On May 2, 2025, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in AdHealth Limited v. PorterCare Adventist Health Systems affirming the lower court’s summary judgment ruling that a hospital’s excess liability insurance policies’ definition of “medical incident” unambiguously applies to the injuries of a single person, not the treatment of multiple people exposed to the same conditions. As a result, each claim for a “medical incident” must individually exceed the ... Keep Reading »
Second Circuit Warns Insurers of Risks of Forgoing Discovery
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 Indemnity Co., the insurer, Travelers Property Casualty Co., had refused to indemnify its insured, Ezrasons Inc., for the full policy limit because it contended the loss did not occur at an “approved location” under the policy. The Second Circuit ultimately ... Keep Reading »
Ninth Circuit Finds Excess Carrier Owes Nothing to Insured Who Failed to Obtain Prior Written Consent to Settlement
In Vizio Inc. v. Arch Insurance Co., a case stemming from a class action settlement, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals clarified several areas of California law involving the interaction of primary and excess insurance coverage, as well as what constitutes adequate notice to excess carriers. Beginning in 2014, television producer Vizio started selling televisions that automatically tracked what customers were watching and sent that information back to Vizio. The ... Keep Reading »
11th Cir. Affirms That Georgia’s Implied Waiver Doctrine Cannot Be Used to Create Coverage
In Century Communities of Georgia LLC v. Selective Way Insurance Co., the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that the Georgia Supreme Court’s 2012 opinion in Hoover v. Maxum Indemnity Co. does not apply to “coverage defenses” — that is, whether a loss is potentially covered under a policy in the first place. Rather, under Hoover, only certain “policy defenses,” meaning whether a procedural condition of the insurance contract has been fulfilled, may be subject to ... Keep Reading »
Florida Insurance Reform Special Session 2 – This Time Means Business
Between 2017 and 2022, 11 property & casualty insurers domiciled in Florida were declared insolvent and placed into liquidation. In an attempt to restore stability to the marketplace, Governor Ron DeSantis issued a proclamation on April 26, 2022, calling the Florida Legislature into special session to reform Florida’s Insurance Code. While the ensuing May special session yielded significant changes, including amendments designed to reduce fraudulent roof claims and ... Keep Reading »
Eleventh Circuit Finds Claims-Made Policy’s “Correlating Claims” Provision Substantially Similar to “Related Claims” Provisions
In Datamaxx Applied Technologies Inc. v. Brown & Brown Inc., the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the insurer, finding no merit in the insured’s argument that the analysis for construing a “correlating claims” provision differed substantially from the analysis in construing a “related claims” provision. In doing so, the Eleventh Circuit found that the insurer owed no duty to indemnify the insured for a claim ... Keep Reading »
Federal Court Rules “Unauthorized Network Access Exclusion” Precludes Coverage for $1.3M Payment From Hacker’s Fraudulent Email
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that an insurance policy issued by Federal Insurance Co. excluded coverage for the transmission of $1.3 million by the insured in response to an email request from a hacker purporting to be one of the insured’s business partners. The insured, Construction Financial Administration Services (CFAS), was a third-party construction funds administration company that disbursed funds for contractors whose ... Keep Reading »
Delaware Supreme Court Holds That “Related Claim” Standard Is Based on Plain Language of Policy
As we previously discussed in this blog, in June 2021 the Delaware Superior Court found in First Solar Inc. that there was no coverage under a claims-made policy for a securities action (Maverick) filed during the relevant policy period, on the grounds that the Maverick action constituted a "related claim" with respect to a class action that had been filed before the policy period commenced (Smilovits). In so holding, the court applied a "fundamentally identical" ... Keep Reading »
Eleventh Circuit Holds Tort Claimants Lack Standing to Challenge Judgment That Insurer Has No Duty to Defend
On March 29, 2022, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that a tort claimant lacks standing to challenge a court's judgment finding that the carrier had no duty to defend the insured. A.B. was 10 years old when she was sexually abused by her parent and her parent's spouse. The spouse was ultimately indicted, pleaded guilty to two counts of human trafficking, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison per count. In her suit against the convicted human trafficker ... Keep Reading »
Delaware Superior Court Applies “Meaningful Linkage” Test for D&O Related Acts Analysis
In Options Clearing Corp. v. U.S. Specialty Insurance Co., the Delaware Superior Court addressed the scope of related or interrelated wrongful acts policy language in connection with SEC investigations and enforcement actions involving the insured, Options Clearing Corp. (OCC). According to the opinion, OCC is a registered U.S. clearing agency and derivatives clearing organization, which provides clearing and settlement services to 18 exchanges. OCC is the sole ... Keep Reading »