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States are Limiting Insurers' Ability to Cancel Policies during Pandemic

Following other states, like Georgia, that have recently issued orders that prevent insurers from canceling insurance policies during the ongoing pandemic, Delaware has issued an order that insurers...

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Massachusetts and Ohio Follow New Jersey Attempt to Re-Write Existing...

Lawmakers in Massachusetts and Ohio introduced bills this week to rewrite existing insurance policies to cover businesses’ economic losses arising from Covid-19 work stoppages. The proposed language...

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California at Forefront of Business Interruption Coverage Response to COVID-19

The now ubiquitous shelter-in-place orders enacted across the United States began in the San Francisco Bay Area, followed days later by California Governor Gavin Newsom’s decision to issue the first...

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Civil Authority Coverage For Coronavirus Claims

As more and more businesses seek coverage for the loss of income arising from the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, one of the key issues in determining whether there is coverage under commercial...

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The Impact Of The Coronavirus On The Entertainment Insurance...

The coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the global entertainment and sports industries, with Wimbledon, scheduled for June 29 to July 12, 2020, the 74th annual Tony Awards, scheduled for June 7, 2020 at...

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Class Certification Issues in Coronavirus-Related Commercial Property...

The coronavirus pandemic raises the specter of potential class action exposure for commercial property insurers. The combination of staggering losses to America’s small businesses and the perceived...

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California: Developments in COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims

As the shelter-in-place orders continue to impact businesses across California, California’s lawmakers are responding to the growing unrest voiced by the state’s business owners. Developments at the...

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How Insurers Can Prepare For Hurricanes During A Pandemic

With the inception of the 2020 hurricane season and the potential end of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in sight, insurance companies face unique and unprecedented challenges in the event a...

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Amazon and the Independent Bookseller: A New Look at Market Definition?

When one thinks of technological advances that have forced antitrust lawyers to think about market definition differently, Amazon’s rise to power is perhaps the most obvious example. For years, the...

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Indirect Purchaser Antitrust Standing Heads In New Direction

Defendants in indirect purchaser price-fixing and market allocation cases in federal court frequently challenge plaintiffs' claims for lack of antitrust standing. Relying on the U.S. Supreme Court...

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5th Circ. Insurance Case May Encourage Post-Appraisal Suits

On Oct. 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is set to hear oral arguments in Pearson v. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company. The case centers on statutory construction of...

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Climate Change Litigation Goes Before the Supreme Court

In January, the US Supreme Court will hear arguments in one of the lawsuits filed against oil and gas companies for their alleged contribution to climate change. The Court’s ruling will likely have a...

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Spa Virus Coverage Ruling Misses The Mark

In response to the wave of litigation over COVID-19-related business income claims, an overwhelming majority of courts considering the relevant policy language — approximately 80% — have found no...

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Don't Let Lies Infiltrate The Mediation Process

Mediation is quickly becoming an even more important form of adjudication as courts have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. With the second surge in reported cases, courts across...

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The Financial Conduct Authority v. Arch and Others [2021] UKSC 1 (“the FCA...

On 15 January 2021 the UK Supreme Court handed down its highly anticipated judgment in the FCA Test Case. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the UK Government to introduce public health measures which...

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State COVID-19 Liability Shields Create Insurance Challenges

The COVID-19 pandemic has created evolving uncertainties for insurers providing coverage throughout the U.S. As the pandemic spread throughout the country, insurers faced an influx of first-party...

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Commercial Property Insurance Coverage for Texas Winter Freeze Losses

For an incredible 10-day period in mid-February, Texas was battered by a brutal winter storm bringing snow, ice, and record-low temperatures. Millions of Texans were without power and water for days....

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COVID-19 Insurance Issues To Watch In Civil Law Countries

A recent judgment from a court of appeal in Spain shows that the outcome of coverage disputes over COVID-19 business interruption losses in civil law jurisdictions may be different from what would be...

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Virtual Litigation May Unravel The Narcissistic Lawyer

Narcissists in courtroom settings are often incredibly charismatic, charming and convincing. This is because narcissists survive on narcissistic supply. Narcissistic supply is a form of psychological...

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COVID Rulings May Support Ransomware Insurance Denials

Ransomware attacks were already on the rise prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the prevalence of such cyberattacks substantially increased during the pandemic due, in part, to additional security...

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Insurer Considerations For Post-Pandemic Virtual Mediation

As the number of COVID-19 cases increased in the course of the pandemic, so too did the use of virtual mediation as a means of dispute resolution. The utilization of mediation to resolve disputes has...

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New Fla. Atty Fee Law May Be Boon To Property Insurers

Florida S.B. 76, designed to curb first-party property insurance litigation in Florida, took effect on July 1. While the bill addresses several critical property insurance topics including...

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California Wildfires - Underwriting Considerations

Wildfires in California are, unfortunately, burning as frequently and as ferociously as ever. Exemplified by the 2017, 2018, and 2020 wildfire seasons, the number of wildfires in the last 5 years...

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Cyber Rulings Aren't Helping COVID Biz Interruption Cases

Along with seeking to analogize COVID-19 physical loss or damage to that in the fumes or contaminants context, policyholders are now also attempting to rely on cases discussing the bounds of physical...

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Texas Insurers' Paths to Post-Appraisal Summary Judgment

Until recently, property insurers who paid a binding appraisal award in Texas were almost certain to end a matter by doing so, with respect to both breach-of-contract claims and all extracontractual...

