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?
John H. Fisher and his P.C. represented a client in a medical malpractice action filed on February 15, 2019, alleging that the defendant medical providers failed to provide proper prenatal care to the client, causing the...more
This article will discuss policyholder concerns after a California federal court recently found that some PFAS claims in an MDL were excluded under a pollution exclusion, but others were not. The case is Nat'l Foam, Inc. v....more
Key Points: A workers’ compensation insurance carrier normally does not have a duty to pay benefits for an intentional injury claim....more
This insurance-coverage dispute involved alleged asbestos exposure from asbestos-containing vermiculite mined from Vermiculite Mountain outside of Libby, Mont. The court acknowledged that vermiculite ore may contain toxic...more
The insured punched and kicked the Claimant, causing injuries. The Claimant sued the insured alleging that the insured assaulted him, and negligently and recklessly caused his injuries. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance...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 duties to defend and indemnify arise out of an insurer’s contract with its insured. It is a commonly accepted principle under Alabama law that an insurer’s duties to defend and indemnify are separate and distinct. Indeed,...more
DEFENSE COST REIMBURSEMENT - Cont’l Cas. Co. v. Winder Labs., LLC, 73 F.4th 934 (11th Cir. 2023) Eleventh Circuit predicts that, under Georgia law, insurers found to have no duty to defend underlying suits could not...more
Court Holds That Insurer Was Not Volunteer And May Seek Subrogation From Other Insurer But That Other Insurer’s Policy Is Excess- Walter Breitenbach, who was insured by Adirondack Insurance, struck a pedestrian with his...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
Since 2014, thousands of individual lawsuits have been filed by state and local governments against opioid makers resulting from the influx of these drugs in the marketplace. To defray the costs in defending against these...more
It’s common knowledge that a lawsuit must be timely reported to an insurer. But what exactly constitutes timely notice? The United States Court for the Middle District of Florida recently examined this question in National...more
Few courts have yet decided insurance coverage issues in litigation involving per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). But yesterday, in Crum & Forster Specialty Insurance Company v. Chemicals, Inc., No. H-20-3493, 2021...more
Do general liability policies provide coverage for limited disclosures of biometric data, such as fingerprints? The Illinois Supreme Court has concluded that they do. In a unanimous decision, the Illinois Supreme Court...more
On March 17, 2021, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued its decision in Estate Chimney & Fireplace v. IFG Companies & Burlington Insurance Company, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 50360 (E.D. Pa. March 17, 2021), finding that an...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
Contract Interpretation McCruter v. Travelers Home & Marine Ins. Co., 11th Dist. Lake No. 2019-L-167, 2021-Ohio-472- In this appeal, the Eleventh Appellate District affirmed in part and reversed in part the lower court’s...more
The U.S. District Court in the Western District of North Carolina recently held in Colony Insurance Co. v. Buckeye Fire Equipment Co. that an insurance company must defend personal injury claims arising from direct exposure...more
On October 19, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina held that a “hazardous materials” exclusion contained in a CGL policy did not preclude a duty to defend the insured against claims...more
Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation Centralizes Some COVID‐19 Related Insurance Cases As reported in our September update, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation at its July 2020 hearing session requested...more
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, applying New York law, has concluded that an insurer waived the right to assert a policy exclusion as a coverage defense in a declaratory judgment action after...more
Is an insured (or putative insured) entitled to recover its legal expenses if it is successful in coverage litigation? In some states, no. In many other states, yes – based on either a statute or common law. In New York...more
Real Property Update - Lost Note / Standing: differences in initial plaintiff's name in initial complaint and chain of assignments attached to amended complaint cast doubt on plaintiff's standing to enforce lost note and...more
In Direct Auto Insurance Company v. Bahena, et al., 2019 IL App (1st) 172918, the Illinois Appellate Court sifted through a procedural nightmare in order to get to the very sensical conclusion that “It cannot be the case that...more
The Eleventh Circuit recently held that sending a fax in violation of the TCPA is not considered an “accident” in determining whether coverage existed for TCPA claims under a commercial general liability insurance policy. ...more