Specialty Lines
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February 03, 2025
NC Justices Urged To Reject Appeal Over Rate Hike Approvals
North Carolina's insurance commissioner urged the state's highest court to reject a policyholder's appeal challenging a series of insurer rate hike approvals in court, saying an appeals panel correctly found that the policyholder failed to support his claims that intervening in the preceding approval process was impossible.
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February 03, 2025
Yacht Building Co. Faces Sanctions For Hiding Hoist Failure
A Washington federal judge has said yacht builder Delta Marine Industries owed sanctions over its failure to provide access to parts related to a boat hoist that failed during the launch of a yacht in a $3.4 million dispute between Lloyd's syndicates, underwriters and a Seattle boat builder.
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January 31, 2025
Supreme Court Eyes Its 'Next Frontier' In FCC Delegation Case
A case about broadband subsidies will give the U.S. Supreme Court the chance to revive a long-dormant separation of powers principle that attorneys say could upend regulations in numerous industries and trigger a power shift that would make last term's shake-up of federal agency authority pale in comparison. And a majority of the court already appears to support its resurrection.
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January 31, 2025
Judge Blocks Symetra Life Policyholders' $32.5M Deal
A Washington federal court rejected a $32.5 million settlement bid brought by a proposed class of Symetra life insurance policyholders who accused the life insurer of using undisclosed nonmortality factors to overcharge monthly rates, noting the proposed settlement notice leaves information on the class counsel's cost reimbursement blank.
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February 14, 2025
Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2025 Editorial Boards
Law360 is looking for avid readers of our publications to serve as members of our 2025 editorial advisory boards.
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January 30, 2025
Ex-Doc Wants Insurer's Defense Against Sex Misconduct Suits
A former Ohio doctor facing civil suits after being indicted for sexual misconduct including rape during medical exams told an Ohio federal court that his insurer can't cancel his coverage and must keep defending him regardless of prior alleged misconduct, because he wasn't required to report it.
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January 30, 2025
Allstate Units Say No Coverage For Rental Home Fire Dispute
Two Allstate insurers told a Pennsylvania federal court Thursday that they shouldn't have to cover an underlying suit accusing a group of college students of breaching their lease agreement after the New Jersey-based property they were renting caught fire due to improper disposal of smoking materials.
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January 30, 2025
Split 5th Circ. Clears Insurers In $2.7M Flood Row
A split Fifth Circuit panel upheld a ruling finding that a general contractor and others cannot recover $2.7 million from insurers for water damage, because the flood deductible in the applicable builder's risk policy exceeded the claimed losses.
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January 30, 2025
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
An environmental remediation company must cover Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in a decade-old kickback suit, a Zurich insurer owes $12.2 million to a solar energy company for rain damage and the Baylor College of Medicine can't recover a $12 million award for its pandemic-related losses. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.
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January 29, 2025
Senate Banking Committee Forms NFIP Working Group
With the National Flood Insurance Program's authorization set to expire in March, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking has formed a working group to reform the program and work toward long-term reauthorization, a press release from committee chairman and South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott said.
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January 24, 2025
FDIC Wins Discovery Bid In SVB Fraud Coverage Row
A Chubb unit must give certain documents to Silicon Valley Bank's former parent SVB Financial Group regarding coverage for a fraud that SVB Financial said caused $73 million in losses, a North Carolina federal court ruled Friday, though relieving an excess insurer of doing the same.
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January 24, 2025
3rd Circ. Halts Pa. Med Insurer Suit Pending High Court Review
The Third Circuit agreed Friday to put a hold on its ruling that Pennsylvania's medical malpractice insurance fund is an agency of the state and can dip into the fund's $300 million budget surplus pending the outcome of the fund's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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January 24, 2025
Coding Boot Camp Seeks Coverage For Tuition Financing Row
A San Francisco-based company that runs coding boot camps said its insurers must defend and indemnify it for federal and state probes and private settlements related to its tuition financing program, telling a California federal court that coverage denials have left the company on the brink of insolvency.
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January 24, 2025
Law Firm Sues AIG Unit Over Sports Fraud Coverage
A Florida-based law firm and its principal attorney have accused an AIG unit of misleading them into defending a sports memorabilia collector and his company in a Securities and Exchange Commission civil action and two related criminal cases, saying the unit had already agreed in writing to their billing rates.
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January 23, 2025
State-Backed Cyberattacks Highlight Coverage Challenges
A spate of reported state-affiliated cyberattacks on government agencies, telecommunications companies and third-party vendors is drawing the attention of companies and placing greater importance on the increasingly uncertain insurance coverage options available in the wake of an attack.
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January 23, 2025
Fed. Climate Insurance Report Confirms Crises, Need For Info
A new U.S. Treasury report analyzing climate risks and rising insurance costs is one of the most comprehensive studies of the U.S. homeowners market to date, but leaves out key data that could help inform a fuller understanding of the forces shaping the market.
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January 23, 2025
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
Arbitrations for domestic insurers are out in Louisiana, Freddie Mac ended its $32 million coverage dispute, a California woman wants the U.S. Supreme Court to consider her coverage case and the 10th Circuit seemed skeptical that an insurer's reliance on an expert could set any precedent.
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January 23, 2025
Freddie Mac Puts End To $32M SEC Probe Coverage Dispute
Freddie Mac told a D.C. federal court that it has reached a settlement with underwriters at Lloyd's of London, bringing an end to the government-backed mortgage lender's $32 million coverage suit stemming from civil actions and federal probes related to its collapse during the 2008 global financial crisis.
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January 22, 2025
Nationwide Unit Needn't Cover Self-Dealing Suit, Court Says
A Nationwide unit doesn't owe coverage for a federal bankruptcy suit accusing two restaurateurs of engaging in self-dealing, a California federal court ruled, pointing to a policy exclusion barring coverage for wrongful acts that were noticed under a prior policy.
