litigation wins, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.
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January 16, 2025
GM, OnStar Agree To FTC's Ban On Location Data Sharing
General Motors and OnStar agreed to a five-year ban on disclosing geolocation and driver behavior data to consumer reporting agencies to resolve the Federal Trade Commission's allegations that the companies didn't get drivers' consent before sharing, the agency announced Thursday.
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January 16, 2025
Fire-Safe Rebuilding Key To Reducing LA Insurance Issues
Reducing the potential of fires like those in Los Angeles to disrupt insurance and housing markets will require a significant and sustained effort to lower physical risks in fire-prone communities, and a commitment to rebuilding to stronger standards.
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January 16, 2025
Insured Atty Says Strike Trade Issues Need Special Coverage
Union leaders and management for ports and shipping companies reached a tentative deal to avoid a major strike, a close call that highlighted how losses from trade disruptions can fall through the cracks of standard insurance coverage. Stephen Raptis, a partner at Reed Smith LLP's insurance recovery practice, spoke to Âé¶¹´«Ã½360 about the kinds of losses that can result from a strike-induced supply chain disruption, where the usual coverage options fall short and what policyholders in the maritime trade can do to minimize their risks.
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January 16, 2025
Insurer Must Share In Calif. Property Co. Defense, Court Told
An insurer for a property management company said another carrier must contribute to the defense of an underlying suit accusing the company of failing to maintain a mobile home park, telling a California federal court that the reasons for the other insurer's denial are either improper or moot.
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January 16, 2025
Allstate Hit With Class Action Over Driver Data Collection
Allstate illegally obtained the personal driving data of millions of policyholders via software embedded in third-party apps and secretly used that data to hike premiums, deny claims or drop policyholders from coverage altogether, according to a proposed class action filed in Illinois federal court.
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January 16, 2025
Home Depot's 6th Circ. Loss Reveals Cyber Coverage Gaps
The Sixth Circuit's finding that an electronic data exclusion in Home Depot's insurance policies barred coverage for a $50 million claim stemming from a 2014 data breach marks an important distinction in litigation over whether multiple types of policies can cover the same loss, experts say.
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January 16, 2025
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
The Sixth Circuit backed Home Depot’s loss in its $50 million data breach coverage fight, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a California farming partnership’s crop coverage dispute, and the Fourth Circuit ruled that an insurer must reimburse Liberty Mutual for a $1 million appeal bond. Here, Âé¶¹´«Ã½360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.
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January 15, 2025
4th Circ. Affirms $1M Appeal Bond Reimbursement Ruling
Atain Specialty Insurance Co. must reimburse Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. for the $1 million appeal bond Liberty issued to an Atain insured that ultimately lost its appeal in an underlying suit, the Fourth Circuit ruled Wednesday, even though Liberty incorrectly indicated it previously closed the bond.
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January 15, 2025
Grocer, Insurers Must Produce Docs In NC Opioid Row
A North Carolina state court issued a discovery decision in a dispute between grocery chain Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc. and a slew of its insurers over coverage for about 100 lawsuits seeking damages related to the opioid epidemic, telling the parties to hand over certain documents from between 1993 and 2014.
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January 15, 2025
Chubb Unit Seeks Exit From Bar's $105M Drunken Driving Suit
A Chubb unit said it no longer owes coverage to a bar appealing a $105 million judgment related to a drunken patron's car crash, telling a Texas federal court the bar violated the terms of the policy by refusing to cooperate with the insurer's defense.
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January 14, 2025
Lockheed, CNA Pause Coverage Suit Amid Settlement Talks
A Maryland federal court agreed Tuesday to continue pausing a dispute between Lockheed Martin Corp. and a CNA Financial unit over coverage for lawsuits accusing the aerospace and defense giant of environmental contamination, as the parties negotiate a potential coverage settlement.
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January 13, 2025
6th Circ. OKs Home Depot's $50M Data Breach Coverage Loss
The Sixth Circuit affirmed Monday a finding that an electronic-data exclusion provision in Home Depot Inc.'s commercial general liability excess policies with Steadfast Insurance Co. and Great American Assurance Co. unambiguously barred coverage for the retail giant's $50 million claim for defense and settlement costs over a 2014 data breach.
