The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently found an insurer’s decision to waive discovery foreclosed its ability to provide extrinsic evidence to resolve an ambiguous insurance policy. In Ezrasons Inc. v. Travelers...more
On August 10, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida held, on a motion to dismiss, that losses allegedly caused by fraudulent payment requests by persons purporting to be the insured qualified for...more
In March 2020, Mudpie Inc.—a San Francisco children’s store—ceased operations when California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered all “non-essential” businesses to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the shut-down,...more
Just a few short years ago, there was a bright line rule under Texas law concerning appraisal awards. If an insurer timely paid an appraisal award, that payment extinguished all of the insurer’s contractual and...more
An issue that often arises when an insurer is determining whether a policy provides coverage for bodily injury or property damage under a liability policy is the number of occurrences that may be triggered under the policy. ...more
It is an outcome few people expected. Back in August, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (Panel) refused plaintiffs’ requests to set up a single industry-wide multi-district litigation, which would have...more
The US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (Panel) previously declined to centralize all coronavirus (COVID-19)-related business interruption insurance lawsuits, but left open the possibility of certain...more
In Travelers Indem. Co. of Am. v. Schwarz Props., L.L.C., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18176, the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina considered whether the lease between a commercial tenant and...more
What happens when an insurer presents evidence at trial that supports the insured’s case? Answer: The evidence can be used to sustain the jury verdict for the insured-plaintiff. That is the lesson learned by Travelers in the...more
On July 11, 2019, in Magnetek, Inc. v. The Travelers Indem. Co., Case No. 17 C 3173, Judge Robert Gettleman of the Northern District of Illinois issued an important decision preserving insurance coverage for a former...more
In Travelers Property Casualty Co. of Amer. v. Engel Insulation, Inc. (No. C085753, filed 11/30/18), a California appeals court held that an insurer may not file its own action to assert claims solely as a subrogee of a...more
Because of the increasing frequency of significant, often multimillion-dollar, environmental claims against businesses and individuals under environmental statutes such as the Comprehensive Environmental Response,...more
A new Sixth Circuit decision may signal an emerging trend on whether insurers must cover claims made by policyholders who fall victim to phishing scams....more
The California Supreme Court recently granted review in Travelers Property & Casualty Co. v. Actavis, Inc., a very unusual case where two counties sued the manufacturers of opiate medicines for allegedly engaging in a...more
On September 18, 2017, in United States v. Caltabiano, No. 16-1275-cr, the Second Circuit (Walker, Lynch, and Lohier, Js.) clarified the jurisdictional scope of a Notice of Appeal. The Court confirmed its authority to...more
In a recent federal court decision out of Colorado, Travelers failed to convince the Court that it had no duty to defend its insured based on its IP exclusion (barring coverage for patent infringement claims). Travelers’...more
When coverage is at issue, the interplay between a policy’s language and an insurer’s duties under the Claims Administration Statute, Florida Statute Section 627.426, becomes a key factor in claims handling for insurers. In...more
Timely notice is typically a condition precedent to coverage under an insurance contract, though many states require an insurer to demonstrate prejudice before denying coverage solely based on a failure to comply with a...more
A court has denied a motion to reconsider its decision denying a reinsurer’s (Century Indemnity Co.) motion to compel an insurer (Travelers Casualty and Surety Company) to produce certain documents in a case in which...more
It may seem obvious that policyholder defendants should immediately notify their liability insurance carrier whenever they are faced with potentially covered litigation. Among other things, policyholders want the benefit of...more
In Travelers Cas. Ins. Co. of Am. v. Hirsh (No. 14-55539), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld an order denying the appellant’s motion pursuant to California’s anti-SLAPP statute, to strike...more
If you read any newspaper, trade publication or twitter feed, you know that ongoing concerns regarding cyber security continue to grow. We have seen an article in the New York Times discussing hacking of major law firms with...more
The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently released an unpublished opinion further illuminating how insurers can effectively cancel worker's compensation policies. However, nothing in the case limits its application solely...more
The “notice-prejudice” rule gives a pass to policyholders who breach the notice or cooperation provisions of their policies, if the breach is found not to have prejudiced the insurer. Sometimes, the late notice does not...more
On April 25, 2016, the Colorado Supreme Court issued a decision in Travelers Prop. Cas. Co. v. Stresscon Co. Stresscon, a subcontracting concrete company, entered into a settlement agreement – without providing notice to its...more