In Radiator Specialty Co. v. Arrowood Indemnity Co., 881 S.E.2d 597 (N.C. 2022) the North Carolina Supreme Court adopted an exposure trigger, pro rata allocation and vertical exhaustion, in deciding a claim for benzene coverage dispute involving benzene. The insured,...
The Delaware Supreme Court ruled in Stillwater Mining Co. v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, PA, 289 A.3d 1274 (Del. 2023) that Delaware law, and not Montana law, governed the question of whether the insurer had a duty to defend a company that was...
In Allstate Vehicle and Property Insurance Co. v. Frank, 687 F.Supp.3d 1033, (D. Mont., 2023), the Federal Court held, applying Montana law, that a homeowner and umbrella insurer was required to defend its insured, a police officer, when the police officer was sued...
In Final Table, LLC v. Acceptance Casualty Ins. Co., 537 P.3d 990 (Or. App. 2023) the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld summary judgment enforcing the application of an assault and battery exclusion in a bar shooting case. In this case, a bar patron named Sheets entered...
A U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii recently denied an insurer’s request for reimbursement of defense costs when the insurer defended its insured under a reservation of rights and then prevailed on coverage. The District Court in St. Paul Fire &...
In Harris v. Safeway Insurance Co. of Louisiana, 373 S.3d 124 (La. App. 3rd Cir. 2023), the Louisiana appellate court upheld a criminal conduct exclusion in an automobile policy precluding coverage for a passenger’s injuries that were incurred when the driver ran a...
In President and Fellows of Harvard College v. Zurich America Insurance Co., 77 F.4d 33 (1st Cir. 2023), the court upheld the insurance company’s forfeiture of the right to coverage based on untimely notice under the terms of a claims-made liability policy. ...
In Star Surplus Lines Insurance Co. v. 8th Judicial District Court in and for County of Clark, 535 P.3d 254 (2023), the insured argued that the presence of Covid-19 constituted “direct physical loss or damage” triggering coverage. The claimant pointed to what it...
Under California law – the California Motor Carriers of Property Permit Act, Vehicle Code § 34600 et seq., a commercial automobile liability policy terminates on the date stated in either the policy or in any endorsement to the policy, irrespective of whether the...
In a split decision, the North Carolina Court of Appeals in Jones v. J. Kim Hatcher Insurance Agencies, Inc., 893 S.E.2d 1 (N.C. App. 9/5/23) held that the insured’s failure to read the policy application that the insured signed after it was prepared by the insurance...