NGE OnDemand: The Importance of Timely Reporting Occurrences, Claims and Suits to Insurers with Paul Walker-Bright
Some jurisdictions consider the ISO-form "bodily injury" definition to be ambiguous as to whether emotional distress requires physical harm to be bodily injury. Many insurers have amended bodily injury to expressly require a...more
In a pair of decisions issued this week, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the notice-prejudice rule applies to occurrence-based, first-party homeowners’ property policies, notwithstanding any contractual notice period...more
The insured, Consolidated Restaurant Operations, a company that owns and operates dozens of restaurants, obtained a commercial property policy from Westport Insurance Company. Subject to certain exclusions, the policy covered...more
The English Court has, for the first time, considered the meaning of a “catastrophe”, as well as how Hours Clauses work in the context of non-damage business interruption losses claimed under two Property Catastrophe Excess...more
In our January insurance update, we include three state cases addressing some less common situations. It’s not often that a pollution exclusion is interpreted in the context of an auto policy. But the South Dakota Supreme...more
Here’s what we discuss in our October Insurance Update. Illinois: Environmental Suits Alleging Non-Compliance with Laws and Regulations Did Not Assert an “Occurrence”- Massachusetts (federal): Insurer May Consider Sums...more
In Riverback Farms LLC v. Saukville Feed Supplies Inc., a panel of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals found that an intentional act may still constitute an “occurrence” under a commercial general liability policy, reversed the...more
On August 9, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the holding of the District of Massachusetts that failure to provide notice according to a claims-made policy’s terms and conditions forfeits any...more
In a May 31, 2023, precedential decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit confirmed that under well-settled Pennsylvania law, claims of poor workmanship do not involve an “occurrence” required 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
“We cannot enforce insurance provisions that render coverage so narrow it is illusory.” The Washington Supreme Court used this reasoning to hold that a contractor’s commercial general liability policy was unenforceable where...more
On 17 October 2022, the English Commercial Court delivered three very significant, related judgments, which in part considered aggregation of business interruption losses arising from COVID-19....more
Preferred Contractors Insurance Company Risk Retention Group, LLC v. Baker and Son Construction, Inc., 2022 Wash. LEXIS 426 ( Aug. 11, 2022) - Traditionally, general liability insurance contracts were “occurrence-based”...more
An intentional act may not be an “occurrence” even when there is no intent to cause harm, according to a California appellate court’s recent ruling in Ghukasian v. Aegis Security Insurance Co.1 Ghukasian involved an insured...more
Professional liability insurance is important to physicians for various reasons. Its primary purpose is to fund the costs to defend claims alleging professional negligence and to fund the payment of any loss determined by...more
Assemblyman Gary S. Schaer of New Jersey’s 36th District introduced a proposed bill, A.B. 1075, that would require all commercial liability insurance policies issued in New Jersey to include “faulty workmanship” within the...more
Construction defect cases often involve damage claims beyond simply the cost to repair the allegedly defective unit or component. These consequential damages may include damages for loss of use, expenses for mitigation and...more
When disaster strikes your business or a lawsuit is filed against you in responding to the crisis, it is easy to overlook the existence of insurance that may reimburse you for the associated expenses and damages. A delay in...more
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently found that insurers did not have to defend a construction company from the San Francisco 49ers’ claim that the company negligently failed to construct the NFL team’s stadium to be...more
Thomas Guastello v. AIG Specialty Insurance Company, — Cal.Rptr.3d –, 2021 WL 650878 (Cal. Ct. App., Feb. 19, 2021), Fourth Appellate District Court of Appeal, Case No. G057714. Various stakeholders in the Pointe Monarch...more
Welcome to CICR’s annual review of insurance cases. Here, we spotlight decisions from the last year that you should know about — and a few pending cases to watch. As our picks for “Cases to Know” (below) indicate,...more
Where an employee of a company commits an intentional act, such as a battery or sexual molestation, the managers of that company are often named as defendants on a theory of “negligent supervision”, “negligent retention” or...more
Potential Six-Year Delay in Notice of Flood and Mold Damage “Substantially Prejudiced” Insurer - In Atain Specialty Insurance Company v. Carolina Professional Builders, LLC et al., 2:18-cv-2352-BHH (D.S.C. Oct. 2, 2020),...more
On September 8, 2020 the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued its decision in Port Consolidated, Inc. v. International Insurance Company of Hannover, PLC, 2020 WL 5372281 (11th Cir 2020). The...more
New York Court Reaffirms That Contractor’s Defective Work Is Not A Covered “Occurrence” Anthony and Sandra Tamer hired RD Rice Construction (“Rice”) as a general contractor to gut and rebuild their combined residential...more