General Liability
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August 14, 2025
Insurance Key To Mitigating Mortgage Risks From Flooding
The increase of flooding in areas outside mandatory flood insurance purchase zones is contributing to mortgage risks for underinsured homeowners following disasters, underscoring a need to find ways to ensure more people have flood coverage, experts say.
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August 14, 2025
Truck Insurer Wants Out Of AWOL Client's Crash Suit Defense
A commercial auto insurance company asked a Georgia federal judge to declare it has no duty to defend a trucking company in a hit-and-run suit, telling the court it's been "ethically obligated to withdraw" its attorneys from defending the company in the underlying case.
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August 14, 2025
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
Defense cost payments by 3M can't satisfy the self-insured retention of its subsidiary's insurance policies, a subcontractor's insurer must indemnify a property owner in a pending injury suit, an excess insurer owes $2 million for a car crash, and a gym chain may have coverage for losses stemming from COVID-19 shutdown orders. Here, À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.
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August 14, 2025
Poetry In Motions: Wallace Stevens Wedded Art, Insurance
Wallace Stevens was an acclaimed modernist poet, but his parallel career as an insurance attorney isn't as widely discussed, according to attorney Daniel J. Kornstein, who has studied Stevens' life. To mark the 70th anniversary of Stevens' death, À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ spoke with Kornstein about what insurance law may have meant to the poet.
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August 13, 2025
2nd Circ. Affirms Indemnity Ruling In Still-Pending Injury Row
A New York federal court didn't err in declaring that a subcontractor's insurer had a duty to indemnify a property owner in a worker's construction injury lawsuit that is still pending, the Second Circuit affirmed Wednesday, even though the underlying court later found the original indemnity agreement invalid.
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August 13, 2025
No Coverage For Senior Center In Sex Abuse Suit, Court Told
A senior care facility isn't owed coverage for an underlying lawsuit accusing a facility chaplain of sexually assaulting a patient, the facility's insurer said, arguing coverage is precluded due to a molestation exclusion and because the allegations don't pertain to a medical incident.
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August 13, 2025
Insurer Owes Defense In Hotel Trafficking Suits, Court Told
Red Roof Inn told an Ohio federal court Wednesday that a Liberty Mutual unit must defend it in 11 lawsuits alleging it violated the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act by financially benefitting from human trafficking, arguing the claims fall outside separate exclusions for intended and criminal acts.
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August 13, 2025
Atty Leaves Montana Firm For Tucker Arensberg In Pittsburgh
A move across the country to new surroundings at Tucker Arensberg PC's Pittsburgh office has given a seasoned attorney the opportunity to expand the scope of his litigation practice into new areas.
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August 12, 2025
Split Del. Justices Back Insurers In 3M Earplug Coverage Fight
A split Delaware Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's finding that defense costs paid by 3M in underlying multidistrict litigation over the company's combat earplugs could not satisfy the self-insured retention of subsidiary Aearo Technologies' insurance policies.
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August 12, 2025
Insurer Pushes 11th Circ. To Avoid Malpractice Coverage
An insurance company has told the Eleventh Circuit it should not have to foot the bill to defend its client against a federal malpractice suit in Atlanta, arguing its policy contains a carveout for claims involving "conversion, improper comingling, or misappropriation," and asking the appellate court to review an earlier dismissal de novo.
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August 12, 2025
Travelers Units Freed From Builder's Asbestos Injury Dispute
A Travelers subsidiary has no obligation to defend a construction company against a suit seeking indemnification for asbestos-related injury claims, a South Carolina federal court ruled, finding that the suit does not seek damages but rather a declaration of contractual right.
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August 11, 2025
4th Circ. Affirms $2M Insurer Car Crash Payout, Plus Interest
An excess insurer for a construction company must pay a woman and her two children its full $2 million limit after they suffered severe injuries in a head-on collision, the Fourth Circuit ruled, further finding the insurer must also pay both pre- and post-judgment interest.
