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Duty to Defend Liability Insurance

DRI

The Jenga Effect: Avoiding Traps in Policy Limit Demands & Balancing Liability Excess Insurance Towers

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In the intricate landscape of catastrophic trucking cases and the interplay of multiple layers of liability insurance can resemble a precarious game of Jenga. Each move carries the potential to destabilize the structure,...more

Warner Norcross + Judd

Do You Have Choice of Counsel in Insurance Litigation?

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Do you know which attorneys will represent your interests if your insurance provider has to defend you in litigation? You might be surprised. As a general rule, liability insurance policies – such as those held by family...more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

‘What’s in a Name[d Defendant]?’: Federal Court Suggests Narrow Exception to Insurer’s Broad Duty to Provide a Complete Defense

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Policyholders purchase liability insurance expecting that, when they are sued, their defense will be paid for by their insurer. Because the key value of liability insurance is that it is really “litigation insurance,” courts...more

Flaster Greenberg PC

The Impact of Conflict of Law on Insurance Claims

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When determining whether insurance coverage exists for a claim, a crucial consideration is whether the claim involves an event or occurrence that took place in a state other than where the relevant policy was delivered. This...more

Wiley Rein LLP

Duty to Defend Triggered for Judicial Sanctions on Attorney who Lied About COVID Vaccination Status

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The United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, applying Mississippi law, has held that a federal employee professional liability policy insurer’s duty to defend was unambiguously triggered by...more

Jenner & Block

Client Alert: First Circuit Parses Underlying Complaint to Find Duty to Defend and to Defeat Exclusions

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The duty of a liability insurer to defend a policyholder from litigation is typically described as broad and expansive, extending beyond the insurer’s duty to indemnify. The duty to defend generally obliges an insurer to...more

Cozen O'Connor

Illinois Supreme Court Curtails Tenant Implied Co-Insured Precedent

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On November 28, 2022, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously reversed the appellate court’s decision that an insurer would have to defend a rental property’s tenants against a third-party negligence claim arising from a fire....more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Pennsylvania High Court to Consider Whether Wrongful Death Emotional Distress Damages May Be Included Under Bodily Injury Coverage...

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On October 18, 2022, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania granted allowance of appeal in Kramer v. Nationwide Property and Casualty Insurance Co. regarding the issue of whether the Superior Court erred by finding that “emotional...more

Carlton Fields

Eleventh Circuit Holds Buzz Words in Arbitration Demand Insufficient to Trigger Duty to Defend

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On November 8, 2022, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida that Mount Vernon Fire Insurance Co. did not have a duty to defend Global Travel International...more

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

Getting Your Insurer To Favorably Resolve Litigation

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Where a liability carrier has assumed its insured’s defense under a reservation of rights, a variety of conflicts between those parties may arise when there are settlement discussions to resolve the underlying litigation....more

White and Williams LLP

Top Developments - September 2022

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Pepsi-Cola Metro. Bottling Co. v. Emp’rs Ins. Co., 2022 Wisc. App. LEXIS 598 (Wisc. Ct. App. July 8, 2022) - Wisconsin Court of Appeals (in a divided decision) holds that a “post-loss” assignment of rights under a...more

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

Multiple Liability Policies and Who Pays First

Where multiple liability policies are triggered, does one of the insurers get to insist that its deductible be satisfied before the insured can be provided with a defense? Relatedly, can the insured choose which insurer...more

Zelle  LLP

Opioid Case May Guide Climate Change Insurance Suits

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The rising tide of climate change lawsuits is sure to bring with it a wave of declaratory judgment actions on the issue of whether liability insurers have an obligation to defend fossil fuel producers and other climate change...more

White and Williams LLP

Federal Courts Reject Insurers’ Attempts to Recoup Defense Costs Expended Under Reservation of Rights

In situations where there is a dispute over a duty to defend, an insurer may provide a defense to its insured, subject to a reservation of rights, to not only deny coverage for a defense, but also to file a declaratory...more

Cozen O'Connor

Ninth Circuit Finds that “Subsidence Exclusion” Bars Coverage for Landslide Loss

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The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued an unpublished opinion in Atain Specialty Insurance Company v. JKT Associates, Inc., Case No. 20-16366 (9th Cir., March 11, 2022), finding that a liability policy’s...more

Miller Nash LLP

Third Circuit Finds That Allegation of False Comparative Advertising Triggers Duty To Defend

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Most commercial liability policies provide what is known as “personal and advertising injury” coverage, which usually provides coverage for claims that an insured’s advertising defamed or disparaged another person’s or...more

Wiley Rein LLP

Lawyer’s Professional Liability Insurer has Duty to Defend Suit Alleging Sexual Assault of Client

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Applying Maine law, the United States District Court for the District of Maine has held that a legal professional liability insurer had a duty to defend an insured attorney against a suit alleging sexual assault of a client,...more

White and Williams LLP

When Can Liability Insurers Sue Appointed Underlying Defense Counsel for Malpractice?

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Insured gets sued. Insurer hires defense counsel to represent insured. Defense counsel takes over the case, and eventually, the case ends. Most of the time, the carrier and its insured will be satisfied with the result. There...more

White and Williams LLP

Duty To Defend PFAS MDL Lawsuits: Texas Federal Court Weighs In

Few courts have yet decided insurance coverage issues in litigation involving per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). But yesterday, in Crum & Forster Specialty Insurance Company v. Chemicals, Inc., No. H-20-3493, 2021...more

Foley Hoag LLP

Obligations of Insurer and Policyholder E-book

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The liability insurance relationship is primarily one of contract, with the insurance policy as the principal source of the parties’ obligations. As with other types of insurance, the duties of the parties—and the...more

Hinshaw & Culbertson - Insights for Insurers

Does Tilted Turtle's Slow Payment and Carapace Response Entitle Insurer to Liability Policy Rescission?

A California federal court has ruled that an insured's misrepresentation in a Statement of No Loss in support of reinstatement of its liability insurance policy provided the basis to rescind the policy reinstatement, but not...more

Cozen O'Connor

NY Appellate Court: Liability Insurer Cannot Recover Defense Costs Absent Express Policy Provision

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Given the breadth of the duty to defend, liability insurers often must defend insureds against claims that do not ultimately trigger the duty to indemnify. In some states, an insurer can offer a defense under a reservation of...more

Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP

"Common Sense" Conquers "Creative Pleading," as the Eleventh Circuit Applies Narrow Exception to Florida's "Four-Corners" Rule to...

On July 23, 2020, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, applying Florida law, looked beyond an operative complaint to relieve an insurer of its duty to defend in BBG Design Build, LLC v. Southern Owners Insurance Company. In...more

Rivkin Radler LLP

New York Insurance Coverage Law Update

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United States District Court Orders Insured To Produce Certain Pre-Litigation Documents But Not Others Deemed Work Product 99 Wall sued Allied World seeking coverage under a property policy for water losses at 99 Wall’s...more

Cozen O'Connor

Observations on Erie Insurance Exchange v. Moore: A Misapplication of Precedent

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The duty to defend is a critical threshold determination in all liability coverage disputes. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has provided a clear and consistent directive on the issue: facts alleged in the complaint control...more

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