The wildfires in Los Angeles, including the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, and Runyon Canyon fires, are fast-moving, destructive, and scary. As of the evening of January 8, 2025, they have caused extensive damage and led to the evacuation of more than 100,000 residents. The Palisades Fire has burned 18 square miles, the Eaton Fire 16.5 square
This autumn, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales handed down judgment in UnipolSai Assicurazioni SpA v Covéa Insurance Plc [2024] EWCA Civ 1110. This was an appeal of an Award made in a reinsurance arbitration under section 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996. UnipolSai’s challenge was at first instance before (and dismissed by)
Earlier this year, in Gregory v. Safeco Insurance Co., the Supreme Court of Colorado addressed the question whether, under Colorado law, the notice-prejudice rule should apply to first-party property insurance claims under occurrence-based, homeowners’ insurance policies. 545 P.3d 942 (Colo. 2024). In a thoughtful and lengthy opinion, the Supreme Court adopted the rule by
When the COVID-19 Pandemic incepted, and issues arose as to whether affected policyholders could seek Business Income and Civil Authority coverage from the presence or suspected presence of SARS-CoV-2 and consequent orders of Civil Authority, I thought that the easiest question to answer was whether such policyholders had suffered physical loss or damage (“PLOD”) to
Introduction
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals’ recent decision in ECB USA, Inc. v. Chubb provides several important lessons for corporate policyholders faced with potential coverage issues arising from their consulting or professional services.
The issue in ECB was whether Chubb’s professional services liability policy applied to claims against an accounting firm for a faulty
In what is described as the largest cyber loss event in years, on Friday, July 19, 2024, customers of CrowdStrike and many others throughout the world discovered that they could not access critical software and enterprise systems to run their businesses.
The mass outage was due to a defective CrowdStrike software update. The outage notably
Hurricane Beryl has caused destruction in the Caribbean, Mexico and Texas. Continuing issues include power outages, both rolling and continuous, issues regarding access to clean water, severed communications, roads that remain impassable and issues accessing necessities like food and fuel.
Hurricanes cause dramatic damage to businesses and commercial properties every year, totaling some $9 billion
Key Take-aways
In this post, we take a look at an insurer’s right to subrogation – the mechanism that allows them to step into the shoes of the insured – and how, in particular circumstances, that right can be restricted.
We look first at how subrogation applies where there are joint or co-insureds, depending on the specifics
The “Four Corners rule” (a.k.a. the “Eight Corners rule”) is the foundation for many states’ common law regarding the Duty to Defend under liability policies. Under that regime, the court treats “the underlying complaint and the insurance policy” as “the only documents relevant” to deciding whether an insurer owes the policyholder a duty to defend. Badger Mining Corp. v. First Am. Title Ins. Co., 534 F. Supp. 3d 1011, 1020 (W.D. Wis. 2021); 1 General Liability Insurance Coverage § 5.02 (5th ed.) (providing a “50-State Survey: Duty to Defend Standard: ‘Four Corners’ or Extrinsic Evidence?”).
The rule presents a problem for policyholders when the complaint’s allegations do not raise a duty to defend on their face, however, during the course of the litigation, it becomes apparent that claims that do give rise to a duty to defend are, in fact, at issue. If the case is pending in federal court, policyholders can assert the “constructive amendment doctrine”; that is, that the complaint has been effectively amended to include the unpleaded claims and, therefore, the insurance company should provide a defense.Continue Reading Expanding the “Four Corners” rule through constructive amendment