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January 13, 2025
State Farm, Insurance Association Escape Data-Sharing Suit
An Illinois federal judge dismissed a proposed class action complaint Monday accusing State Farm of improperly sharing personal health information with a consortium of other insurers that allowed them to raise premiums and deny coverage industrywide, finding the conduct wasn't prohibited under the Illinois Insurance Code.
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January 10, 2025
Excess Insurers Freed From Kiwanis Sex Abuse Case
A Washington federal judge on Friday dismissed child sex abuse survivors' claims against excess insurers of a boys foster home run by Kiwanis International, calling the plaintiffs' demands for coverage of a $21 million judgment "unripe" because the home's primary policies have not been drained.
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January 10, 2025
Contractor Seeks Coverage For $2.5M Grass Damage Row
An air services company told a New York federal court Friday that an AIG unit cited a raft of inapplicable exclusions to deny commercial general liability coverage over claims that it caused nearly $2.5 million in damages by aerially applying herbicides on the wrong areas.
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January 10, 2025
Insurer Says No Coverage For Unlicensed Electrician's Death
An Oklahoma grocery store's insurer shouldn't have to cover litigation brought by the family of a man who died while performing electrical work because he was unlicensed and because the store, when obtaining its policy, said it didn't hire independent contractors, the insurer told a federal court.
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January 10, 2025
LA Fire Insured Damages Could Top $20B, JP Morgan Says
Insured losses from wildfires still blazing through Los Angeles could exceed $20 billion, J.P. Morgan analysts said in client notes, a steep increase from the more than $12 billion California insurers incurred from the next costliest spate of wildfires in 2018.
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January 09, 2025
EV Co. Says Liberty Mutual Owes $25M In Construction Clash
Vietnamese electric car company VinFast accused Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. in North Carolina federal court of wrongfully refusing to pay more than $25 million for a $40 million deposit bond related to the construction of a manufacturing plant in the state.
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January 09, 2025
Calif. Reinsurance Plan Spurs Mixed Feelings As Fires Spread
One week before the Los Angeles wildfires began, California's insurance regulator said insurers would soon be required to increase coverage in areas deemed high-risk for wildfires, leaving experts split over whether the regulation is an overdue update or an opportunity to pass costs onto policyholders.
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January 09, 2025
Top Climate Stories For Insurance Attys To Watch In 2025
Climate change is fueling a national insurance crisis that is threatening housing markets, municipal tax revenues and the ability to adapt to extreme weather events. Here, Âé¶¹´«Ã½360 examines the top climate stories attorneys should watch in 2025.
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January 09, 2025
J&J Spin-Off Says Talc Committee Can't Hire Brown Rudnick
Johnson & Johnson's bankrupt spin-off called Brown Rudnick's bid to represent an official committee of talc claimants "an ethical violation," telling a Texas bankruptcy judge that the law firm's previous work for a group trying to toss the case clashes with the committee's support for its Chapter 11 plan.
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January 09, 2025
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
A Delaware court sided with a policyholder in a dispute over a bump-up exclusion, an Ohio federal court permitted an interlocutory appeal on the number of occurrences at issue over recalled batches of peanut butter, and a Pennsylvania appeals court clarified when stacking of underinsured motorist benefits is permitted. Here, Âé¶¹´«Ã½360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.
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January 09, 2025
Calif. Insurance Chief Blocks Policy Cancellation In Fire Zones
Insurance companies can't cancel or refuse to renew homeowners coverage for policyholders in the immediate vicinity of the Los Angeles wildfires for one year, the California Department of Insurance announced as fires continue to ravage Southern California.
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January 09, 2025
IRS Gets First Dibs On $1M BP Oil Spill Payout, 11th Circ. Says
The IRS gets first priority to a $1 million settlement BP paid to a staffing company that racked up $23 million in federal tax debt and went bankrupt following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed, denying an insurer's claim to the money.
Expert Analysis
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11th Circ. Ruling May Impede Insurers' Defense Cost Recoup
The Eleventh Circuit's recent Continental Casualty v. Winder Laboratories ruling that insurers cannot obtain reimbursement of defense costs from their insureds where the policy itself does not require such reimbursement is likely to be cited as persuasive authority in Georgia and other states without clear precedent on the issue, say Christy Maple and Robert Whitney at Phelps Dunbar.
