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
With increasing frequency, insurers are challenging the sufficiency and clarity of settlement demands they failed to previously accept. The insurer’s challenges can take many forms but most focus on a demand not being written...more
Insurance laws may vary slightly between jurisdictions but major principles are nearly uniform. These include requirements that an insurer should draft clear and unambiguous exclusions and should identify and fully inform the...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
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
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
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
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
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, applying Illinois and Nevada law, has held that prior or pending litigation exclusions bar coverage for a contempt motion filed in a civil action commenced before...more
In PCS Nitrogen, Inc. v. Cont'l Cas. Co., 436 S.C. 254, 871 S.E.2d 590 (2022), the Supreme Court of South Carolina formally adopted the “post-loss exception” - a common law rule providing that insurer consent is not required...more
Frequency of severity is back. Insurance buyers need to approach excess casualty renewals carefully to mitigate for loss trends and take advantage of a changing insurance market....more
Pfizer, Inc. v. U.S. Specialty Insurance Company, C.A. No. N18C-01-310 PRW CCLD (Del. Super. Aug. 28, 2020) - On cross-motions for summary judgment in a director and officer insurance coverage dispute, the Superior Court...more
Policyholders purchase excess coverage with the reasonable expectation that they will not face a series of different coverage positions from multiple layers of insurers when seeking payment for claims, but that is not always...more
The plaintiffs, U.S. Fire Insurance Co. and North River Insurance Co., issued 12 umbrella and excess umbrella liability policies for a combined coverage of $244 million to a manufacturer of respiratory protection equipment...more
An insurer defending a claim against an insured that could exceed policy limits has a good faith obligation to settle the claim if possible. Failure to do so puts a nonsettling insurer at grave risk. An Eleventh Circuit...more
In Ironshore Specialty Insurance Co. v. Conemaugh Health Systems, Inc., No. 3:18-cv-153 (W.D. Pa. Feb. 28, 2019), the Western District of Pennsylvania refused to dismiss an excess carrier’s suit seeking reimbursement from its...more
The 2012 Macondo Well blowout and Deepwater Horizon rig explosion gave rise to a slew of lawsuits. Our subject today is one of them. ...more