Time 1 Minute Read

In a recent client alert, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP real estate attorney Laurie Grasso and insurance attorneys Geoffrey B. Fehling, Cary D. Steklof, and Evan J. Warshauer discuss the important lesson real estate companies and their officers and directors can take away from the Illinois federal district court’s decision in Old Guard Insurance Company v. Riverway Property Management, LLC et al., No. 1:23-cv-01098 (C.D. Ill. Sep. 6, 2024). The court found a commercial general liability insurer had no duty to defend or indemnify a property management company or its owner in lawsuits that included allegations of intentional conduct, holding that the allegations did not fall within the policies’ definition of occurrence, which required “an accident.”

Time 4 Minute Read

This summer, in Yacullo v. AIG Property Casualty Company, the United States District Court for the Southern District of California held that an insurer’s violations of the state’s insurance regulations “is a factor that may be considered by a jury” in determining whether the insurer acted in bad faith. The case should serve as an important reminder to policyholders to carefully consider state-specific insurance regulations when asserting a bad faith insurance coverage claim against their insurers.

Time 1 Minute Read

Boston-based partner Geoffrey Fehling was recently sworn in as a member of the Town of Wellesley Historical Commission. The Commission was created to preserve and protect the town’s tangible evidence of the architectural, aesthetic, cultural, economic, political and social history.

Time 6 Minute Read

In Universal Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Qureshi, Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeals recently ruled that the lower court mistakenly allowed the jury to consider evidence of repair estimates in a claim for replacement cost value benefits where repairs were not actually completed. 2024 WL 3514542, at 1 (Fla. 4th DCA 2024).

Time 6 Minute Read

In today’s unpredictable world, the need for event cancellation insurance has never been more evident. Whether it’s a high-profile concert by a global superstar like Taylor Swift, an international sporting event like the Olympics, or the start of a much-anticipated football season, the potential for disruption looms large. Terrorism threats and extreme weather events due to the broad impacts of climate change contribute to the growing risks faced by event organizers, artists, and venues. Event cancellation insurance offers a critical safety net in the face of some of these uncertainties.

Time 1 Minute Read

Benchmark Litigation has named insurance coverage partners Andrea DeField and Geoffrey Fehling to the publication’s 40 & Under List. Benchmark Litigation is the definitive guide to America’s leading litigation firms and attorneys. The 40 & Under List honors the most notable up-and-coming litigation attorneys in the United States. Those named to the list have proven their eligibility as individuals at the partner level of their respective firms who are 40 years of age or younger.

Time 6 Minute Read

Part II of this series, Levels of Protection, addressed the levels of protection available under the SAFETY Act and their associated benefits. This post discusses how a company prepares and submits an application under the SAFETY Act to the Office of SAFETY Act Implementation (“OSAI”) and the important role outside counsel can play in that process.

Time 3 Minute Read

California law has become more favorable toward companies facing liabilities based on alleged events spanning multiple years. Previously, California intermediate appellate decisions favored “horizontal exhaustion,” which means that in cases involving a continuous loss, a first-level excess policy that sat over a primary policy could not be accessed until the applicable limits of any other underlying collectible insurance had been exhausted.

But now the California Supreme Court has ruled that vertical exhaustion applies to determine how a policyholder can access its excess insurance policies. Truck Ins. Exch. v. Kaiser Cement, 16 Cal.5th 67 (2024) (“Kaiser”). This means that the excess policy for a policy period can be accessed as soon as the underlying primary policy for that same period is exhausted. There is no need to wait for other years’ policies to be exhausted.

In a recent article published in PropertyCasualty360, Hunton attorneys Syed S. Ahmad, Scott P. DeVries and Yosef Itkin examined the Kaiser decision in more detail. In short, the court found support for its decision relying on the language of the excess policies, along with the policyholder’s reasonable expectations and the history of “other insurance” provisions.

Time 2 Minute Read

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP has promoted insurance recovery lawyer Jorge Aviles to Counsel.

Time 1 Minute Read

In a recent client alert, Hunton insurance lawyers Lorelie S. Masters, Geoffrey B. Fehling, and Charlotte E. Leszinske discuss emerging ESG-related risks and insurers’ interests in those risks when underwriting insurance policies.  Increased focus on ESG by regulators and the public have brought ESG programs and ESG-related liabilities, such as “greenwashing,” to the forefront.  Insurers are also paying attention to these risks and have signaled that their clients’ efforts to address ESG may factor into underwriting of their insurance policies.  Many emerging ESG risks may be covered under existing corporate insurance programs, including directors and officers insurance.  Before incurring a claim, companies should proactively evaluate their insurance program and assess ESG-related risks, expecting that they may need to explain such assessments to their insurers.  Read the full alert here.  

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