NGE OnDemand: The Importance of Timely Reporting Occurrences, Claims and Suits to Insurers with Paul Walker-Bright
Some jurisdictions consider the ISO-form "bodily injury" definition to be ambiguous as to whether emotional distress requires physical harm to be bodily injury. Many insurers have amended bodily injury to expressly require a...more
In a pair of decisions issued this week, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the notice-prejudice rule applies to occurrence-based, first-party homeowners’ property policies, notwithstanding any contractual notice period...more
The insured, Consolidated Restaurant Operations, a company that owns and operates dozens of restaurants, obtained a commercial property policy from Westport Insurance Company. Subject to certain exclusions, the policy covered...more
The English Court has, for the first time, considered the meaning of a “catastrophe”, as well as how Hours Clauses work in the context of non-damage business interruption losses claimed under two Property Catastrophe Excess...more
In our January insurance update, we include three state cases addressing some less common situations. It’s not often that a pollution exclusion is interpreted in the context of an auto policy. But the South Dakota Supreme...more
Here’s what we discuss in our October Insurance Update. Illinois: Environmental Suits Alleging Non-Compliance with Laws and Regulations Did Not Assert an “Occurrence”- Massachusetts (federal): Insurer May Consider Sums...more
On August 9, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the holding of the District of Massachusetts that failure to provide notice according to a claims-made policy’s terms and conditions forfeits any...more
“We cannot enforce insurance provisions that render coverage so narrow it is illusory.” The Washington Supreme Court used this reasoning to hold that a contractor’s commercial general liability policy was unenforceable where...more
On 17 October 2022, the English Commercial Court delivered three very significant, related judgments, which in part considered aggregation of business interruption losses arising from COVID-19....more
Professional liability insurance is important to physicians for various reasons. Its primary purpose is to fund the costs to defend claims alleging professional negligence and to fund the payment of any loss determined by...more
Assemblyman Gary S. Schaer of New Jersey’s 36th District introduced a proposed bill, A.B. 1075, that would require all commercial liability insurance policies issued in New Jersey to include “faulty workmanship” within the...more
When disaster strikes your business or a lawsuit is filed against you in responding to the crisis, it is easy to overlook the existence of insurance that may reimburse you for the associated expenses and damages. A delay in...more
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently found that insurers did not have to defend a construction company from the San Francisco 49ers’ claim that the company negligently failed to construct the NFL team’s stadium to be...more
Thomas Guastello v. AIG Specialty Insurance Company, — Cal.Rptr.3d –, 2021 WL 650878 (Cal. Ct. App., Feb. 19, 2021), Fourth Appellate District Court of Appeal, Case No. G057714. Various stakeholders in the Pointe Monarch...more
Welcome to CICR’s annual review of insurance cases. Here, we spotlight decisions from the last year that you should know about — and a few pending cases to watch. As our picks for “Cases to Know” (below) indicate,...more
In part 2 of our blog series on reinsurance issues arising from COVID-19, we consider the difficulties that might arise from the application of aggregation clauses in reinsurance policies to COVID-19 losses....more
In recent years, Wisconsin generally has been a pro-policyholder jurisdiction when it comes to long-tail environmental coverage cases. That trend continues with a decision by a Wisconsin appellate court in a case involving...more
Judge Sanders granted partial summary judgment in favor of Raw Seafoods, Inc. (RSI), a seafood processor, in a coverage dispute with its insurer, Hanover Insurance Group (Hanover). Judge Sanders held that Hanover was bound by...more
The conflict between policyholders and insurers over “long-tail” insurance coverage took an unfortunate turn with a recent decision by the New York Court of Appeals on the issue of allocation for long-tail claims. On March...more
It is axiomatic that in order to obtain insurance coverage a policyholder must first establish that a claim falls within a policy’s insuring agreement before coverage under the policy is triggered. For construction claims...more
On February 17, 2015, the Colorado Supreme Court issued Craft v. Phila. Indem. Ins. Co., No. 14sa43, 2015 WL 658785 (Colo. Feb. 17, 2015), in which it held the notice-prejudice rule applicable to occurrence policies does not...more
A legal dispute stemmed from Utica Mutual Insurance Company’s late notice of claim to Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, Utica’s reinsurer. Although the parties’ facultative reinsurance certificate required Utica to provide...more
California Court Adopts Broad Interpretation of “Occurrence,” Finds Coverage - Why it matters: In a victory for policyholders—and a continuation of the trend of courts adopting a broad reading of the term “occurrence”...more
In QBE Ins. Corp. v. Adjo Contracting Corp. (N.Y. App. Div. 2d Dep’t Oct. 29, 2014), an intermediate appellate court in New York confronted cross-appeals involving 15 different insurers embroiled in multiple lawsuits,...more
Last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court let stand the appellate decision in Indalex, Inc. v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa., which held that mold related health problems and property damage allegedly...more