Ohio presents unique challenges to practitioners handling insurance claims in the state. Join Goldberg Segalla partners Michael A. Hamilton and Sean P. Hvisdas as they host a live, interactive webinar on some of the most...more
Courts were in full swing deciding insurance coverage issues over the past month or so. Here are a few that caught our attention. The Louisiana Supreme Court became the latest state supreme court to find no coverage for...more
A recent insurance coverage decision from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia highlights the difficulties of court interpretation of insurance policies and serves as a warning for contractors...more
Our July Insurance Update is here. This is what we discuss. “Hoosier” daddy? When a Little Daddy’s bouncer chased a drunk patron from Big Daddy’s parking lot, who knew it would lead to the Indiana Supreme Court...more
The United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island (“D.R.I.”) addressed in an Opinion whether insurance coverage is applicable to the release of gasoline from an aboveground storage tank (“AST”) associated with...more
Join us for Hinshaw's Webinar Series: Insurance Insights – What Insurers Need to Know in 2021. This series will feature insurance thought leaders from Hinshaw and RPC, presenting on the most pressing insurance claims topics...more
Our November Insurance Update touches upon some novel issues. •Is an appraisal action – a proceeding to determine fair stock value on the date of merger – a Securities Claim for purposes of a D&O policy? •Must a workers’...more
Under Florida law, similar to that of other states, an insurer’s duty to defend is generally determined solely by the allegations found within the four corners of the complaint. Florida courts, however, recognize an exception...more
In a sweeping decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit extended the absolute pollution exclusion to the unplanned discharge of “rock fines,” pellets produced during quarry operations, and denied coverage for...more
In a 2017 opinion, Xia v. ProBuilders Specialty Insurance Company, the Washington State Supreme Court analyzed whether an insurer breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing in refusing to defend its contractor insured...more
Ambiguity strikes again. While the heavily litigated pollution exclusion is well-known in the insurance world, its progeny—the indoor air exclusion—only recently has started making its way around the block. ...more
On July 10, 2018, Judge John H. McBryde of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, held an insurer owed no coverage to a New Jersey rock quarry owner for the accidental...more
A federal judge recently relied on a pollution exclusion to find that Great American Insurance Company was not obligated to cover losses associated with the unintended distribution of rock fines into New Jersey’s Spruce Run...more
JP Energy Marketing, LLC v. Commerce & Industry Insurance Company, et al., No. 115285, 2018 Okla. LEXIS 11 (Okla. Feb. 5, 2018) - Oklahoma Supreme Court in a case of first impression authorizes an award of appeal-related...more
On August 17, 2017, the Washington Supreme Court declined to reconsider its recent landmark ruling in Xia v. ProBuilders Specialty Insurance Co. RRG, 393 P.3d 748 (Wash. 2017), that an absolute pollution exclusion in an...more
Slapping insurers with breach of contract and bad faith, Washington state’s highest court recently found that a general liability policy’s so-called “absolute” pollution exclusion may not be so absolute. In Xia et al. v....more
The latest round in the fight over the CGL’s “pollution exclusion” — which well-respected commentator Craig F. Stanovich has called “one of the least understood and most litigated portions” of the CGL — went to the insurance...more
Pollution exclusion clauses are an insurance industry staple and are often contained in commercial general liability insurance policies. While one might think that raw sewage would be considered a pollutant, under current...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Northern District of Indiana rejected the insurer’s assertion that its pollution exclusion clauses unambiguously included all contaminants. Indiana, unlike other jurisdictions, is pro-insured when...more
The environmental remediation costs of decommissioning a coal-fired power plant can be chillingly high—in one proposal we recently reviewed, the environmental costs of a 45-year-old plant with four ash ponds approached $30...more
Recent Lawsuit Underscores Critical Lessons for Purchasers of Cyber Insurance - Why it matters: Columbia Casualty Company v. Cottage Health Systems was filed on May 7, 2015, in the Central District of California. Cottage...more
Pollution Exclusion Doesn’t Bar Coverage for Worker Exposed to Hazardous Chemicals That Were Not “Dispersed”: Why it matters - A federal district court in Texas strictly construed a pollution exclusion in...more
The Absolute Pollution Exclusion (“APE”) contained in current general liability insurance policies excludes coverage for costs related to the cleanup of environmental pollution. Insurance companies have taken the position...more
In May 2014, Nevada became the latest state to interpret the breadth and applicability of the pollution exclusion contained within a third-party general liability policy. Although many states have considered this question,...more
On February 27, 2014, the Insurance Committee of the Indiana State Senate voted 6 to 3 against House Bill 1241, which would have amended the Indiana Insurance Code to specify the manner in which the term "pollutant" must be...more