Coverage & Claims

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The Texas Supreme Court recently reinstated a jury verdict, and reversed the appeals court’s affirmance of a trial court’s judgment notwithstanding the verdict, finding that a collision caused by a driver who was leading police on a high-speed chase was not excluded under the insurance policy’s “intentional injury” exclusion. …
Read More Texas Supreme Court: Reckless High-Speed Chase Is Not “Intentional” For Purposes Of Insurance Exclusion

An insurer was recently granted summary judgment against its insured based on a commercial general liability insurance policy’s total liquor liability exclusion (“TLLE”). …
Read More Connecticut Superior Court Grants Summary Judgment for Insurer Based on Total Liquor Liability Exclusion

Wyeth, a pharmaceutical and health care product manufacturer, purchased 20% of its excess product liability insurance from one insurer in the 1980s.  Starting in 1988, a subsidiary of Wyeth, John Wyeth & Brother, Ltd., was named as a defendant in over 11,000 product liability actions in the United Kingdom and Ireland because of its manufacture and prescription of Ativan and other drugs containing benzodiazepine. 

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Read More Southern District of New York Holds Excess Insurer Liable for Reimbursement of Foreign Defense Costs, Despite Policy’s Exclusion of Duty to Defend

The insured, a security firm operating in Iraq under contract with the U.S. government, was sued by former Iraqi detainees and their survivors for allegedly torturing prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison and other detention centers in Iraq.  The insured, in turn, sought defense and indemnity coverage for the lawsuits under its commercial general liability protection policies, which obligated the insurer to defend and indemnify the insured against any suit for covered injuries or damage. 

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Read More Fourth Circuit Holds that Insurer Is Not Obligated to Defend Security Firm in Lawsuits Alleging Torture of Iraqi Prisoners by Its Employees

New York’s highest court recently held that an exclusion for “earth movement” in a property policy did not exclude coverage for damage to the policyholder’s building that resulted when excavation of the adjacent lot caused earth to slide away beneath the insured building. 

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Read More New York Court of Appeals: Earth Movement Exclusion Does Not Apply to Damage Caused by Adjacent Lot Excavation

The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently reversed a trial court and held that an insurer did not have a duty to defend under parents’ homeowners’ policy because coverage for childrens’ act of shooting at passing trucks on a highway was barred by the policy’s intentional acts exclusion. 

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Read More Tennessee Court of Appeals Holds That Intentional Acts Exclusion Bars Coverage for Children Shooting at Trucks on Highway

The Eleventh Circuit federal Court of Appeals recently affirmed summary judgment in favor of an automobile insurance company, finding that no reasonable jury could conclude that the insurer had acted in bad faith by offering the policy limits to an accident victim 33 days after the accident. 

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Read More Eleventh Circuit: As a Matter of Law, Auto Insurer’s Settlement 33 Days After Accident Is Not Bad Faith

The Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance (the “Subcommittee”) will hold the first Congressional hearings on Chinese Drywall on May 21st at 10:30 a.m.  The Subcommittee intends to investigate the alleged health and product safety issues associated with Chinese Drywall. …
Read More Chinese Drywall Capitol Hill Update – Senate Subcommittee Will Conduct Hearings and House Orders Study of Available Property Insurance