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A Case of Mass Listeria: Insurer’s Duty to Defend in New Jersey Contaminated Pizza Crusts Suit

June 5, 2020 by Chael Clark

Last week, in Conte’s Pasta Co. v. Republic Franklin Insurance Co., a New Jersey federal court ruled that Republic Franklin Insurance Co. was obligated to indemnify Conte’s Pasta for the costs incurred defending against a suit brought by one of its customers, Nature’s One, for damages related to listeria contamination in its gluten-free pizza crusts. Underlying Litigation In early 2017, Nature’s One contracted with Conte’s Pasta to manufacture gluten-free pizza ... Keep Reading »

Two Early Rulings in Favor of Insurers in COVID-19 Insurance Coverage Litigation

May 22, 2020 by Andrew Daechsel

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently issued two of the first substantive rulings in COVID-19-related insurance coverage lawsuits. Both rulings were in favor of insurers. Southern District of New York Indicates COVID-19 Does Not Cause Direct Physical Loss or Damage, As Needed to Trigger Business Interruption Coverage In Social Life Magazine Inc. v. Sentinel Insurance Co., an ongoing lawsuit, the ... Keep Reading »

Years of Embezzlement Precluded From Coverage Under E&O Policy’s Commingling Exclusion

May 15, 2020 by Kelley Godfrey

A federal district court in North Dakota recently granted an insurer’s motion to dismiss in Campbell Property Management LLC v. Lloyd’s Syndicate 3624, finding that both prongs of a “commingling exclusion” to coverage applied. The court granted the insurer’s motion to dismiss the breach of contract and bad faith claims asserted by Campbell Property Management, finding that there was no coverage for the subject acts, and thus there could be no bad faith. Lloyd’s issued ... Keep Reading »

COVID-19 Insurance Coverage Class Actions

May 15, 2020 by Carlton Fields

Over the last several months, there have been numerous lawsuits filed across the country by policyholders seeking business interruption insurance coverage for losses they claim are resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last month, the new trend has been to file many of these claims as class actions. Several of the nation’s top plaintiff-side class action law firms have filed class action lawsuits seeking coverage for nationwide classes of policyholders. These ... Keep Reading »

Eleventh Circuit Weighs in on Allocated Verdict Form Procedure

May 8, 2020 by J. Kent Crocker

The Eleventh Circuit, in the matter of QBE Specialty Insurance Co. v. Scrap Inc., affirmed the district court’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of QBE holding that there was no indemnity coverage for an underlying judgment where a non-allocated verdict form was used because the insured could not meet its burden of allocating between coverage and uncovered damages. Background QBE Specialty Insurance Co. issued a general commercial liability (GCL) ... Keep Reading »

Pennsylvania Court Ices General Reservation of Rights Letters: Insurers Must Specify “Emergent Coverage Issues”

May 1, 2020 by Roben West

In Selective Way Insurance Co. v. MAK Services Inc., the Superior Court of Pennsylvania reversed an insurer-favorable summary judgment after finding that its reservation of rights letter was insufficient. Following what appeared to be a standard slip-and-fall case, an insurer provided a defense under a reservation of rights to its insured — a snow and ice removal company. Astonishingly, the policy contained a snow and ice removal exclusion, barring coverage for bodily ... Keep Reading »

Eighth Circuit Enforces Contract Liability Exclusions to Bar Contract Claims, Regardless of Non-Contractual Cause of Action in Complaint

April 24, 2020 by Benjamin Stearns

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently decided a case, Russell v. Liberty Insurance Underwriters Inc., involving a dispute between the co-owners of a business and the widow of their deceased former partner. The widow sued the business’s surviving co-owners for breach of fiduciary duty for failing to apply a life insurance payout to the company to buy out her deceased husband’s shares pursuant to an agreement between the business owners. The co-owners submitted the ... Keep Reading »

Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina Join in Introducing Legislation That Would Force Insurers to Retroactively Cover COVID-19 Losses

April 17, 2020 by Christina Gallo and Charles W. Stotter

An increasing number of state legislatures have recently introduced measures that would require the insurance industry to bear much of the burden of business interruption and other losses due to the economic downturn brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina are among the latest states to join in proposing legislation that would require retroactive coverage for business interruption losses related to COVID-19, despite ... Keep Reading »

New York Court of Appeals Affirms GBL § 349 and § 350 Claims Must Have Widespread Effect on Consumers

April 17, 2020 by Nora Valenza-Frost

Twenty-five years ago, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that a claim under General Business Law section 349 does not lie when the plaintiff alleges only "a private contract dispute over policy coverage and the processing of a claim which is unique to the[] parties, not conduct which affects the consuming public at large." N.Y. Univ. v. Cont'l Ins. Co., 87 N.Y.2d 308, 321 (1995). Recently, the court was asked a different question: where an insurance contract, ... Keep Reading »

Are COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims Appropriate for a Coverage Class Action?

April 15, 2020 by Aaron S. Weiss

Over the last few weeks, a tsunami of lawsuits has been filed in many states alleging a variety of issues related to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The lawsuits have targeted a variety of industries, such as banking and financial services, travel and hospitality, and retail. The property and casualty insurance industry has also been in the news as likely hundreds of thousands of policyholders have faced shutdowns of their businesses. These policyholders have looked to ... Keep Reading »

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  • Sixth Circuit Finds No E&O Coverage for GL Carrier Under E&O Policy for Underlying Motel Claim
  • Connecticut Federal Court Construes Ambiguous Policy Exclusion in Favor of Coverage, but Rejects Bad Faith Claim

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