Specialty Lines

  • May 28, 2025

    Law Firm's Suit Against AIG Unit Cut Down To Contract Claims

    A Florida federal judge on Wednesday trimmed a law firm's suit claiming an AIG unit allegedly misled it into representing a sports memorabilia collector in underlying civil and criminal fraud cases without payment.

  • May 28, 2025

    4th Circ. Finds Towers Watson's Merger Deals Not Covered

    Towers Watson's insurers have no obligation to pay out their remaining directors and officers coverage to help fund settlements resolving shareholder litigation over the company's merger with Willis, the Fourth Circuit affirmed Wednesday, saying the deals fall plainly within the scope of a so-called bump-up exclusion.

  • May 27, 2025

    Pharma Co. Says Chubb Failed To Pay Covered Defense Costs

    A New Jersey pharmaceutical company said Chubb owes nearly $6.5 million in outstanding defense costs related to a multibillion-dollar arbitration dispute over the manufacture of an antiviral drug, according to a suit removed to federal court Tuesday.

  • May 27, 2025

    Property Co. Not Covered In Condo Fire Suits, Insurer Says

    A property management company isn't covered for suits claiming it hired an unlicensed contractor whose work caused a fire at a condo complex, an insurer told a Florida federal court, saying coverage isn't available under a commercial general liability policy and is limited under a professional liability policy.

  • May 23, 2025

    Judge Tells Boat Crash Widow To Replead $66M Insurer Suit

    A Florida federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by the widow of the victim of a fatal boat crash seeking to get insurers to pay $66 million judgments but told the widow to replead her claims without the bad faith allegations to streamline discovery in the first stage of the litigation.

  • May 22, 2025

    Affirmative AI Coverage Challenges Specialty Insurance Lines

    Boutiques and major insurers alike have recently issued long-anticipated affirmative coverage for artificial intelligence risks, a divisive bet on the increased need for explicit protection and pricing of the technology's specific risks, even as existing policies offer many similar protections.

  • May 22, 2025

    Virus Coverage Revival Loss Shows Import Of Judicial Finality

    A North Carolina federal court's ruling that Golden Corral can't set aside a judgment against its bid for pandemic-related coverage despite recent policyholder success in the state Supreme Court highlighted the importance of judicial finality, while marking the difference between state and federal courts weighing insurance issues.

  • May 22, 2025

    Mich. Justices To Review Nationwide's Unitary Tax Filing Win

    The Michigan Supreme Court agreed Thursday to weigh an appeal by the state's tax agency of a decision that said Nationwide entities could file their taxes as a unitary group to share tax credits among its members.

  • May 22, 2025

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    The U.S. Supreme Court passed on insurer challenges to tribal jurisdiction in COVID-19 coverage cases, a Washington federal court approved Symetra's $32.5 million overcharging settlement, legal malpractice claims outpace inflation and a condo association's timing in serving an insurer helped it avoid removal to Florida federal court.

  • May 21, 2025

    USAA's $3.25M Data Breach Deal Granted Final OK

    Customers of USAA have received final approval for their $3.2 million settlement agreement to resolve claims that cybersecurity shortcomings affecting the bank's online insurance quote system paved the way for cybercriminals to open fraudulent memberships.

  • May 21, 2025

    Court Approves $32.5M Symetra Settlement For Overcharging

    A Washington federal court has given final approval for a $32.5 million settlement resolving claims between Symetra and life insurance policyholders who claimed the company used undisclosed factors to overcharge them.

  • May 20, 2025

    Insurers Say Legal Malpractice Costs Keep Outpacing Inflation

    The frequency at which major law firms faced malpractice claims held relatively steady in 2024, but payouts on claims continued to boom at a rate outpacing general inflation, according to this year's legal professional liability insurance survey, with nearly half of insurers surveyed reporting having paid at least one claim over $150 million.

  • May 19, 2025

    Insurer Drops Fight Over $9M OpenText Merger Settlement

    Allied World National Assurance Company on Monday ended its lawsuit seeking a declaration that it wasn't obligated to contribute to a $9 million settlement in a shareholder class action stemming from Covisint Corp.'s merger with OpenText.

  • May 19, 2025

    Insurer Says Pizza Chain Only Gets $250K For Cyberattack

    A cyber insurer for Cicis Pizza told a Texas federal court that it's already paid the full amount of coverage the restaurant chain is owed for a May 2022 ransomware incident, arguing that only a $250,000 sublimit under a ransomware endorsement applies.

  • May 15, 2025

    Attys Weigh Breadth Of 10th Circ. Pollution Row Interpretation

    A Tenth Circuit ruling that a New Mexico property owner wasn't owed a defense for underlying contamination litigation because of separate, unambiguous absolute pollution exclusions in its policies was no surprise, policyholder attorneys said, but a broad reading of the exclusions still gives them pause.

  • May 15, 2025

    Insurers' Win In Arbitration Treaty Ruling Narrows Circuit Split 

    A recent Second Circuit ruling in favor of international insurers seeking to arbitrate hurricane damage claims helped further close a significant circuit court split on the interpretation of a key international arbitration treaty, according to expert attorneys.

  • May 15, 2025

    Immigration Enforcement Risks May Fall Into Coverage Gaps

    As t​​​​​​he U.S. government continues to broaden and intensify its immigration enforcement actions, businesses concerned about their risks may find themselves falling between a gap in traditional lines of coverage for government investigations and employment-related liabilities.

  • May 15, 2025

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    The California Department of Insurance approved State Farm's request for an emergency rate increase, the Delaware Supreme Court heard arguments concerning coverage for 3M's defense costs payments in multidistrict litigation, and a U.S. Senate committee questioned Allstate and State Farm on their claims-handling procedures for natural disasters. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.

