Specialty Lines
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June 26, 2025
NJ Water Treatment Co. Can't Avoid AIG's Rescission Bid
A water treatment product manufacturer must face an AIG unit's counterclaim seeking to rescind extensions of two policies, a New Jersey federal court ruled Thursday, saying the insurer plausibly alleged that the company made material misrepresentations in its policy application that could void coverage under the extensions.
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June 24, 2025
D&O Insurer Must Cover Investor In Merger Dispute
A directors and officers liability insurer had a duty to defend and indemnify a venture capital investor in a now-resolved lawsuit over the sale of a company immediately after a merger, a California federal court ruled, finding a dilution-of-shares exception in an exclusion applicable.
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June 24, 2025
Pollution Exclusion Applies Without Exception, AIG Unit Says
An AIG unit urged the Illinois Supreme Court to find that a permit or regulation allowing a company to discharge toxins into the environment has no bearing on the application of a pollution exclusion, saying "pollution is pollution" regardless of government authorization.
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June 24, 2025
Lewis Brisbois Opens Insurance Practice With Atty From WTW
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP has launched a practice catering to the legal needs of insurance underwriters, product leaders and managing general underwriters and agents, hiring a former executive vice president at insurance broker Willis Towers Watson PLC to co-chair it.
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June 20, 2025
Aflac Hacked In 'Campaign' Against Insurance Industry
Aflac is the latest target of an ongoing "cybercrime campaign against the insurance industry," the company said Friday, reporting that a breach has potentially exposed claims and health data, Social Security numbers and other personal information.
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June 18, 2025
Trade Atty Explores UK Insurance Ruling On Stranded Planes
In finding that major insurers are obliged to pay aircraft lessors billions over planes stranded in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a London court offered an interpretation of war risk loss that could set the stage for future litigation and change how carriers approach coverage, a trade law attorney told Law360. Here, Linda Jacques, a U.K.-based partner at Lester Aldridge LLP, dives into the ruling's implications and possible next steps.
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June 18, 2025
Pollution Insurer Says Cos. Not Covered In Groundwater Row
A pollution liability insurer for an oilfield services company told a Texas federal court it owes no coverage for two lawsuits accusing the company and a former subsidiary of groundwater contamination, arguing the company breached its claim reporting requirements and knew of the alleged contamination before purchasing coverage.
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June 18, 2025
Fed. AI Moratorium Proposal May Undo State Insurance Regs
A proposed federal moratorium on state regulation of artificial intelligence systems has raised alarms from state insurance regulators and practitioners, who say the broad scope of the moratorium may threaten to undo long-established practices and spread confusion across the industry.
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June 18, 2025
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
The Fourth Circuit affirmed that a homeowner isn't entitled to a premium refund under federal mortgage law, a North Carolina federal court refused to resurrect a hospitality group's pandemic-related coverage suit, and a New York federal court said an insurer can't force another to defend a property owner in an injury lawsuit. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.
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June 18, 2025
Data Center Risks Call For Close Eye During Policy Renewal
Data centers in the United States continue to grow, but the operators have an often unique portfolio of risks that may not fit squarely within the coverage provided by existing insurance products. Here, Law360 speaks with Reed Smith partner Stephen T. Raptis about the potential risks that data center operators may face and how these policyholders should approach renewals to ensure the data center is properly covered.
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June 17, 2025
AIG Unit, Air Co. Seek Quick Wins In Herbicide Damage Row
An air services company told a New York federal court that an AIG unit must provide general liability coverage for a lawsuit seeking nearly $2.5 million for grass damage from herbicides, while the unit countered that neither company's general liability policy nor specialty "aerial applicator" policy applies.
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June 16, 2025
Texas Panel Says NY Law Applies In Tornado Coverage Row
An Illinois-based company must litigate its insurance coverage battle over merchandise damage from a Dallas tornado under New York law, a Texas appeals court affirmed, finding the company's "legal injury" took place in New York.
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June 16, 2025
4th Circ. Says No Premium Refunds Under Fed. Mortgage Law
A Virginia homeowner cannot recover premiums he'd prepaid for private mortgage insurance under a federal law mandating such insurance for certain borrowers, the Fourth Circuit ruled Monday, finding the Homeowners Protection Act of 1998's premium refund provisions do not extend to voluntary insurance cancellation agreements.
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June 13, 2025
Tax Credit Sales Would Be Difficult To Insure Under House Bill
House Republicans' sweeping budget bill proposes to promptly scale back the clean energy tax incentives established by the 2022 climate law, a move that would make it difficult for tax insurers to back project development deals that want to sell their tax credits for cash.
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June 12, 2025
Air India Disaster Likely To Pose Massive Insurance Costs
Thursday's deadly Air India disaster could implicate a range of insurance coverage proceedings, but experts said massive costs will likely be shared by multiple insurers in a process that will be shaped in part by investigations into the cause of the crash.
