“Acme General Contracting, LLC: Licensed and insured!” If you’ve ever retained a home-improvement contractor, you’ve almost certainly received enthusiastic assurances that he or she is “licensed and insured.” But what...more
Asbestos fibers, chemical fumes, environmental pollutants—what do they have in common? They all involve injuries that manifest over time and are continuously at the center of the complex exposure trigger debate....more
Excess insurance policies are generally written to be just that; they—through their “other insurance” provisions—purport apply in excess of other insurance available to the insured. In many jurisdictions, courts will commonly...more
This is the first in a series of discussions about insurance issues unique to the Lone Star State. For nearly a century, the Stowers doctrine has been a critical cornerstone of Texas insurance law protecting insureds...more
Lynda A. Bennett, Heather Weaver, and Josh Weisberg of SterlingRisk continue their year-end conversation about what changed in the insurance recovery space in 2024 and what to expect in 2025. Lynda, Heather, and Josh...more
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia, applying Virginia law, denied an insured’s motion for partial judgment on the pleadings in part, finding that an insured person’s receipt of a subpoena does not...more
Just as the oilfield fuels the modern economy, master service agreements (MSAs) fuel the modern oilfield. But while almost every MSA contains indemnity and insurance clauses, experienced oilfield lawyers will advise their...more
Applying California law, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California has held that an antitrust exclusion in a D&O policy bars coverage for lawsuits alleging violation of antitrust laws, violation...more
The California Court of Appeal, applying California law, has affirmed a trial court’s decision dismissing claims with prejudice against two excess carriers for the insureds’ failure to allege exhaustion of the underlying...more
In Truck Ins. Exch. v. Kaiser Cement, 321 Cal. Rptr. 3d 761, 549 P.3d 781 (2024), the California Supreme Court answered the question left open by Montrose Chem. Corp. v. Superior Ct., 9 Cal. 5th 215 (2020) (Montrose III): for...more
Insurers are frequently asked to satisfy their duty of good faith and fair dealing by entertaining reasonable settlement offers within the combined limits of the policies. However, primary and excess insurers do not always...more
On June 7, the California Supreme Court issued an important opinion clarifying the circumstances under which an insured may trigger coverage under an excess policy in relation to a loss spanning multiple policy periods. This...more
What happens between a primary and excess liability insurer when their mutual insured is hit with a verdict $2.15 million over the primary limit and the excess insurer was not put on notice until after the verdict? This was...more
Join Goldberg Segalla attorneys Zachary D. Oliva and Thomas M. Wester for a free interactive webinar as they discuss the duties and obligations of excess insurers when presented with high-value claims....more
Excess insurers facing claims should heavily scrutinize their policies for conditions that may be unsatisfactory —even if seemingly immaterial— because they can provide a complete defense to coverage. In a recent case, an...more
Hosts Lynda A. Bennett and Eric Jesse of Lowenstein Sandler discuss how to access a tower of insurance coverage in light of the recent decision in Pharmacia Corporation v. Arch Specialty Insurance Company, where an...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, applying South Carolina law, has ruled that an insurer had no duty to defend an insured in a defamation action because its policy provided excess coverage, even where...more
For nearly 100 years, courts across the country have followed the established majority view that an excess insurer may not avoid its coverage obligation by imposing technical requirements on the manner in which underlying...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, applying New Jersey law, has affirmed that an excess policy did not provide coverage when an insured could not satisfy an express condition precedent to coverage...more
The excess and surplus lines insurance market is a rapidly-growing avenue for the placement of insurance policies in the United States. Many alien (non-U.S.) insurance carriers write surplus lines insurance coverage via...more
In a cautionary tale for insurers everywhere, a California court recently ordered two excess carriers to pay their policy limits twice for a single policy term. Why? Because in the policies at issue, the policy limits paid...more
Applying well-settled Wisconsin law, a federal district court found that an insurer had no duty to indemnify an oral hygiene product manufacturer for tainted products after determining that the losses did not result from an...more
In Vizio Inc. v. Arch Insurance Co., a case stemming from a class action settlement, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals clarified several areas of California law involving the interaction of primary and excess insurance...more
Employees of a subcontractor were injured on a construction project, and they sued the owner and the general contractor. The subcontractor’s excess insurer, Mt. Hawley Insurance Co., disclaimed additional insured coverage to...more
Today on “Don't Take No for an Answer,” co-hosts Lynda A. Bennett and Eric Jesse of the Insurance Recovery Group at Lowenstein Sandler discuss how to deal with excess insurers who refuse to follow a primary insurer’s...more