A commentary on insurance coverage issues in Hawaii and beyond
The insured moved for summary judgment on bad faith because of the insurer's alleged delayed and incomplete payments after Hurricane Katrina destroyed property. See Plaquemines Parish School Bd v. Indus. Risk Insurers, No. 06-7213, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20004 (E.D. La. March 11, 2009).
School buildings operated by the insured …
We have previously discussed here, here, here, and here the validity of assigning liability policies to corporate successors without securing the insurer's consent as required by the policy. Coverage issues arise when the successor seeks benefits under the policy assigned to it by the predecessor. Although the validity of the assignment was not at issue…
In Emhart Indus., Inc. v. Century Indemn. Co., No. 07-2806 (1st Cir. March 13, 2009)[here], the First Circuit found a duty to defend a CERCLA case until the point at which it was determined there was no duty to indemnify.
From 1944 to 1968, Metro-Atlantic operated a chemical plant at the …
Revisiting the longstanding Stringfellow Acid Pits coverage litigation, the California Supreme Court relied on the doctrine of concurrent proximate cause as applied to the pollution exclusion to determine the insurer must indemnify for covered and uncovered claims. See State of California v. Allstate Ins. Co., S149988 (Cal. March 9, 2009)[here].
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In McCoy v. Progressive West Ins. Co., B199978 (Cal. Ct. App. Feb. 26, 2009) [here], the appellate court upheld the jury's verdict finding bad faith arising from Progressive's denial of the insured's vehicle theft claim.
In March 2004, the insured's Ford Mustang was stolen in Las Vegas. When recovered, the Mustang, …
The First Circuit recently determined the efficient proximate cause doctrine would not apply under Maine law. See First Specialty Ins. Corp. v. Am. Home Assurance Co., 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 3943 (Feb. 27, 2009 1st Cir.).
The insured was hired to deliver a construction barge on the Merrimack River using a tug. …
The outline on transfer of liability policies to a successor created by Rina Carmel and me for our round table presentation last week at the ABA Section of Litigation, Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee in Tucson, is here. Materials from the plenary and breakout sessions are available at the ABA Section of Litigation website
The issue before the New York Court of Appeals in Fasso v. Independent Health Assoc., No. 21 (N.Y. Feb. 24, 2009) [here] was whether the injured party and the tortfeasor could settle on terms that extinguished the insurer's subrogation rights?
Plaintiff was treated by Dr. Doerr and subsequently developed complications that…
At issue in Monistere v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co., No. 07-31149 (5th Cir. Feb. 17, 2009) [here] was whether the insured homeowners recovered the appropriate amount under their flood policy for damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.
The State Farm policy covered: (1) buildings for the amount …
Whether an "all risk" policy covered a building severely damaged by hidden decay was the issue before the Second Circuit in Dalton v. Harleysville Worcester Mut. Ins. Co., No. 07-3545 (2nd Cir. Feb. 19, 2009).
During the policy period, damage to an interior wall between the insureds' building and the adjacent …
