Tag Archives: Ambiguity

Reading insurance policies: context is key

By Tim Law on 3 May 2022 Posted in Insurance Coverage, Insurance General

A fundamental canon of construction used to interpret statutes and contracts is noscitur a sociis, which translates to “it is known by the company it keeps.” In Virginia v. Tennessee, 148 U.S. 503, 519 (1893), the United States Supreme Court explained that “the meaning of a term may be enlarged or restrained by reference to … Continue Reading

Raccoons as legal roadkill: The Western District of Pennsylvania denies coverage for damage caused by masked bandits

By Mike Sampson and Kateri Persinger on 4 November 2019 Posted in Insurance Coverage, Insurance General, Insurance News of Note, Property Damage & Business Interruption

Reviewing philosopher Mark Rowlands’ 2012 work Can Animals Be Moral?, Jessica Pierce wrote in the Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, “The question, ‘Can animals be moral?’ has suffered the worst kind of philosophical denial: an almost complete lack of interest by ‘serious’ philosophers.” No longer. In an effort to apply “general canon[s] of contract interpretation,” the … Continue Reading

Read Insurance Policy as Drafted, Not as Insurance Company “Wishes It Had Drafted It”

By Mike Sampson and Caitlin Garber on 4 May 2015 Posted in Insurance Coverage, Insurance General

Confronted with an ambiguity in its own insurance policy, an insurance company will sometimes attempt to rewrite its policy long after it first issued that policy. Last week, the Pennsylvania Superior Court again rejected such gamesmanship, emphasizing that, when interpreting an insurance policy, a court “must examine and construe the policy as it exists, not … Continue Reading

Delaware Chancery Court Opens the Door to “All Sums” Allocation in New York

By Ann Kramer on 16 October 2009 Posted in Insurance Coverage

On October 14th, Vice Chancellor Leo E. Strine, Jr. of the Delaware Court of Chancery blew some much needed fresh air into New York allocation jurisprudence. The Viking Pump consolidated cases, C.A. 1465-VCS, have already yielded very interesting and thoughtful rulings on the transfer of insurance in connection with complicated corporate transactions. Viking Pump, Inc. v. Liberty … Continue Reading

Third Circuit Misses the Mark in CPB International

By Doug Widin on 16 June 2009 Posted in Insurance Coverage

Recently, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit decided Nationwide Mutual Insurance v. CPB International, Docket No. 07-4772 (April 14, 2009). CPB supplied chondroitin to Rexall for use in compounding tablets, including chondroitin and glucosamine. CPB supplied two batches of chondroitin that turned out to fall short of contractual specifications and to contain impurities. By the time … Continue Reading