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Minn. Big Oil Climate Suit Follows Big Tobacco Blueprint

When Minnesota's Attorney General Keith Ellison announced in June 2020 that his office had filed a climate change lawsuit, the litigation strategy he described was relatively novel for a climate...

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Reach Of Ohio Ransomware Ruling Limited To Policy At Hand

We are still in the relatively early stages of jurisprudence addressing the insurability of loss stemming from data breaches. Compared to the more developed body of case law interpreting coverage...

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Conn. Ruling Widens Scope Of Property Insurance Appraisals

Property insurance policies commonly provide for an appraisal process to resolve disputes over the amount of loss. But as industry professionals know all too well, the meaning of "amount of loss" is...

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Is an Appraisal an Arbitration? Yes and No. Maybe. Sort of.

Appraisal and arbitration are similar – and different. Are they so similar that appraisal can be called a form of arbitration, or are they so different that appraisal is a thing unto itself? And most...

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Why Climate Plaintiffs Are Filing Securities, Consumer Suits

A growing trend has emerged in the ongoing effort to hold greenhouse gas emitters accountable for their contributions to global climate change. The first wave of climate change lawsuits in the U.S....

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Insurer Implications As 3 Climate Suits Return To State Courts

After years of litigation over the proper venue for climate change lawsuits, several federal courts of appeal have recently sent those cases to state courts across the nation, where they are now set...

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Opioid Case May Guide Climate Change Insurance Suits

The rising tide of climate change lawsuits is sure to bring with it a wave of declaratory judgment actions on the issue of whether liability insurers have an obligation to defend fossil fuel producers...

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How Lawyers Can Set Ethical Boundaries Post-Pandemic

In January 2020, I authored a Law360 guest article titled "Setting Boundaries: An Essential Skill for Lawyers," which highlighted the need for firm boundaries as it relates to attorney-client...

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The Lawyer Personalities That Make Up Joint Interest Groups

In the 2005 biography "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin, we read of Lincoln's masterful assembly of the disparate personalities that formed his Cabinet...

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After Climate Rulings, Insurers May Go On Coverage Offense

Two recently filed lawsuits, Aloha Petroleum Ltd. v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. and Everest Premier Insurance Co. v. Gulf Oil Ltd. Partnership, signal the beginning of litigation over liability...

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Policyholders Should Also Want To Fight Social Inflation

Insurers frequently bemoan the rise of social inflation, but why is the industry best equipped to insulate itself from the problem the only one sounding the alarm? Meanwhile, the real victims of...

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The End of the Voluntary-Involuntary Rule

Since the adoption of Chapter 542A of the Texas Insurance Code, Texas courts have been grappling with insurers’ election of responsibility of their agents—specifically how to treat such agents for...

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What To Expect In Builder's Risk Insurance Claims In 2023

With interest rates on the rise, sticky inflation, few signs of a cooling labor market, and continued instability in Russia, China and beyond affecting energy prices and exports, the builder's risk...

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How Ohio Software Ruling Implicates Crypto Insurance Claims

In the last week of December 2022, the Ohio Supreme Court published a much-anticipated decision in the EMOI Services LLC v. Owners Insurance Co. case. The decision was bold, and the court made no...

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Lawyer Discernment Is Critical In The World Of AI

By Jennifer L. GibbsTo read this article in PDF format, please click here. Influential preacher Charles Spurgeon said, "Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between what is...

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Big Oil Certiorari Denial May Alter Climate Change Litigation

By Dennis Anderson and Deepa SutherlandTo read this article in PDF format, please click here. On April 24, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a heavy blow to Big Oil defendants seeking to remove climate...

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Holding an Insured to its Burden to Support its Claim: Texas’ Concurrent...

For Presentation at the 20th Annual Advanced Insurance Law Course, June 1-2, 2023, Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort, San Antonio, Texas - No Texas insurance practitioner disputes that an insured may...

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Viewpoint: Evidentiary Issues with Google Earth Images in Property Claims

In recent years, the use of Google Earth’s satellite imagery has become an increasingly common method for locating or viewing specific addresses. Google Earth uses high-resolution cameras to obtain...

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Morakabian and Rosales Signal a Consensus View on Recovery of Attorneys’ Fees...

Chapter 542 of the Texas Insurance Code, also known as the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (“TPPCA”), generally allows an insured to recover interest and attorneys’ fees, in addition to the amount...

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Tales From The Trenches Of Remote Depositions

After the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world in early 2020, many industries pivoted to conducting business in ways that reduced or eliminated face-to-face interactions. Fortunately, with internet...

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Defining the Doctrine of Prevention in Texas

Property insurance claims involving disputes about whether the insured is entitled to replacement cost value (RCV) typically involve whether the insured has actually repaired the damaged property....

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Will Amendment to Rule 702 Affect Property Insurance Coverage Litigation?

In most property insurance coverage litigation, the parties engage experts to elucidate the issues in the case. This is particularly true when there are multiple causes of loss, covered and not...

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Non-renewal, Cancellation, Reformation and Rescission of Insurance Policies...

The Texas Legislature this year adopted House Bill 1900, which amends the notice requirements for non-renewal and policy changes in Texas Insurance Code Section 551.105. The statutory changes,...

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Do Not Underestimate the OLLE

The Occurrence Limit of Liability Endorsement (“OLLE” and pronounced “Ollie”) is a hot topic right now in property insurance law as it is being included with increasing frequency in property insurance...

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Climate Change Litigation: What Can Liability Insurers Expect in 2024?

Climate litigation against companies is increasing and the stakes are getting higher. Last year saw more headline-making claims being brought against corporations and a slew of important decisions...

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