On June 6, the New York Court of Appeals in Burlington Insurance Co. v. NYC Transit Authority held that where liability is limited to injuries “caused, in whole or in part” by the named insured’s “acts or omissions,” coverage extends only to those injuries proximately caused by, not just causally linked to, the named insured’s actions or omissions. The 4-2 decision reversed the intermediate appellate court’s (Appellate Division, First Department) holding that under such ... Keep Reading »
Washington Federal Court Rejects Policyholder’s “Separate Claim” Argument
In April, a federal district court in the Western District of Washington issued a decision in National Union Fire Insurance Co. v. Zillow, Inc. While at first blush, it may seem only of interest to those who work with media policies, this decision has potential broader application. In short, the decision rejects the argument that a demand letter and subsequent litigation based on the facts asserted in the demand letter are separate claims and thus should be treated as ... Keep Reading »
Poisoning the Well: Washington Supreme Court Applies Efficient Proximate Cause to Eviscerate Pollution Exclusion in Liability Policy
Professionals and practitioners in first party property insurance are likely familiar with the efficient proximate cause rule, which requires an insurance policy to provide coverage where "a covered peril sets in motion a causal chain," even if subsequent causes-in-fact of the loss are excluded by the policy. As indicated by our previous coverage [1, 2, 3] of this doctrine, this can be a confusing analysis that leads to unpredictable results. Until recently, the ... Keep Reading »
WV Court Rules Earth Movement Exclusion Unambiguously Precludes Coverage Regardless of Whether Landslide Was a Man-Made or Naturally-Occurring Event
In Erie Insurance Property and Casualty Company v. Chaber, No. 16-0490 (W. Va. June 1, 2017), the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia reversed a lower court’s decision, holding that damage caused by a landslide was excluded, regardless of whether the landslide resulted from excavations or naturally occurred, where the policy excluded loss whether such loss is “caused by an act of nature or is otherwise caused.” The court went on to follow the law of other ... Keep Reading »
One Way Out: California District Court Finds Insurer Had Right to Pay Limits Despite Possible Defense
In Film Allman, LLC v. New York Marine and General Insurance Company, Inc., 2:14-cv-7069-ODW, (C.D. Cal. May 23, 2017), a California district court granted summary judgment in favor of an insurer of a production company. The court found no breach and no extra-contractual damages were warranted because the insurer paid full policy limits to settle the claims. Midnight Rider The insurance coverage dispute arose after production company Film Allman, LLC was sued as a ... Keep Reading »
Shot Through the Heart, But the Excess Carrier Isn’t to Blame: Georgia Federal Court Finds Policy’s Broad Firearms Exclusion Bars Coverage
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 Specialty Insurance Co., No. 1:16-CV-01336. The court dismissed the case, in which claimant Christopher Powe sought the remaining $3 million of a $4 million settlement against the insureds, property management company HMI Property Solutions, Inc. ... Keep Reading »
Fifth Circuit Reverses Mississippi District Court’s Interpretation of “Ambiguous” Language to Nullify Defense Within Limits Coverage
Insurance policies that include the cost of defending a particular claim or action within the policy’s limit of liability, often referred to as “burning,” “eroding,” or “defense within” limits policies, are common in the management liability insurance market. As we previously reported, a 2015 United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi decision cast a cloud of doubt over liability insurers issuing defense within limits policies in Mississippi ... Keep Reading »
Connecticut Appellate Court Addresses Trigger, Allocation, Exclusions, and Other Issues of First Impression in Coverage Litigation Over Long-Latency Asbestos Injury Cases
Connecticut’s intermediate appellate court addressed a number of novel issues in a wide-ranging opinion regarding primary and excess insurers’ respective duties to defend and indemnify their common insured for long-tail asbestos-related injury claims. The opinion was rendered unanimously and authored collectively by the three-judge panel of Robert Beach, Douglas Lavine, and Stuart Bear (ret.). The case, styled R.T. Vanderbilt Company, Inc. v. Hartford Accident and ... Keep Reading »
Eleventh Circuit Deems Voluntary Dismissal of a Coverage Action Sufficient to Award Attorneys’ Fees to a Policyholder as the Prevailing Party
In a recent unpublished opinion, the Eleventh Circuit issued a decision that should serve as a warning to insurers to be sure to resolve all issues before dismissing a coverage action, particularly when involved in the settlement of an underlying suit. A Tale of Two Cases In W&J Group Enterprises, Inc. v. Houston Specialty Ins. Co., No. 16-15625 (11th Cir. Apr. 6, 2017), the insurance carrier filed a declaratory action against its policyholder in the Middle ... Keep Reading »
Multiple Instances of Defectively Designed, Manufactured, or Installed Windows Does Multiple Occurrences Make
After previously holding that various claims against the insured, Pella, alleged property damage caused by an “occurrence,” thus triggering Liberty Mutual Insurance Company’s (“Liberty”) coverage obligations under various CGL policies, in Pella Corp. v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., No. 4:11-cv-00273 (S.D. Mar. 31, 2017), the Southern District of Iowa was then tasked with determining the number of “occurrences.” Pella purchased annual liability policies – CGL policies (with ... Keep Reading »
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