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August 11, 2025
Insurer Says $50M Zoning Suit Loss Is Outside Policy Period
An insurer asked a Michigan federal judge to declare it has no obligation to cover a $50 million judgment against a township, arguing the damages that stem from the township's unconstitutional zoning restrictions that a group of wineries had challenged fall outside the policy.
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August 08, 2025
Judge Says Insurer Must Face $100M Biz Interruption Claim
A chemicals manufacturer accusing a reinsurer of failing to fully cover its roughly $100 million business interruption claim over a chemical plant explosion can still pursue its coverage claims, a Texas federal court ruled, finding the Texas Supreme Court would likely adopt the same holding.
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August 07, 2025
Fire Victims See Positive Step In Calif.'s FAIR Plan ActionÂ
California regulators gave fire victims a boost last week when the state's insurance department launched a legal action seeking penalties against the state's last-resort insurer for its handling of smoke damage claims, but the market effects of the move are still not fully clear.Â
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August 07, 2025
10th Circ. Water Loss Ruling Spotlights Competing Exclusions
The Tenth Circuit recently affirmed that a water damage exclusion applied to a Kansas office building's $1.75 million repair claim from a broken water pipe, providing insurance experts an unusual case for weighing two seemingly related exclusions against one another.
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August 07, 2025
 Ill. Auto Rate Initiative Puts Pricing Accuracy In Spotlight
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias launched a new campaign aimed at reducing auto insurers' use of nondriving factors when setting rates on the grounds that these elements contribute to discriminatory rate-setting, but insurer and consumer advocates are split over the initiative's efficacy and potential cost increases.Â
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August 07, 2025
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
The Archdiocese of New York demanded disclosure of reinsurance policies in a discovery-related appeal amid underlying sex abuse litigation, Zurich was accused of putting both its interests ahead of another insured's, a Georgia poultry producer sued for data breach coverage and an insurer sought to avoid covering racketeering claims.
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August 07, 2025
Minn. Cyberattack Brings Cities' Cyber Policies Into Focus
A recent cyberattack against St. Paul, Minnesota, highlights the importance of cyber coverage for cities and counties, with the caveat that financial vitality, state and federal laws, and third parties retained for incident response can impact a municipality’s amount of coverage and the ways in which it can respond, Reed Smith LLP partner J. Andrew Moss told À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ.
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August 07, 2025
Insurer Says Conviction Bars Coverage For Police Injury Suit
An insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify a man facing a civil claim of negligently blinding a Los Angeles police officer with a laser, it told a California federal court, saying the man's criminal conviction for assault means his conduct was intentional and therefore not covered.
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August 06, 2025
Archdiocese Seeks Reinsurance Docs In Sex Abuse Row
The Archdiocese of New York urged a state appeals court Wednesday to uphold an order mandating that nine Chubb units turn over reinsurance documents as they litigate coverage for thousands of sex abuse lawsuits, noting Chubb already said before the trial court that "reinsurance is simply insurance for insurers."
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August 06, 2025
COST Asks Mich. Justices To OK Nationwide's Unitary Tax Win
The Council on State Taxation backed entities of Nationwide in the Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday, saying the justices should affirm an appellate court's decision that said the insurance company's affiliates are entitled to file their taxes as a combined group of businesses.
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August 06, 2025
CORRECTED: NJ Diocese Drops Abuse Coverage Claims Against Insurer
A Garden State diocese has voluntarily dropped its claims against one of its insurers it accused of violating state law over the coverage of defense costs tied to child sex abuse lawsuits, according to a Monday order.
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August 05, 2025
Property Co. Sues Zurich Over Music Video Shooting Defense
Zurich failed to adequately defend claims over a shooting that occurred during the filming of a music video for rapper Lil Baby, an Atlanta property owner told a Georgia federal court, saying it's entitled to retain independent counsel at the insurer's expense due to an ongoing conflict of interest.
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August 04, 2025
Phone Dealer Fights Sanctions Bid In Stolen Shipment Suit
A cellphone dealer facing a lawsuit over a stolen shipment has urged a North Carolina federal judge not to sanction it over its allegedly deficient discovery responses, arguing that it has turned over nearly 20,000 pages of information and "acted in good faith" to resolve the dispute.