  • May 15, 2025

    Securities Atty Talks Carrier IPOs In Uncertain Market

    A selective thawing in the market could provide an opening to go public for insurance companies that aren't as directly affected by tariffs as companies in other industries, as demonstrated by two initial public offerings last week. Here, Law360 takes a look with Matthew L. Fry, a Haynes Boone partner who advised on one of the IPOs, that of American Integrity Insurance.

  • May 14, 2025

    Idaho Murderer's Family Can't Get Coverage, Judge Says

    The wealthy mining family of a mentally ill man who murdered and allegedly ate his victim's genitalia was denied insurance coverage for underlying litigation brought by the decedent's survivors when an Idaho federal judge determined the killing wasn't unforeseen and the killer's subjective motives weren't relevant.

  • May 14, 2025

    NC Progressive Customers Get Class Cert. In Car Value Suit

    A class of Progressive Auto Insurance customers in North Carolina suing over the company's alleged practice of making adjustments that reduced their compensation for total loss claims has been certified by a federal judge.

  • May 14, 2025

    Insurer Blamed For Unpaid $3.2M Horse-Related Theft Deal

    A show horse company that said an equestrian and his associate stole prize money, horse sale proceeds and valuable stallion semen blamed an insurer for covering protracted underlying litigation in bad faith, telling a Florida federal court that nothing was left for an eventual $3.2 million settlement.

  • May 13, 2025

    State Farm's Emergency Rate Hike Request Approved In Calif.

    California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced Tuesday that he had adopted a judge's recommendation to approve State Farm General Insurance Co.'s request for an emergency rate increase for property insurance in the state, following January wildfires that have already cost California insurers $12.1 billion.

  • May 12, 2025

    Ex-Liberty VP Can Shield Health Info In Bias Suit, For Now

    A Black former Liberty Mutual vice president and senior talent adviser got a temporary sealing order Monday in her race bias suit against the insurer, with a North Carolina magistrate judge stating that certain documents including her personal health information would be protected until her permanent sealing bid is resolved.

  • May 12, 2025

    Will Justices Finally Rein In Universal Injunctions?

    The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to address for the first time Thursday the propriety of universal injunctions, a tool federal judges have increasingly used to broadly halt presidential orders and policy initiatives, and whose validity has haunted the high court's merits and emergency dockets for more than a decade.

Expert Analysis

  • A View Of The Shifting Insurance Regulatory Landscape

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    Attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland explore how the Federal Insurance Office's climate report, the new presidential administration and the California wildfires might affect the insurance regulatory landscape.

  • Best Practices To Optimize Cybersecurity Insurance

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    As cyberthreats continue to evolve, the risks associated with third-party vendor breaches are an increasing concern, so businesses must not only reevaluate their internal cybersecurity insurance, but also take proactive steps to evaluate and manage the risks posed by their third-party relationships, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Courts Should Nix Conferencing Rule In 1 Discovery Scenario

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    Parties are generally required to meet and confer to resolve a discovery dispute before bringing a related motion, but courts should dispense with this conferencing requirement when a party fails to specify a time by which it will complete its production, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law.

  • Top Considerations For Insurance Companies In 2025

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    As insurance industry participants look to plan for the year, regulatory changes, climate-related challenges, the ongoing effects of social inflation and the potential for significant mergers and acquisitions will be among the key items for insurer boards and management to have on their radar, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • What Public View Of CEO's Killing Means For Corporate Trials

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    Given the proliferation of anti-corporate sentiments following recent charges against Luigi Mangione in connection with the killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO, attorneys who represent corporate clients and executives will need to adapt their trial strategy to account for juror anger, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation Consulting.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: Nov. And Dec. Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five federal court decisions and identifies practice tips from cases involving takings clause violations, breach of contract with banks, life insurance policies, employment and automobile defects.

  • Artfully Conceding Liability Can Offer Defendants 3 Benefits

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    In the rare case that a company makes the strategic decision to admit liability, it’s important to do so clearly and consistently in order to benefit from the various forms of armor that come from an honest acknowledgment, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

  • 5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2025

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    Lawyers and their clients must be prepared to navigate an evolving litigation funding market in 2025, made more complicated by a new administration and the increasing overall cost of litigation, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.

  • Rethinking Litigation Risk And What It Really Means To Win

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    Attorneys have a tendency to overestimate litigation risk before summary judgment and underestimate risk after it, but an eight-stage litigation framework can clarify risk at different points and help litigators reassess what true success looks like in any particular case, says Joshua Libling at Arcadia Finance.

  • 6 Predictions For Cyber Risk And Insurance In 2025

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    This year is likely to bring with it some thorny and expensive cyber challenges, including increased ransomware activity, more data breach class actions and continued efforts to define business interruption loss calculations, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • How Trial Attys Can Wield Amended Federal Evidence Rules

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    Trial lawyers should assess recent amendments to four Federal Rules of Evidence and a newly enacted rule on illustrative aids to determine how to best use the rules to enhance pretrial discovery and trial strategy, says Stewart Edelstein, former litigation chair at Cohen & Wolf.

  • Identifying Deepfakes During Evidence Collection, Discovery

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    Attorneys must familiarize themselves with the tools used to create and detect deepfakes — media manipulated by artificial intelligence to convincingly mimic real people and events — as well as best practices for keeping this fabricated evidence out of court, says Bijan Ghom at Saxton & Stump.

  • 1 Year After Rule 702 Changes, Courts Have Made Progress

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    In the year since amendments to the Federal Rules of Evidence went into effect, many federal judges have applied the new expert witness standard correctly, excluding unreliable testimony from their courts — but now state courts need to update their own rules accordingly, says Lee Mickus at Evans Fears.