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Ambiguous Insurance Industry

Pillsbury - Policyholder Pulse blog

Say What You Mean: Delaware Court Finds Bump-Up Exclusion Ambiguous as Applied to Mergers Versus Acquisitions

Long a feature of directors’ and officers’ (D&O) liability insurance policies, the so-called “Bump-Up” Exclusion has gotten significant attention over the last few years. Because of the recent escalation in securities...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Yahoo Inc. v. National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pitts.: Revisiting the Rules of Policy Interpretation 

In Yahoo Inc. v. National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, — Cal. Rptr. 3d —;2022 Cal. LEXIS 6887; 2022 WL 16985647 (Nov. 17, 2022), the California Supreme Court applied established rules of policy interpretation and found...more

Pillsbury - Policyholder Pulse blog

Buyer Beware: Search for Litigation Time Bombs in Your Policies

Insurance policies are legal documents. In the event of a dispute, their scope and meaning will be submitted to a court or arbitrator for interpretation. Most brokers are not attorneys. Most risk managers are not attorneys....more

McDermott Will & Emery

Tyll v. Stanley Black & Decker: When Plan Ambiguity Cost an Employer $4 Million

McDermott Will & Emery on

An employer learned the full cost of ambiguity when a Connecticut federal district court agreed with an employee’s widow that the word “maximum” was ambiguous in the company’s life insurance plan, thus making the widow...more

Carlton Fields

A Lesson in Sticking to Your Guns: Court Reverses Course and Finds No Duty to Defend or Indemnify on a Motion for Reconsideration

Carlton Fields on

On May 1, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia held that a firearms exclusion in a general liability insurance policy applied to bar coverage for an underlying action arising from a shooting at the...more

Farella Braun + Martel LLP

“That Particular Part” – Yet More

Massachusetts Appeals Court Gets It Right – Mostly - Hot on the heels of the Federal Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in MTI, Inc. v. Employers Insurance Company of Wausau, __ F.3d __, 2019 WL 321423 (10th Cir....more

Cozen O'Connor

Tenth Circuit: That “Particular Part” Deemed Ambiguous

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On January 25, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, applying Oklahoma law, held that the phrase “that particular part” is ambiguous and may refer to either the distinct component upon which an insured works...more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

The Protective Safeguards—Heat Maintained Endorsement Means What it Says: Eastern District of New York Grants Summary Judgment...

Typical first party property policies include provisions that address failure to maintain heat as excluded losses. The Eastern District of New York recently analyzed a specific endorsement requiring that heat be maintained at...more

Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP

Ambiguous Application Questions Preclude Summary Judgment on Rescission Claim

In Duarte v. Pacific Specialty Ins. (No. A143828; filed 6/12/17, ord. pub. 6/29/17) a California appeals court held that an insurer was not entitled to summary judgment on its rescission claim because the disputed questions...more

Zelle  LLP

The Insurer’s Dilemma: To Produce, or Not to Produce?

Zelle LLP on

“Request for Production Number 25: Produce the entire underwriter’s file for underwriting the policy.” This familiar discovery demand has become far too common in the realm of insurance coverage litigation, and the request is...more

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

District of Connecticut Reaffirms That Definition Of “Collapse” Is Unambiguous

The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut recently reaffirmed its ruling that the term “collapse,” as defined by a homeowners insurance policy, is unambiguous and that the policy in question did not...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Despite Pollution Exclusion, Insurer On Hook for Contamination in Indiana

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

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

Robinson+Cole Property Insurance Coverage...

Is Anyone Home? Washington Supreme Court Interprets Two-Step Vacancy Endorsement

Disputes involving “vacancy” exclusions typically involve the appropriate definition of that word. The recently-decided case of Lui v. Essex Ins. Co., 2016 Wash. LEXIS 692 (Wash. June 9, 2016) presents a somewhat different...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Insurance Recovery Law - September 2015

Exception to Mold Exclusion Requires Defense of Suit Alleging Injuries From Moldy Water - Why it matters: An exclusion for "Fungi or Bacteria" did not prevent a federal court judge in Tennessee from ordering an insurer...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

California Court of Appeal Finds Life Insurance Policy Ambiguous and Rules in Favor of the Insured

Sequeira v. Lincoln Nat’l Life Ins. Co., No. A139639 (Cal. Ct. App. Aug. 31, 2015) - The California Court of Appeal recently reiterated the importance of careful drafting to insurers when it reversed a trial court’s...more

Zelle  LLP

Death v. Suicide in Event Cancellation Policies

Zelle LLP on

While many Event Cancellation/Non-appearance policies offer effective coverage for financial losses and additional costs when the insured performer dies from natural causes or an accident, they reach their limits if the...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Insurance Recovery Law -- Oct 18, 2013

New York Court Rules That Conflict Between Exclusion and Grant of Coverage Created Ambiguity in Exclusion Requiring Trial - Why it matters: In a coverage dispute arising out of the Madoff debacle, a financial bond...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Insurance Recovery Law -- Jul 26, 2013

Three Wins and A New Rule - In this edition of the Manatt newsletter, we take a look at several new cases that examine an array of important insurance issues. First, though, we report an important victory for...more

Cozen O'Connor

Florida Bars Use of Extrinsic Evidence to Resolve Insurance Policy Ambiguities

Cozen O'Connor on

On July 3, 2013, a closely divided Florida Supreme Court held that judges were required to interpret ambiguous policy language strictly against the insurer and in favor of coverage, and that courts should not first attempt to...more

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