Claims involving potential coverage for pollution liability pose unique challenges for insurers. In many cases, the polluting activity occurred decades ago and over a large span of time, with only a fraction of the activity occurring during the policy period. As a result, an issue in pollution liability cases is whether an insurer is obligated to indemnify an insured for the entire amount of damages resulting from pollution, or whether an insurer's obligation may be ... Keep Reading »
General Liability
Insurance is Big in Texas: In Deepwater Horizon Case, Texas Stretches a Policy’s Four Corners to Include Other Contracts
Last month, in In re Deepwater Horizon, Relator, the Supreme Court of Texas applied a fundamental principle of insurance law to a case with enormous financial implications. The owner of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig had made BP an additional insured under its liability policies, but it did so pursuant to a drilling contract in which BP had agreed to be responsible for some of the losses those policies covered. When BP submitted a claim, therefore, a court had to ... Keep Reading »
Rumors of Revival Were Greatly Exaggerated: Fifth Circuit Reverses Opinion on Contractual Liability Exclusion
We previously discussed the opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Crownover v. Mid-Continent Cas. Co., No. 11-10166 (5th Cir June 27, 2014)—an opinion that seemed to revive the contractual liability exclusion by distinguishing a landmark Texas decision that had narrowed the exclusion's scope. That was then. Late last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit withdrew that order and issued a new opinion on rehearing. The new opinion ... Keep Reading »
A DJ is a Sometime Thing: In Declaratory Judgment Actions Over Coverage, the Sixth Circuit Gives Trial Courts a Wide Berth
The Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201, gives federal district courts "unique and substantial discretion" over whether to hear suits seeking a declaration of rights. Wilton v. Seven Falls Co., 515 U.S. 277, 286 (1995). To guide the exercise of that discretion, Courts of Appeals have created lists of relevant considerations—most of which were borrowed from Moore's Federal Practice. See Reifer v. Westport Ins. Co., 751 F.3d 129, 145 n.20 (3d Cir. 2014) ... Keep Reading »
Like Hats and Belt Buckles, Indemnity Agreements in Texas Must be CONSPICUOUS
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety. –Isaac Asimov Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that Texas law allows an indemnity agreement to insulate a party from the consequences of its own, allegedly negligent conduct, but only if that feature of the agreement is disclosed conspicuously. In Martin K. Eby Construction Co., Inc. v. Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc., No. 13-3027 (10th Cir. Dec. 9, ... Keep Reading »
Partial Recall: Product Contamination Coverage Has Its Limits
In disputes over the scope of liability coverage, courts must often draw a line between (1) providing insurance against errors that harm others and (2) broadly guaranteeing the work product of the insured. The problem is most obvious in construction cases, when claims against the insureds arise from their own faulty workmanship. Recently, it has also emerged in connection with the food and drug industries. Last month, in Hot Stuff Foods, LLC v. Houston Casualty Co. ... Keep Reading »
Et tu, Buddy?: When Excess Insurers Sue for Bad Faith
Insurers don’t, as a rule, like bad faith suits. But life can play funny tricks—as when a judgment against an insured breaches a layer of excess coverage, because the primary carrier failed to settle within its policy limits. In those circumstances, a number of jurisdictions hold that the excess carrier is subrogated to the insured’s right to sue the primary insurer for bad faith failure to settle. Northwestern Mut. Ins. Co. v. Farmers Ins. Co., 76 Cal App. 3d 1031 ... Keep Reading »
Apartment Complexity: Appellate Court Sorts Out Multiple Coverage Claims for Construction of Uninhabitable Residence
In QBE Ins. Corp. v. Adjo Contracting Corp. (N.Y. App. Div. 2d Dep't Oct. 29, 2014), an intermediate appellate court in New York confronted cross-appeals involving 15 different insurers embroiled in multiple lawsuits, including consolidated class actions. The core issue of the case was whether the insurers for a variety of subcontractors were obligated to provide a defense to tenants' lawsuits against the developer and general contractor of a doomed residential ... Keep Reading »
New Jersey Appellate Court Keeps “Running Spigot” Open on Allocation of Defense Costs Under Non-Eroding-Limit Fronting Policies (and Other Spooky Tales from the Towers of Coverage Past)
New Jersey's Appellate Division recently affirmed each of several challenged rulings rendered in a long-running coverage dispute between plaintiff IMO Industries and its many historical insurers arising from asbestos exposure-related injuries dating back to the 1940's. IMO sought declaratory and other relief to establish IMO's and the defendant insurers' respective obligations for defense and indemnity of underlying personal injury lawsuits against IMO. Plaintiff IMO ... Keep Reading »
Cut! Eighth Circuit Excludes Non-Board Member from CGL Coverage for “Directors”
Directors and Officers liability policies are typically precise in defining the job descriptions of the individuals to whom they offer coverage. Recently, in United Fire & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Thompson, No. 13-2352 (8th Cir. July 11, 2014), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit had to decide whether the term "director," which was left undefined in a corporation's Commercial General Liability policy, could apply to a supervisory employee, whom one party ... Keep Reading »
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- Next Page »