Hinshaw Releases Second Edition of Duty to Defend: A Fifty-State Survey
Loading and Unloading Under GL and Auto Policies: 2022
Prior & Pending Litigation
What is a Damron Agreement?
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
The Connecticut Appellate Court recently provided guidance on what does not constitute property damage under a typical contractor’s Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance policy in Westchester Modular Homes of Fairfield...more
Although a construction manager’s scheduling and liaison responsibilities do not require specialized training, such tasks may be sufficiently related to the actor’s other roles to be excluded from coverage under a liability...more
In Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co. v. Carmichael, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, applying Alabama law, entered summary judgment ruling that Nationwide Fire Insurance Co. had no duty to...more
In two separate decisions handed down last month, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals re-affirmed that, under Pennsylvania law, claims against contractors for faulty workmanship do not constitute an “occurrence” and are...more
On Oct. 28, 2021, the Nevada Supreme Court in Zurich American Insurance Company v.. Ironshore Specialty Insurance Company, 137 Nev. Adv. Op. 66, held that an insured can rely on extrinsic facts to show that an insurer has a...more
In Berkley Specialty Ins. Co. v. Masterforce Constr. Corp., No. 4:19-CV-01162, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14006 (M.D. Pa. Jan. 26, 2021) (Brann, J.), the Court recently concluded that, under Pennsylvania law, all reasonably...more
Applying Arizona law, the United States District Court for the District of Arizona held that an insurer that breached its duty to defend bears the burden of demonstrating that an allocation of defense costs between covered...more
On December 31, 2019, the First District Illinois Appellate Court issued its decision in Owners Insurance Company v. Precision Painting & Decorating Corporation, clarifying what does and does not constitute “property damage”...more
McMillin Homes Constr., Inc. v. National Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 35 Cal.App.5th 1042 (2019); Fourth Appellate District Court of Appeal, Division One, Case No. D074219 (June 5, 2019). McMillin Homes Construction, Inc....more
In Harper Construction Co. v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, the Southern District of California rejected an insured’s attempt to expand a CGL policy’s definition of “suit” to encompass mere demands without...more
On March 29, 2019, the Illinois Appellate Court issued an opinion clarifying when a duty to defend against construction defect allegations exists under a subcontractor’s commercial general liability (CGL) policy. The decision...more
Maxum Indemnity Co. v. Robbins Co., P.C., No. 1:17-CV-01968, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57729 (N.D. Ohio Mar. 28, 2018) - On March 21, 2018, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio granted a motion...more
Addison Ins. Co. v. 4000 Island Blvd. Condo. Ass’n, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 26870 (11th Cir. Dec. 28, 2017) - The owner of a high-rise condominium building in Florida hired a contractor to replace the building’s concrete...more
The Supreme Court of Florida recently issued an opinion in Altman Contractors, Inc. v. Crum & Forster Specialty Ins. Co., No. SC16-1420, 2017 WL 6379535 (Fla. Dec. 14, 2017), which impacts an insurer’s duty to defend and...more
Since its enactment in 2003, Chapter 558, Florida Statutes (commonly referred to as Florida’s notice and opportunity to cure provision) has governed the pre-suit notice and opportunity to repair process between owners,...more
That it took an appellate court to order AIG’s Lexington Insurance to honor its additional insured obligations is a measure of how frequently insurers attempt to dodge this important contractual obligation. The case of...more
In McMillin Management Services v. Financial Pacific Ins. Co. (No. D069814, filed 11/14/17), a California appeals court held that an insurer had a duty to defend a general contractor under an “ongoing operations” additional...more
Despite Prior Suits, Policyholder Entitled to Coverage for DOJ Investigation - Why it matters: A policyholder was entitled to coverage for a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation despite already facing possibly...more