Products Liability › Insurance

2013 Tennessee Property Subrogation Cheat Sheet v2.0

A handy reference to property subrogation in Tennessee. ...more

Courts Are Liberally Construing Litigation Insurance Coverage for Class Action Defenses and So Should Defendants

Although the Supreme Court continues to set the bar for class certification higher and higher, plaintiffs’ attorneys continue to file class action lawsuits of questionable merit. The litigation costs required to gain...more

Weekly Law Resume - April 26, 2013: Insurance Coverage – Excess v Primary Carriers and Horizontal Exhaustion

Kaiser Cement & Gypsum Corp. v. Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania Court of Appeal, Second District (April 8, 2013) Last year, in State of California v. Continental Insurance Company (2012) 55 Cal.4th...more

Kaiser Opinion May Affect Ability to Stack Policies issued by Single Carrier

Policyholders should continue to assert that limits can be stacked in situations where there is continuing damage, despite the California Court of Appeals’ latest decision in Kaiser Cement & Gypsum Corp. v. Insurance Company...more

Supreme Court Denies Certiorari in MAO’s Double Damages Case

On April 15, 2013, the United States Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari brought by GlaxoSmithKline (“Glaxo”) seeking review of a Third Circuit decision in favor of Humana Medical Plan (“Humana”), as a Medicare...more

TRAVELERS v. RAPID POWER CORPORATION

Order Granting Summary Judgment

This Kentucky subrogation case arising out of a transformer failure was brought after the Kentucky Supreme Court adopted the economic loss rule in Giddings. Nevertheless, Travelers brings a products case—even though there...more

Insurance Dispute Freezes Avandia Victims’ Fund [Video]

Lawyers.com videojournalist Matt H. Mayes from Los Angeles reports that a big pharma and insurance legal dispute was allowed to deprive innocent victims of money that they were entitled to and often desperately needed. ...more

Insurance Recovery Law -- Apr 18, 2013

Ninth Circuit Narrows Insurers' Options in Pursuing Subrogation Claims Under CERCLA - Why it matters: The Ninth Circuit confirmed that Chubb could have maintained a subrogation action against potentially liable parties...more

MMG INSURANCE CO. v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc.

Order Denying Daubert Challenge

A refreshingly pro-plaintiff ruling in a products liability case on a challenge to origin-and-cause experts with a spoliation kicker. ...more

California Court Addresses Horizontal Exhaustion Requirement

In the recent decision Kaiser Cement & Gypsum Corp. v. Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania 2013 Cal. App. LEXIS 269 (2nd Dist. April 8, 2013), the California Court of Appeal considered whether horizontal or...more

California Court of Appeal Again Finds No Stacking of Liability Policy Limits

Nearly two years ago, the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District issued a decision that upheld the concept of horizontal exhaustion of primary liability policy limits before triggering the obligation of...more

Drowning in a Sea of Tort: The Florida Supreme Court Reels in the Economic Loss Rule

On March 7, 2013, the Florida Supreme Court in Tiara Condominium Assoc., Inc. v. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. expressly limited the application of the economic loss rule to products liability cases. 2013 WL 828003 (Fla....more

Cincinatti-Messinger v. Omegaflex (WD Ky. 2013)

Order on Motion in Limine

If you think that ACV is the measure of property damages in a subrogation case, read this. ...more

Indemnity Ins Co NA v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.

Appellate Decision

Solid spoliation ruling in fire case. Basic mistake of not taking ignition source in the origin area leads to adverse inference. ...more

Risk-Management Mechanisms Associated With Gluten Allergies

Approximately 1% of the United States population is allergic to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. For these individuals, gluten consumption may result in vomiting, bloating, anemia, osteoporosis, diabetes,...more

The Cincinnati Insurance Company et al v. United States Liability Insurance Company

Order on Summary Judgment

A bad day for Cincinnati as it loses summary judgment on a coverage claim for its former fire expert's failures to timely notify their liability carrier of claims arising out of lost evidence. ...more

Illinois Appeals Court Reaffirms Zurich v. Raymark, Strengthens All Sums Precedent Under Illinois Law

In a significant victory for policyholders, the Illinois Appellate Court reversed a trial court decision that John Crane, Inc. (“Crane”) had no excess coverage for asbestos bodily injury claims. By so ruling, the appeals...more

Florida Supreme Court Limits Application of the Economic Loss Rule to Product Liability Cases

Earlier today, the Florida Supreme Court published an important decision in Tiara Condominium Association, Inc., etc. v. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., et al., No. SC10-1022 (March 7, 2013). The case was before the court...more

Pennsylvania Makes Its Mark on National Chinese Drywall Coverage Dispute with “One Occurrence” Decision

On February 15, 2013 a Pennsylvania federal district court held that the shipment of defective drywall from China to the United States constituted one “occurrence” for purposes of insurance coverage, and the occurrence took...more

California Supreme Court Holds Suits Against Dissolved Foreign Corporations Subject to Survival Statutes of State of Incorporation

Greb v. Diamond International Corp., __ Cal.4th __, __ Cal. Rptr.4th __ (February 21, 2013) In a victory for liability insurers against the asbestos plaintiffs’ bar, the California Supreme Court ruled in Greb v. Diamond...more

Conflicting Results from Ontario Appellate Courts in Motions to Strike Claims in Proposed Class Actions

Ontario’s appellate courts have released two decisions in the past week addressing the issue of when claims ought to be struck in the context of proposed class proceedings for failing to disclose a cause of action. First, a...more

Pennsylvania Court Holds Drywall Claims Arose Out of Single Occurrence

In its recent decision in Cincinnati Ins. Co. v. Devon International, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20659 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 15, 2013), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, applying Pennsylvania law,...more

In the Matter of Krafft-Murphy Co., Inc., C.A. No. 6049-VCP (Del. Ch. Feb. 4, 2013) (Parsons, V.C.)

In this opinion, the Court of Chancery denied a motion for judgment on the pleadings by certain asbestos claimants (the “Claimants”) seeking appointment of a receiver under 8 Del. C. § 279, holding that the dissolved...more

A Maze of Uncertainty: Pennsylvania Products Liability Law Remains in a Confusing State of Flux

Attorney Daniel E. Cummins of the Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania insurance defense firm, Foley, Comerford & Cummins provides this detailed analysis of the current state of Pennsylvania Products Liability Law. ...more

Missouri Supreme Court Confirms That A Defendant Need Not Plead Its Liability To Plaintiff In A Third-Party Claim For Contribution

For more than 35 years Missouri defendants have been filing third-party claims for contribution against other potentially liable persons or entities not sued directly by the plaintiff. But for 33 of those years defendants...more