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Groundbreaking Nev. Âé¶¹´«Ã½ May Alter Insurance Landscape
The Nevada Legislature recently passed a law prohibiting insurers from issuing liability policies with eroding limits provisions that has the potential to create massive shifts in the marketplace — and specifically in areas like professional liability, cyber, and directors and officers insurance, says Will Bennett at Saxe Doernberger.
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Insurance Insights From 5th Circ. Blue Bell Coverage Ruling
The Fifth Circuit's recent ruling that denied Blue Bell insurance coverage for the defense costs incurred from a shareholder lawsuit underscores the importance of coordination of different coverages and policies across programs, and the potential perils of seeking recovery for losses under nontraditional policies, say Geoffrey Fehling and Casey Coffey at Hunton.
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The Legal Issues Flying Around The Evolving Drone Market
As the number of drone registrations is expected to more than double over the next three years, the industry faces new risks and considerations related to privacy, Fourth Amendment, criminal, evidentiary, First Amendment, and insurance litigation, say attorneys at Covington.
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What The ESG Divide Means For Insurers And Beyond
The debate around ESG is becoming increasingly polarized, with some states passing legislation that prohibits the use of ESG factors and others advancing affirmative legislation, highlighting the importance for insurers and other companies to understand this complex legal landscape, say Scott Seaman and Bessie Daschbach at Hinshaw.
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Consider Self-Help To Trigger Additional-Insured Status
A New Jersey federal court recently affirmed that owners and contractors can use self-help by filing third-party claims for indemnification against subcontractors, triggering coverage from a subcontractor's insurance by asserting that an employee's injuries resulted from the subcontractor's fault or the employee's own negligence, say Allen Wolff and Ethan Middlebrooks at Anderson Kill.
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Why 7th Circ.'s BIPA Insurance Analysis Is Significant
The Seventh Circuit's ruling in Citizens v. Wynndalco is the first appellate opinion on one of the three major exclusions raised by insurers faced with a duty to defend alleged violations of the Biometric Information Privacy Act and could foreshadow future BIPA opinions favoring policyholders, say John Vishneski and Adrienne Kitchen at Reed Smith.
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What 6th Circ. Ruling May Portend For PFAS Coverage Cases
The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Admiral Insurance v. Fire-Dex, rejecting the insurer's attempt to avoid coverage, shows that federal courts may decline to resolve novel PFAS state-law issues, and that insurers may have less confidence than originally intimated in the applicability of the pollution exclusion to PFAS claims, say attorneys at Hunton.
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Insurance Considerations For State Biometric Privacy Claims
As Connecticut and Colorado join the growing number of states that have enacted biometric data privacy acts auguring significant damages, in-house counsel thinking about insurance coverage for privacy liability should consider several key factors including clarity of exclusions, say Peter Halprin and Tae Andrews at Pasich.
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5th Circ. Ruling Aids Insureds In Contractual Exclusion Rows
The Fifth Circuit's recent insurance decision in Windermere Oaks v. Allied World, in favor of coverage, provides policyholders with guidance on how to distinguish between contractual and noncontractual claims when insurers deploy broadly worded liability exclusions to deny coverage, say Max Louik and David Ledet at Reed Smith.
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2nd Circ. Reinsurance Ruling Correctly Applied English Âé¶¹´«Ã½
Contrary to a recent Âé¶¹´«Ã½360 guest article's argument, the Second Circuit correctly applied English law when it decided in Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania v. Equitas that concurrent reinsurance certificates required the reinsurer to cover loss in accordance with the law of the policy's governing jurisdiction, say Peter Chaffetz and Andrew Poplinger at Chaffetz Lindsey.
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ALI, Bar Groups Need More Defense Engagement For Balance
The American Âé¶¹´«Ã½ Institute and state bar committees have a special role in the development of the law — but if they do not do a better job of including attorneys from the defense bar, they will come to be viewed as special interest advocacy groups, says Mark Behrens at Shook Hardy.
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2nd Circ. Reinsurance Ruling Misconstrues English Âé¶¹´«Ã½
The Second Circuit's finding in Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania v. Equitas Insurance, that London-based reinsurer Equitas owed coverage for losses outside the policy period, stems from that court's misinterpretation of English law on reinsurance policy construction, says Christopher Foster at Holman Fenwick.