When it comes to protecting your business, having the right insurance coverage is crucial, but how do you know what types of coverage you need? The first step is understanding some of the key different types of insurance...more
On construction projects, it is common for the owners, general contractors, and subcontractors to execute various contracts requiring the parties to procure insurance and have other parties designated as additional insureds...more
While not often in the limelight, standard business practice relies on service contracts and, in turn, risk transfer through those contracts. Critical issues can arise regarding whether a party seeking additional insured...more
In Texas, many master service agreements (MSAs) related to the oil and gas industry typically contain provisions related to mandatory minimum insurance coverage and indemnity obligations. The Texas Supreme Court recently held...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 last few years have been a reckoning for the insurance industry. Years of decreasing premiums were incompatible with the reality of frequent and more severe natural catastrophes, increasing jury awards in liability cases,...more
The last few years have been a reckoning for the insurance industry and just when we thought insurance buyers might feel relief, COVID-19 entered the picture and extended challenging market conditions into 2021....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
Informed insureds know the importance of notifying their primary insurer of an occurrence or a claim. But notice to the primary layer often does not suffice. If the plaintiff’s demand exceeds the limits in the primary...more
In our recent article, “10 Questions Personal Transportation Manufacturers Should Answer Before Selling a New or Redesigned Product,” we identified areas that should be addressed before a new product goes to market. One of...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
Many in-house attorneys and risk managers follow the same ritual each year when renewing their company’s insurance policies: they look at a few insurance proposals, compare premiums, and then put their renewal policies in a...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
Part of Bradley Arant’s Policyholder Insurance Coverage Team’s six-part Maximize Your Company's Insurance Coverage Webinar Series, the “Understanding CIPs, Builder’s Risk, and Inland Marine Insurance Policies” webinar, led by...more
On Wednesday, August 12, 2015, two massive explosions devastated large swaths of Tianjin, China, an industrial powerhouse and home to one of the world’s busiest ports. The explosions, which reportedly have killed more than a...more
In a recent decision, the Fifth Circuit considered when the 18 percent damages interest under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (Prompt Pay Act) accrues and whether an insurer can waive a policy’s one-year cost reporting...more
Reinsurance communications were held not discoverable in a commercial coverage dispute. By way of background, PBM Products, LLC sued its competitors, Mead Johnson Nutrition Company and Mead Johnson & Company, for allegedly...more
A California Court of Appeal held in Transport Ins. Co. v. Superior Ct. (R.R. Street & Co.) that a named insured’s reasonable expectations of coverage can be different from those of an additional insured’s. This ruling leaves...more
The Observer highlights significant developments in insurance recovery and risk management. In This Issue: - State of California v. Continental Insurance: Opinion Holds Insurers to Their Words - Sixth...more