On April 3, 2025, a Texas state appeals court reversed a trial court order awarding Exxon Mobil $25 million under an umbrella insurance policy issued by Lexington Insurance Co. to Brock Services Ltd. The appeals court found...more
Not many cases in Florida analyze Professional Services Exclusions in general liability policies. However, on September 16, 2022, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals released an order providing some clarification about the...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (“Court”) addressed in a January 17th opinion a company’s umbrella insurance policy’s absolute pollution exclusion. See Eastern Concrete Materials, Inc., v. Ace...more
In a sweeping decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit extended the absolute pollution exclusion to the unplanned discharge of “rock fines,” pellets produced during quarry operations, and denied coverage for...more
A federal judge recently relied on a pollution exclusion to find that Great American Insurance Company was not obligated to cover losses associated with the unintended distribution of rock fines into New Jersey’s Spruce Run...more
Moral hazard (one of this blog’s preoccupations) usually comes up in disputes over the scope of coverage under an insurance policy. But state legislatures often address it, too—for example, by imposing limits on agreements...more
Although the terms are often used interchangeably, there are several key differences between umbrella and excess coverage. One such distinction is that an umbrella policy can apply to multiple underlying policies. This makes...more