Identifying and Quantifying Government Contract Claims
Can’t We All Just Get Along? Effective Ways to Navigate the Tri-Partite Relationship Among Policyholders, Insurers, and Insurer Chosen Defense Counsel
Settling a Claim: Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable
Reservation of Rights and the Insurer
In this episode of "Don’t Take No for an Answer," Lynda A. Bennett and Alexander B. Corson explore the complex issue of "allocation" in the context of defense costs in insurance claims. They discuss what steps to take when...more
With very limited exceptions, liability policies provide insureds with two primary benefits: a defense paid for by the insurance carrier and indemnity for covered claims. These benefits to the insured are purchased with...more
Courts took up some interesting insurance questions this past month. Here’s some we address in our June Insurance Update. When a government sponsored cyberattack infects computers worldwide, does the war exclusion apply? ...more
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, applying New York law, has held that an E&O insurer had no obligation to contribute toward the defense of an underlying matter in light of its policy’s...more
The Eastern District of Pennsylvania, applying Pennsylvania law, has held that a healthcare professional liability policy’s sexual abuse/misconduct sublimit applied to claims of negligent hiring and supervision against the...more
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
Not many cases in Florida analyze Professional Services Exclusions in general liability policies. However, on September 16, 2022, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals released an order providing some clarification about the...more
Almost everyone loves insurance in lawsuits. Plaintiffs love the potential pocket to pay the claim; defendants love the safety net of their insurer funding the defense and potentially the damages that may flow from an adverse...more
A California federal court has held that neither sending a reservation of rights letter nor the mere filing of a suit seeking recission or declaratory relief while an insurer defends the insured amounts to a breach of an...more
A federal district court, applying California law, has held that an insurer owed a duty to defend and indemnify an insured in an underlying nuisance litigation under a not-for-profit D&O policy, as the policy’s pollution,...more
The United States District Court for the District of South Dakota, applying South Dakota law, has held that an insured healthcare system was barred from settling without its healthcare liability insurer’s consent where the...more
In the defense of a claim, the relationship between the policyholder, the insurer, and the defense counsel, also known as the tri-partite relationship, is important. Though each party’s approach to settling a claim may be...more
Although the time may be right to settle that underlying action, issues can arise when your insurer is not on the same page, especially if the insurer has agreed to defend the claim subject to a reservation of rights on...more
A recent federal appeals court case applying Utah law goes to the heart of the conflict that arises between a policyholder and insurer when an insurer defends a policyholder under a reservation of rights and receives a...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
The Nevada Supreme Court held that insurers may seek reimbursement of defense costs if a court determines that it owed no duty to defend and the insurer reserved reimbursement rights. In Nautilus Insurance Company v....more
In our March Insurance Update, we discuss four state supreme court cases and four cybercrime cases. The state high courts address: •From whose perspective should a consent-to-settle provision be judged? •What standard...more
In July of 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit revisited and affirmed its prediction that Texas courts will not allow extrinsic evidence to determine an insurer’s duty to defend where such evidence...more
In National Fire & Marine Insurance Company v. Hampton, No. 19-17235 (9th Cir. Oct. 21, 2020), the Ninth Circuit held that a doctor’s guilty plea to the unlawful distribution of a controlled substance barred insurance...more
Applying Nevada law, the Ninth Circuit has held that a professional liability insurer did not have a duty to defend or indemnify a doctor for a wrongful death action because the doctor’s guilty plea triggered an exclusion for...more
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, applying Pennsylvania law, has held that an insurer is estopped from denying coverage for a legal malpractice action after defending the action for over a year...more
The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, applying Texas law, has held that a legal malpractice insurer was not liable for a statutory bad faith claim by the insured law firm because the evidence...more
Under established Illinois law, an insurer must defend a legal action filed against its insured unless it is clear from the face of the underlying complaint that the allegations fail to state facts which bring the case...more
On August 13, 2020, in the putative class action challenging AXA’s COI rate increase on Athena Universal Life II (“AUL II”) policies, Judge Jesse M. Furman of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico recently granted summary judgment in favor of Liberty International Underwriters after determining that coverage was not created by waiver or estoppel for a claim first...more