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
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
A federal judge recently relied on a pollution exclusion to find that Great American Insurance Company was not obligated to cover losses associated with the unintended distribution of rock fines into New Jersey’s Spruce Run...more
On June 1, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia granted summary judgment in favor of AIG Specialty Insurance Co. in a case involving the application of the firearms exclusion in Powe v. Chartis...more
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia granted summary judgment in favor of AIG Specialty Insurance Co. in a case involving the application of the firearms exclusion in Powe v. Chartis Specialty...more
Disputes between policyholders and excess insurers often involve events that occurred before the underlying defense costs or indemnity payments reached the excess layer. In Stryker Corp. v. Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. of...more
Moral hazard (one of this blog’s preoccupations) usually comes up in disputes over the scope of coverage under an insurance policy. But state legislatures often address it, too—for example, by imposing limits on agreements...more
Although the terms are often used interchangeably, there are several key differences between umbrella and excess coverage. One such distinction is that an umbrella policy can apply to multiple underlying policies. This makes...more