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Orrick's Policy Observer - October 2012

The Observer highlights significant developments in insurance recovery and risk management. In This Issue: - State of California v. Continental Insurance: Opinion Holds Insurers to Their Words - Sixth Circuit...more

No Duty to Defend Wrongful Death Action Where Death Was Classified as a Homicide

In Galvani v. Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Ins. Co., Ltd., 2012 WL 2568220 (N.D. Cal. July 2, 2012), the district court entered summary judgment for a homeowner’s insurer on the grounds that it had no duty to defend an...more

RI Court Holds No Coverage for Criminal Proceedings Involving Nightclub Tragedy

In its recent decision in Derderian v. Essex Insurance Company, 2012 R.I. LEXIS 54 (R.I. Apr. 27, 2012), the Supreme Court of Rhode Island had occasion to consider whether under a general liability policy, an insured was...more

Fifth Circuit: Driving in Violation of Criminal Plea Is Not an "Occurrence" Under Texas Law

In Wilkinson v. State Farm Lloyds, 2012 WL 89957 (5th Cir. (Tex.) Jan. 12, 2012), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found that driving past the house of a sexual molestation victim in violation of a criminal...more

The New Wave of Cyber-Crime Facing Retailers

Retailers are under attack from a new wave of low-tech, hightech criminals. These second-generation cyber-criminals are not necessarily the genius-hacker-types popularized by Hollywood in tag lines such as “Log on. Hack in....more

How to suppress piracy with law

TWo untamed elephants are in the room: piracy and liability. Taming liability controls piracy. Here is how. Piracy unites to protect owners in investments; labour in lives; states in trade; and law in civil safety and...more

Insurer Has Duty to Defend Sexual Abuse Claims Where Negligence of Partner Is Alleged

In State Auto Property and Cas. Ins. Co. v. Kincaid, 2011 WL 344086 (C.D. Ill. February 1, 2011), the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, applying Illinois law, found that a commercial general liability...more

Illinois Rules of Evidence

2011 Illinois Rules of Evidence contrasted with the 2010 Federal Rules of Evidence

A color-coded guide containing the new Illinois Rules of Evidence, the Committee's General and Specific comments, A comparison with the Federal Rules of Evidence and additional commentary....more

Weekly Law Resume - September 9, 2010: Premises Liability - Duty To Protect Customers Does Not Extend To Criminal Conduct...

California law imposes an affirmative duty on business owners to protect customers from foreseeable third-party criminal conduct. This obligation derives from the special relationship between a business owner and his or her...more

Justice for Nepali victim killed in Boston.

The article deals with the killing of Surendra Dangol in Boston, killed by a gunman, while working in a store (owned by a chain)....more

Plaintiff's interrgatorries for collections addressing a counterclaim

In this case, I represent someone who gets paid only for succesfully arguing the value of taxable property. The defendant failed to pay despite the written contract. After I sued them, they responded with a counterclaim...more

Alien Tort Statute Case Update: In Re South African Apartheid Litigation

A District Court judge for the Southern District of New York last week denied in part and granted in part a motion to dismiss in the seminal Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”) case, In Re South African Apartheid Litigation. The In Re...more