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January 21, 2025
Lyft Driver Says Carjacking Suit Should've Settled Sooner
A Lyft driver accused his insurer of violating Washington's Insurance Fair Conduct Act over his bid for uninsured motorist benefits following a carjacking, saying the insurer forced him to go to arbitration and win an over $1.1 million award rather than accept his earlier $1 million policy limit demands.
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January 21, 2025
Cornell Case May Be Bellwether For ERISA Transaction Claims
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday from Cornell University and workers looking to reinstate a class action alleging their retirement plan paid excessive fees, in a case that could change the strategy for Employee Retirement Income Security Act plaintiffs in the future.
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January 17, 2025
Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year
Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2024, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and significant transaction work that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.
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January 17, 2025
Law360 Names Firms Of The Year
Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 54 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, steering some of the largest deals of 2024 and securing high-profile litigation wins, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.
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January 17, 2025
Insurer Tried To 'Embarrass' Cadwalader, NC Court Told
Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP has accused a Lloyd's of London syndicate of attempting to "embarrass" the firm by publicly revealing the firm's data breach recoveries amid the insurer's bid to toss a coverage suit stemming from a 2022 hack.
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January 16, 2025
Fire-Safe Rebuilding Key To Reducing LA Insurance Issues
Reducing the potential of fires like those in Los Angeles to disrupt insurance and housing markets will require a significant and sustained effort to lower physical risks in fire-prone communities, and a commitment to rebuilding to stronger standards.
Expert Analysis
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Key Provisions In Florida's New Insurer Accountability Act
Florida's recent bipartisan Insurer Accountability Act introduces a range of new obligations for insurance companies and regulatory bodies to strengthen consumer protection, and other states may follow suit should it prove successful at ensuring a reliable insurance market, say Jan Larson and Benjamin Malings at Jenner & Block.
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10th Circ. Remand Of ERISA Claims To Insurer Is Problematic
The Tenth Circuit recently gave the defendant another bite at the apple in David P. v. United Healthcare by remanding Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims for reprocessing, but the statute lacks any provision authorizing remands of ERISA cases, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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Insurers, Prepare For Large Exposures From PFAS Claims
With thousands of lawsuits concerning per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances pending across the country, several large settlements already reached, and both regulators and the plaintiffs bar increasingly focusing on PFAS, it is becoming clear that these "forever chemicals" present major exposures to insurers and their policyholders, say Scott Seaman and Jennifer Arnold at Hinshaw.
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Groundbreaking Nev. Law May Alter Insurance Landscape
The Nevada Legislature recently passed a law prohibiting insurers from issuing liability policies with eroding limits provisions that has the potential to create massive shifts in the marketplace — and specifically in areas like professional liability, cyber, and directors and officers insurance, says Will Bennett at Saxe Doernberger.
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Online Purchase Insurance: Regulatory Issues To Watch For
Before offering insurance on consumer transactions, otherwise known as embedded insurance, merchants and insurance producers should be aware of a few regulatory issues and have a multistate compliance strategy in place, say Fred Garsson and Kara Pike at Saul Ewing.
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To Survive Scrutiny, Banks Should Craft Careful D&O Policies
With banks and their boards facing intensified — and potentially costly — scrutiny after this spring’s bank failures, risk managers can prepare for potential shareholder demands, lawsuits or regulatory probes by designing a robust and targeted directors and officers coverage program, say Jose Lua-Valencia and Jesse Vazquez at Pillsbury.
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Insurance Insights From 5th Circ. Blue Bell Coverage Ruling
The Fifth Circuit's recent ruling that denied Blue Bell insurance coverage for the defense costs incurred from a shareholder lawsuit underscores the importance of coordination of different coverages and policies across programs, and the potential perils of seeking recovery for losses under nontraditional policies, say Geoffrey Fehling and Casey Coffey at Hunton.
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BIPA, Meta Pixel Suits Could Reshape Cybersecurity Litigation
Businesses and attorneys should watch several pending electronic privacy cases that revolve around disclosure of protected personal information and health data, which may shape how courts handle damages and class actions in the future of cybersecurity litigation, say Kelly Johnson and Melanie Condon at Goldberg Segalla.
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Insurance Coverage For ChatGPT Legal Fiasco: A Hypothetical
William Passannante at Anderson Kill draws on the recent case of an attorney sanctioned by the Southern District of New York for submitting a ChatGPT-authored brief to discuss what the insurance coverage for the attorney's hypothetical claim might look like.
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Insurance Implications Of High Court Affirmative Action Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling striking down affirmative action admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina will likely result in more litigation related to hiring practices, with implications for insurance coverage, meaning policyholders must remain wary of exclusions and other potential roadblocks, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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What The ESG Divide Means For Insurers And Beyond
The debate around ESG is becoming increasingly polarized, with some states passing legislation that prohibits the use of ESG factors and others advancing affirmative legislation, highlighting the importance for insurers and other companies to understand this complex legal landscape, say Scott Seaman and Bessie Daschbach at Hinshaw.
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2 Years Later: TransUnion's Impact On Data Breach Litigation
In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark TransUnion decision, plaintiffs have sought to bypass the effects of the ruling — which poses a significant impediment to large data breach class actions and uncertainty for cyber insurers — through various clever pleading forms, say Jason Fagelman and Sarah Cornelia at Norton Rose, and Amanda Thai at Beazley.
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Insurance Considerations For State Biometric Privacy Claims
As Connecticut and Colorado join the growing number of states that have enacted biometric data privacy acts auguring significant damages, in-house counsel thinking about insurance coverage for privacy liability should consider several key factors including clarity of exclusions, say Peter Halprin and Tae Andrews at Pasich.