News & Analysis as of

Liability Insurance Insurance Litigation Duty to Defend

Payne & Fears

Payne & Fears Secures $1.9 Million in Defense Costs for Homebuilder Client in Summary Judgment Win Against Insurer

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On July 1, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered summary judgment in favor of a national homebuilder against its insurance company, United Specialty Insurance Company (“USIC”), holding...more

Rivkin Radler LLP

There’s Coverage for That? The ‘Ins & Outs’ of Personal & Advertising Injury Coverage

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Michael Cannata and Frank Misiti wrote, “There’s Coverage for That? The ‘Ins and Outs’ of Personal and Advertising Injury Coverage” for the Summer 2025 issue of USLAW Magazine. The story explains “personal and advertising”...more

Zelle  LLP

Insurer Escapes Duty to Defend Obligation in Toll Road Pile-Up Lawsuits Under Designated Work Exclusion and Professional Liability...

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On March 19, 2025, Judge Reed O’Connor in Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Co. v. N. Tarrant Infrastructure LLC, No. 4:23-cv-01043-O, 2025 WL 863470 (N.D. Tex. Mar. 19, 2025) held that under the Eight-Corners Rule, Liberty...more

Wiley Rein LLP

Court Holds that Contract Exclusion in EPL Policy Does Not Preclude Duty to Defend When Some Allegations Extend Beyond Employment...

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Applying Indiana state law, the Indiana Court of Appeals has held that a breach of contract exclusion did not preclude a duty to defend under an employment practices liability policy because some of the underlying allegations...more

Rivkin Radler LLP

December 2024 Insurance Update

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There’s been plenty of litigation over whether construction defect claims qualify for coverage under a CGL policy. This month, we discuss two federal circuit court rulings (First and Seventh Circuits) that reach opposite...more

Warner Norcross + Judd

Do You Have Choice of Counsel in Insurance Litigation?

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Do you know which attorneys will represent your interests if your insurance provider has to defend you in litigation? You might be surprised. As a general rule, liability insurance policies – such as those held by family...more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

‘What’s in a Name[d Defendant]?’: Federal Court Suggests Narrow Exception to Insurer’s Broad Duty to Provide a Complete Defense

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Policyholders purchase liability insurance expecting that, when they are sued, their defense will be paid for by their insurer. Because the key value of liability insurance is that it is really “litigation insurance,” courts...more

Jenner & Block

Client Alert: First Circuit Parses Underlying Complaint to Find Duty to Defend and to Defeat Exclusions

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The duty of a liability insurer to defend a policyholder from litigation is typically described as broad and expansive, extending beyond the insurer’s duty to indemnify. The duty to defend generally obliges an insurer to...more

Carlton Fields

Eleventh Circuit Holds Buzz Words in Arbitration Demand Insufficient to Trigger Duty to Defend

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On November 8, 2022, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida that Mount Vernon Fire Insurance Co. did not have a duty to defend Global Travel International...more

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

Getting Your Insurer To Favorably Resolve Litigation

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Where a liability carrier has assumed its insured’s defense under a reservation of rights, a variety of conflicts between those parties may arise when there are settlement discussions to resolve the underlying litigation....more

Zelle  LLP

Opioid Case May Guide Climate Change Insurance Suits

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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 and other climate change...more

Cozen O'Connor

Ninth Circuit Finds that “Subsidence Exclusion” Bars Coverage for Landslide Loss

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The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued an unpublished opinion in Atain Specialty Insurance Company v. JKT Associates, Inc., Case No. 20-16366 (9th Cir., March 11, 2022), finding that a liability policy’s...more

Miller Nash LLP

Third Circuit Finds That Allegation of False Comparative Advertising Triggers Duty To Defend

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Most commercial liability policies provide what is known as “personal and advertising injury” coverage, which usually provides coverage for claims that an insured’s advertising defamed or disparaged another person’s or...more

Wiley Rein LLP

Lawyer’s Professional Liability Insurer has Duty to Defend Suit Alleging Sexual Assault of Client

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Applying Maine law, the United States District Court for the District of Maine has held that a legal professional liability insurer had a duty to defend an insured attorney against a suit alleging sexual assault of a client,...more

White and Williams LLP

When Can Liability Insurers Sue Appointed Underlying Defense Counsel for Malpractice?

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Insured gets sued. Insurer hires defense counsel to represent insured. Defense counsel takes over the case, and eventually, the case ends. Most of the time, the carrier and its insured will be satisfied with the result. There...more

White and Williams LLP

Duty To Defend PFAS MDL Lawsuits: Texas Federal Court Weighs In

Few courts have yet decided insurance coverage issues in litigation involving per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). But yesterday, in Crum & Forster Specialty Insurance Company v. Chemicals, Inc., No. H-20-3493, 2021...more

Hinshaw & Culbertson - Insights for Insurers

Does Tilted Turtle's Slow Payment and Carapace Response Entitle Insurer to Liability Policy Rescission?

A California federal court has ruled that an insured's misrepresentation in a Statement of No Loss in support of reinstatement of its liability insurance policy provided the basis to rescind the policy reinstatement, but not...more

Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP

"Common Sense" Conquers "Creative Pleading," as the Eleventh Circuit Applies Narrow Exception to Florida's "Four-Corners" Rule to...

On July 23, 2020, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, applying Florida law, looked beyond an operative complaint to relieve an insurer of its duty to defend in BBG Design Build, LLC v. Southern Owners Insurance Company. In...more

Rivkin Radler LLP

New York Insurance Coverage Law Update

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United States District Court Orders Insured To Produce Certain Pre-Litigation Documents But Not Others Deemed Work Product 99 Wall sued Allied World seeking coverage under a property policy for water losses at 99 Wall’s...more

Cozen O'Connor

Observations on Erie Insurance Exchange v. Moore: A Misapplication of Precedent

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The duty to defend is a critical threshold determination in all liability coverage disputes. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has provided a clear and consistent directive on the issue: facts alleged in the complaint control...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

How Far Does Your Sexual Abuse Liability Coverage Extend?

If faced with continuous injury claims based on past acts of sexual abuse, will an insured’s general liability policies with sexual abuse coverage defend? Purchase insurance that is carefully focused on the risks your...more

Pillsbury - Policyholder Pulse blog

Oddball Exclusions Are Not All Fun and Games – What the Court Got Wrong in Princeton Excess & Surplus Lines Insurance Co. v. Hub...

Hub City Enterprises Inc. and Wall St. Enterprises of Orlando Inc. ran an event called “Rum Fest 2017” in Orlando, Fla. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? But one of the partygoers, who apparently paid to attend the festival, was...more

Proskauer - California Employment Law

Employer Sues Its Law Firm for Malpractice and EPLI Insurer for Bad Faith

These days, more employers than ever are purchasing Employment Practices Liability Insurance (“EPLI”) to cover them in the event they get sued for employment-related claims. (See our earlier posting on that topic: “A Handy...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

Eleventh Circuit Holds TCPA Lawsuit Did Not Fall Within Coverage for “Accidents” Under Insurance Policy

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The Eleventh Circuit recently held that sending a fax in violation of the TCPA is not considered an “accident” in determining whether coverage existed for TCPA claims under a commercial general liability insurance policy. ...more

Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP

Allocating Responsibility for Defense and Indemnity Costs Among Multiple Insurers

Analysis of Zurich Am. Ins. Co. v. S.-Owners Ins. Co., 248 F. Supp. 3d 1268, 1276 (M.D. Fla. 2017) - In a dispute between two insurers arising from an underlying premises liability action, a federal district court applied...more

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