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Flooded: Court Finds “Named Windstorm” Coverage, and Not Flood Sublimit, Applies to Superstorm Sandy Water Damage Claim

When the National Weather Service names a storm heading in your direction, you know to expect wind and water. This can create a quandary for property insurers. Is water damage from a named windstorm caused by the flood or the...more

Florida Court Holds It Was “Miscarriage of Justice” to Deny Insurer Award of Appellate Fees

Florida’s offer of judgment statute, Florida Statutes section 768.79, is a common technique for any litigator who wants to place additional risk on the plaintiff. The statute provides that if a defendant in a civil suit files...more

Destination Arbitration: Court Holds Service-Of-Suit Clause Does Not Conflict With Policy’s Arbitration Requirement

Coverage disputes often come down to the interplay between endorsements and the body of the policy. But this tension is not limited to terms addressing coverage. It can also extend to areas such as dispute resolution. ...more

Court Finds No Coverage for $42 Million False Claims Act Suit Due To Late Reporting

A federal court has found no coverage for a $42 million whistleblower settlement due to the insured’s failure to timely report the claim to its carrier. PAMC, Ltd. v. National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pa.,...more

Related Decisions: Three Recent Cases Emphasize Breadth of “Related Wrongful Acts”

Third-party liability policies often include aggregation clauses. As the name suggests, these clauses aggregate “related claims” or “interrelated wrongful acts” into one claim or occurrence....more

Defining ‘Logical Connection’: NC Federal Court Tackles ‘Related Claims’

Insurance carriers and policyholders often argue about the scope of policy provisions. Generally, policyholders take an expansive view of insuring agreements, while carriers often construe them more narrowly. But not all...more

Ninth Circuit Confirms Privacy Exclusion Bars TCPA Claims

Claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) present numerous issues for insurance companies and policyholders. Because TCPA claims lend themselves to class action suits, the potential exposure can be...more

“Arising” tide for insurers: 11th Circuit takes expansive view of Prior Acts Exclusion

Claims-made policies often cover acts that occur before a policy period, so long as they result in a covered claim during the policy period. This is a fundamental difference between claims-made and occurrence policies. But...more

Blowing the Whistle on Willful Misconduct: California Court holds that False Claims Act Suits Are Uninsurable Due to Public Policy

Willful misconduct is uninsurable. It is a fundamental principle of insurance, and it makes sense to both the lay and the lawyerly. But few states go as far as to codify this principle in the insurance code. California is an...more

Federal Court Holds California Insurance Code Bars Duty to Defend Against False Claims Act Violations

The Central District of California held that Section 533 of the Insurance Code eliminated any potential for coverage for suit under the state False Claims Act. On January 4, the U.S. District Court for the Central...more

Subcontractor Exception Torpedoes Insurers’ Defense To Faulty Workmanship Claim

As this blog has reported, a line of cases deciding coverage disputes over faulty workmanship runs against (or, at least, around) a basic rule for interpreting insurance policies. Under that rule, the scope of coverage is...more

Court Finds that False Claims Act Suit Alleges Uninsurable “Willful Acts”

A federal court has ruled that a whistleblower suit under California’s False Claims Act alleged a “willful act” that cannot be covered by liability insurance. In Office Depot Inc. v. AIG Specialty Insurance Company, Case...more

How General is “General Aggregate?”

Although the terms are often used interchangeably, there are several key differences between umbrella and excess coverage. One such distinction is that an umbrella policy can apply to multiple underlying policies. This makes...more

Wall-to-Wall Ads: Florida Court’s Broad Definition of “Advertisement” Expands Scope of Advertising Injury Coverage

“Advertising injury” can be tricky. In theory, the term applies to the type of harm that can be inflicted through advertising media—defamation, disparagement, violation of privacy rights or misappropriation of intellectual...more

Florida Appellate Court Rejects Bid to Curb Insureds’ Assignments to Contractors

Many property insurance policies contain terms that prohibit assignment, but Florida law has long deemed those terms inoperative once a loss has occurred. E.g., W. Fla. Grocery Co. v. Teutonia Fire Ins. Co., 74 Fla. 220...more

Et tu, Buddy?: When Excess Insurers Sue for Bad Faith

Insurers don’t, as a rule, like bad faith suits. But life can play funny tricks—as when a judgment against an insured breaches a layer of excess coverage, because the primary carrier failed to settle within its policy...more

Leap of Bad Faith: TPAs May Be Sued for Aiding Their Own Actions

Insurers have a duty to process claims in good faith, but sometimes they farm the job out to third-party administrators (TPAs). If the TPA fouls up, many states hold that the insurer is still liable—for its own breach of...more

Peeking Around Four Corners: Wisconsin Insurers Have Found a Way to Use Extrinsic Evidence to Excuse the Defense of Pending Claims

It is a truism that a liability insurer’s duty to defend is extremely broad—especially in states that apply the “four corners rule.” Under that rule, the insurer has a duty to defend whenever the underlying complaint alleges...more

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