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June 12, 2025
Insurance Litigation Week In Review
Mandarin Oriental notched a discovery win in its COVID-19 coverage action while appeals courts dealt further defeats in other pandemic-related insurance cases, Uber filed a racketeering lawsuit over sham injury payouts and the Fourth Circuit sided with an insurer in a dispute over stacking policy limits. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.
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June 12, 2025
Fla. Death Damages Row Signals Insurers' Tort Reform Focus
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' veto of a bill that would have repealed limits on noneconomic damages in fatal medical malpractice cases — despite state lawmakers' overwhelming support of the measure — signals broad concerns over how tort reform legislation could impact the insurance industry.
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June 12, 2025
6th Circ. PFAS Ruling Entrusts Coverage Suits To Fed Level
The Sixth Circuit forged its own jurisdictional standard in determining that when coercive and declaratory claims are closely intertwined it's likely an abuse of discretion for a federal court to abstain from adjudication, and experts are praising the decision as a thorough analysis of the appropriateness of exercising jurisdiction over insurance disputes.
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June 12, 2025
Calif. Casinos Seek Coverage For Tribes' Gambling Suits
California casino operators said they are entitled to defense coverage for suits brought by several tribes over their gambling operations, telling a federal court that their insurer has denied coverage based on policy exclusions that do not apply and has failed to conduct a proper investigation of their claims.
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June 12, 2025
Cyber Incidents Are D&O Problems, Too, Expert Says
Cybersecurity incidents are increasingly implicating directors and officers insurance because of their effects on a range of compliance issues, a dynamic that may surprise policyholders more accustomed to thinking of cyber events as tech-related or cyberinsurance issues. Here, Law360 speaks with Freya Bowen, counsel at Neal Gerber & Eisenberg LLP's insurance recovery practice, about the importance of considering D&O policies for cyber incident-related liabilities,
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June 11, 2025
Assembly Line Co.'s Dispute Predated Policy, 6th Circ. Affirms
The Sixth Circuit affirmed a lower court's decision denying an assembly line technology designer's bid for insurance coverage of an underlying multimillion-dollar dispute with a customer, finding coverage was excluded because the conflict originated before the professional liability policy was purchased.
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June 10, 2025
Wells Fargo Can't Collect On $4M Stranger-Funded Life Policy
Wells Fargo Bank NA cannot collect on a $4 million life insurance policy, a Nebraska federal court ruled, finding the policy void from the start since it was taken out on the life of a now-deceased man with the intended purpose of benefiting an investor.
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June 09, 2025
Hinshaw Welcomes Insurance Litigator To New Orleans Team
Hinshaw & Culbertson has added a partner from Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz to its global insurance services practice in New Orleans, where she will represent insurance companies and other entities, the 500-lawyer firm announced Monday.
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June 06, 2025
4th Circ. Denies Bid To Inflate $300K Insurance Payout
Selective Insurance Company of South Carolina doesn't have to increase its payout to a couple involved in a car wreck, the Fourth Circuit has ruled, finding that North Carolina law doesn't provide that the couple's many insurance policies can be stacked.
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June 05, 2025
Novel Climate Change Death Suit Raises Insurance Questions
A novel suit accusing oil and gas companies of contributing to a woman's 2022 heat wave death could lead to future insurance disputes, but experts said common exclusions and other policy terms could leave the companies footing defense costs.
Expert Analysis
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Top Considerations For Insurance Companies In 2025
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.
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What Public View Of CEO's Killing Means For Corporate Trials
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.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: Nov. And Dec. Lessons
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.
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Artfully Conceding Liability Can Offer Defendants 3 Benefits
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.
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5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2025
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.
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Rethinking Litigation Risk And What It Really Means To Win
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.
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6 Predictions For Cyber Risk And Insurance In 2025
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.
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How Trial Attys Can Wield Amended Federal Evidence Rules
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.
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Identifying Deepfakes During Evidence Collection, Discovery
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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.
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1 Year After Rule 702 Changes, Courts Have Made Progress
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.
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An Underutilized Tool To Dismiss Meritless Claims In Texas
In Texas, special appearances provide a useful but often overlooked tool for out-of-state defendants to escape meritless claims early in litigation, thus limiting discovery and creating a pathway for immediate appellate review, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.
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How Texas Bill Would Transform Noneconomic Damages
Large noneconomic damage awards in personal injury cases have grown exponentially in Texas in recent years, but newly introduced legislation would cap such damages, likely requiring both the plaintiff and defense bars to recalibrate their litigation strategies, say attorneys at Norton Rose.
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4 Holiday Movies Full Of Cheer And Subrogation Scenarios
While holiday movies are known for spreading cheer and inspiring nostalgia, for insurance professionals they may also offer an unlikely, yet fascinating, look at subrogation recovery potential, says Dana Meyers at Cozen O'Connor.