First Republic Executives Fail in Attempt to Recover Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan Assets
Litigation arose over whether a suit for misrepresentation and breach of contract arising out of an easement triggered a Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurer's duty to defend. Internal confidential communications...more
Merchants Preferred Insurance Company filed a declaratory judgment action in New York seeking a declaration that it had no duty to defend or to indemnify its insureds in an underlying Florida personal injury action arising...more
The parent of an infant sued Kim Eichle for Eichle’s alleged negligence in serving alcohol to her houseguest, Jacob Russo, who allegedly assaulted the infant, and for negligence in failing to keep the sidewalk at her...more
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
Southern District Refuses To Use Extrinsic Evidence “Bound Up With Merits” Of Underlying Action To Defeat Duty To Defend- 622 Third Avenue LLC filed a declaratory judgment action against Harleysville Worcester Insurance...more
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, applying Illinois law, has held that an insurer’s complaint plausibly alleged that the insured had breached the terms of the policy’s cooperation clause....more
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
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
Fourth Department Holds Landlord Covered As Additional Insured Under Tenant’s Policy For Accident On Driveway Of Leased Premises- Technology Insurance Company, as the liability insurer for a landlord, filed a declaratory...more
Sheckler v. Auto-Owners Insurance Company, 2021 WL 493226, 2021 Ill. App. LEXIS 593 (Oct. 23, 2021), a decision of the Appellate Court of Illinois, Third Judicial District, concluded that principles of equity justified...more
On November 23, 2021, the Montana Supreme Court issued an almost unanimous decision in National Indemnity Company v. State of Montana, a ten-year-old coverage dispute arising from claims against the State of Montana alleging...more
The Court of Appeals of Indiana recently ruled that, in Indiana, Form MCS-90 endorsements on insurance policies apply to purely intrastate trips, including when the vehicle is on the way to pick up cargo but has not yet done...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
ADDITIONAL AND NAMED INSUREDS/PRIORITY- Court Rules “C/O” Company In Contract Not An Additional Insured- A construction worker sued Blue Woods Management Group, Inc. alleging that he was injured while working... ...more
On July 30, 2020, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in AEGIS Electric & Gas International Services Ltd. v. ECI Management LLC reversed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer, AEGIS Electric &...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (“Court”) addressed in a January 17th opinion a company’s umbrella insurance policy’s absolute pollution exclusion. See Eastern Concrete Materials, Inc., v. Ace...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 Greene v. Kenneth R. Will, a CGL insurer recently prevailed in a declaratory judgment action arising from an underlying class action alleging pollution and nuisance claims against the insured, VIM Recycling LLC, an...more
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
Owners Insurance Company issued a commercial general liability policy (CGL) to Cruz Accessories, a/k/a H&C Corp.(Cruz). The policy included standard language relating to Owners’ right and duty to defend Cruz, including the...more
In part one of this blog I discussed intervention, one option insurers may have when coverage questions arise. As I noted in my prior blog, procedures for intervention vary by state, and some states simply do not allow an...more
A lawsuit filed by Danielle Roland against Klub Kutter’s Bar & Lounge alleged that on September 6, 2015, Roland was a “business invitee” at Klub Kutter’s in Fort Lauderdale, Florida....more
On March 1, a New York appeals court ruled that American International Group, Inc. (AIG) need not defend Carfax, Inc. against a $50 million suit alleging the company monopolized the vehicle history report market. ...more
No one should know what an insurance policy covers better than the insurer itself. After all, the insurer wrote the policy, right? Yet there are times when coverage questions arise that even the drafter of the policy cannot...more
In Colony Insurance Company v. Hucks Pool Company, Inc., et al. (February 15, 2018), based only upon a demand letter to Hucks from a claimant, Colony filed a declaratory judgment action that sought a determination whether it...more