Expert Analysis
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5 Insurance Types For Mitigating Tariff-Related Trade Losses
The potential for significant trade-related losses as a result of increased tariffs may cause companies to consider which of their insurance policies, including marine, builders risk, trade credit, and directors and officers, could provide coverage to alleviate the financial impact, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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Home Depot Ruling Tolls Death Knell For 'Silent Cyber'
The Sixth Circuit's recent ruling that Home Depot's insurers did not have to cover costs from a data breach hammered one more nail in the coffin of silent cyber, where coverage is sought under standard property or commercial general liability policies that were not intended to insure cyberattack claims, say attorneys at Zelle.
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Texas Case Shows Why Juries Are Well-Suited To COVID Suits
The original jury verdict in Baylor College of Medicine v. Lloyd's, currently on appeal to the Texas Supreme Court after being overturned by an appellate panel, illustrates why COVID-19 business interruption claims with their case-specific facts need to be decided by juries, not by judges using a one-size-fits-all approach, says Jeremy Lawrence at Farella Braun.
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Filial Consortium Claims' Future After Conn. High Court Ruling
While the Connecticut Supreme Court recently ruled for defendants in rejecting parents’ attempt to recover loss of companionship damages in a severe child injury case, there is still potential for the plaintiffs bar to lobby for a law that would allow filial consortium claims, Glenn Coffin at Gordon Rees.
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In-House Expert Testimony Is Tricky, But Worth Considering
Litigation counsel often reject the notion of designating in-house personnel to provide expert opinion testimony at trial, but dismissing them outright can result in a significant missed opportunity, say David Ben-Meir at Ben-Meir Law and Martin Pitha at Lillis Pitha.
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Tracking Changes To AI Evidence Under Federal Rules
As the first quarter of 2025 draws to a close, important changes to the Federal Rules of Evidence regarding the use of artificial intelligence in the courtroom are on the horizon, including how to handle evidence that is a product of machine learning, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Key Insurance Issues Likely To Arise From NY Superfund Law
The recently enacted New York Climate Change Superfund Act imposes a massive $75 billion in liabilities on energy companies in the fossil fuel industry, which can be expected to look to their insurers for coverage, raising a slew of coverage issues both old and new, say attorneys at Wiley.
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What To Know About NAIC's Risk-Based Capital Task Force
Attorneys at Debevoise outline key details of the Risk-Based Capital Model Governance Task Force, which was recently launched by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, including the task force's objectives, and potential implications for insurers and their investment strategies.
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How To Create A Unique Jury Profile For Every Case
Instead of striking potential jurors based on broad stereotypes or gut feelings, trial attorneys should create case-specific risk profiles that address the political climate, the specific facts of the case and the venue in order to more precisely identify higher-risk jurors, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.
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AG Watch: Texas Is Entering New Privacy Enforcement Era
The state of Texas' recent suit against Allstate is the culmination of a long-standing commitment to vigorously enforcing privacy laws in the state, and while still in the early stages, it offers several important insights for companies and privacy practitioners, says Paul Singer at Kelley Drye.
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What To Know About Insurance Coverage For Greenwashing
As the number of public and private lawsuits relating to greenwashing dramatically grows, risk managers of companies making environmental claims should look to several types of insurance for coverage in the event of a suit, say attorneys at Hunton.
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Managing Anti-Corporate Juror Views Revealed By CEO Killing
After the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson laid bare deep-seated anti-corporate sentiments among the public, companies in numerous industries will have to navigate the influence of related juror biases on litigation dynamics, say Jorge Monroy and Keith Pounds at IMS Legal Strategies.
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Notable Q4 Updates In Insurance Class Actions
In a continuation of trends in property and casualty insurance class actions, last quarter insurers struggled with defending the merits and class certification of sales tax and fee suits, and labor depreciation cases, but succeeded in dismissing privacy class actions at the pleading stages, says Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler.