The Insurance & Reinsurance Report

July 17, 2018 Emerging Issues

In the Emerging Area of Insurance Coverage for Opioid Litigation, Ohio Court Finds No Coverage for Opioid Distributor Due to Past Claim

An Ohio federal court recently added to the limited, but growing, body of case law on insurance coverage for opioid litigation. In Miami-Luken, Inc. v. Navigators Insurance Co., No 1:16-cv-00876 (S.D. Ohio July 11, 2018), the court found that a specific litigation exclusion precluded coverage for a DEA action against an opioid distributor.

Like many of the opioid coverage decisions thus far, this case stems from a 2012 lawsuit filed by the Attorney General of West Virginia against various opioid distributors, including Miami-Luken, captioned …

July 12, 2018 Fraud / Industry News

Second Circuit’s Decision Upholding Social Engineering Fraud Coverage Likely a Paper Tiger

In a case closely monitored by the insurance industry, the Second Circuit upheld in a non-precedential summary order a New York federal district court’s summary judgment finding coverage under the computer fraud coverage of a commercial crime policy. Medidata Solutions, Inc. v. Fed. Ins. Co., No. 17-2492, 2018 WL 3339245 (2d Cir. 2018). Although the policyholders are apt to tout the decision as a seismic victory, the atypical policy language and factual circumstances should greatly limit its persuasive value.

As background, the insured, Medidata …

July 6, 2018 General

Insured’s Decision to Manufacture A Dangerous Product Knowing No Insurance Is Available Doesn’t Sway Court To Create An Equitable Exception To The Unavailability Rule

The Supreme Court of New Jersey recently resolved an 18-year-old asbestos coverage row, encompassing 330 policies and thousands of claims. In reaching its decision in Cont’l Ins. Co. v. Honeywell Int’l, Inc., No. 078152, 2018 WL 3130638 (N.J. June 27, 2018), the court confirmed that lex loci contractus is dead in New Jersey for purposes of resolving choice of law issues in contract cases and declined to recognize an equitable exception to the “unavailability of insurance” allocation principle it had announced in its seminal …

July 6, 2018 Uncategorized

Streaming Insight: Q&A With Jonathan L. Schwartz

Goldberg Segalla marked spring 2018 with the launch of Timely Notice, our podcast that addresses in an engaging and easily digestible way many of the critical and cutting-edge issues facing insurance industry professionals as well as in-house and outside legal counsel.

We sat down with Jonathan L. Schwartz, partner in Goldberg Segalla’s Global Insurance Services Practice Group, to discuss what inspired him to create the podcast, what listeners will learn, and what the future holds.

What sparked the idea for Timely Notice, …

June 29, 2018 Bad Faith and Extra-Contractual Liability

New York Appellate Division Split on Claim Preclusion of Bad Faith Action

By decision dated June 8, 2018, the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department, affirmed the trial court’s denial of an insurer’s motion to dismiss bad faith claims based on res judicata, in defiance of prior precedent from a separate Department of the Appellate Division.

Corle v. Allstate Ins. Co., N.Y.S.3d , 2018 WL 2751204 (4th Dept. 2018) arises out of an incident in which the plaintiff, Colin Corle (Corle) was shot by Jeoffrey lee Bauter Teeter (Teeter). Teeter’s homeowners’ insurer …

June 8, 2018 Policy Conditions, Considerations, Construction, and Formation

A Subpoena May Be a Claim if the Insured says It Is

Whether or not there is coverage under a D&O Policy to pay for expenses incurred responding to a governmental subpoena is a recurring question that nets an inconsistent answer from courts around the country. While the question is often fact specific, an Illinois Federal Court held that a D&O policy provided coverage for expenses incurred responding to a subpoena, and in fact, looked outside of the subpoena itself to make that finding. In Astellas US Holding, Inc. v. Starr Indem. & Liab. Co., Judge …

June 5, 2018 Uncategorized

Property Damage Repairs Prior to Notice of Loss to Insurer Forfeits Coverage

A recent Florida appellate opinion gives more teeth to repercussions for failing to give timely notice of a property damage loss to an insurer. In De la Rosa v. Florida Peninsula Insurance Company, 2018 WL 2246781 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018), a plumbing leak in the insureds’ residence resulted in interior water damage. Rather than report the claim immediately to the insurer, the insureds first completed all of the repairs. While the insureds retained some of the damaged plumbing components they failed to preserve them, …

May 29, 2018 Uncategorized

Landers and Restoring Time for Appraisals

Troy Beecher, an experienced insurance coverage attorney in Goldberg Segalla’s Orlando office, scrutinizes a recent decision from a Florida District Court of Appeal, Landers v. State Farm Florida Insurance Company, which liberalizes and encourages insurance bad faith litigation in Florida. Troy delves into the decision and why it undermines the purpose behind civil remedy notices. Troy otherwise discusses how the court neutered safeguards to a flood of bad faith action litigation stemming from property coverage disputes. Troy also shares his predictions on how the …

May 25, 2018 General

Insurance Companies May Get the Last Say Regarding Arming Teachers

Three months after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, and just days after the Santa Fe High School shooting, the debate continues to rage over whether the presence of armed teachers and/or officers would increase school safety, or just increase the risk of a shooting.

The idea’s not new – arming teachers was the subject of serious debate after the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, but the idea was quickly shut down in most areas by insurers. Now, the spotlight is on it again. Attempts …

May 23, 2018 Industry News

The ALI Votes to Approve the “Restatement of the Law of Liability Insurance”

After nearly a decade of debate and controversy, the American Law Institute (ALI) voted to approve the much anticipated Restatement of the Law of Liability Insurance (RLLI) at its annual meeting on Tuesday, May 22, 2018. The project that ultimately resulted in the RLLI was launched in 2010, under the direction of Reporter Tom Baker of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law and Associate Reporter Kyle D. Logue of Michigan Law School, and produced nearly 30 drafts through the lifecycle of the project, before …